Article
A collective call to action for transforming learning and skills development in Africa
On 7 April 2025, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the African Union hosted a high-level pre-launch event to unveil the Second Continental Monitoring Report on SDG 4 and the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2016–2025: Transforming Learning and Skills Development in Africa. The gathering brought together minister...
Report
Transforming learning and skills development in Africa
On a continent with a rapidly growing youth population, it is essential that all young people, including women, girls and vulnerable populations, can develop the competencies they need to thrive. While many African nations are making commendable strides towards ensuring access to quality education and lifelong lea...
Article
COP 29: Climate education in West Africa and the Sahel
It is rightly said that the climate agenda is a young person’s agenda. After all, anyone born in the 21 st century will be feeling the effects of climate change for the entirety of their lives. This is “ the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about ...
Press release
UNICEF alarmed by continued attacks on education in conflict zones in Africa
NAIROBI/DAKAR, 9 September 2024 – , Millions of children across Africa still lack access to schooling due to ongoing conflicts across the continent, UNICEF warns. As the world celebrates today the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, an alarming number of schools remains closed, destroyed or occup...
Statement
International Day of Education 2024: Advancing Learning for Lasting Peace
Dakar/Harare/Nairobi/Yaoundé, 24 January 2024 –, On the International Day of Education, dedicated to Learning for Lasting Peace , we reaffirm our commitment to supporting governments in Africa to provide universal access to quality, education for every child. Recognizing education as an inherent right and a fundam...
Press release
46.7 million children at risk of malnutrition, displacement, poor health & learning loss in West and Central Africa due to conflict and displacement
DAKAR, 22 December 2023 –, A forecast 46.7 million children face another year of humanitarian need in West and Central Africa mainly due to ongoing conflict and insecurity, including in the central Sahel region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the massive displacement of women and children into Chad from Sudan. UNICEF in the region is urgently appealing for $1.…, Burkina Faso, continue to experience a multidimensional humanitarian cr...
Press release
UNICEF and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sign partnership to foster collaboration in West Africa
DAKAR, 11 October 2023 –, UNICEF today signed a partnership framework with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is expected to kick-start a major new investment collaboration in West Africa, focused on education. The partnership aims to bring together the collective strength, mandates, experiences ...
Article
Staying in school: a sign of hope for Ganirath, and a sheer relief for her mother
It’s 11.30am on a Wednesday morning in Tchaourou. The atmosphere at the public secondary school is quiet: all students are in class while a group of women are preparing lunch in the school central yard, under the tree. In one of the classes, we hear the voice of Ganirath, a fourteen-year-old student, who, only a f...
Report
Regional Documentation on the Education and Skills Development of Adolescents In and Out of School
This documentation identifies, maps, reviews, and assesses effective and scalable interventions implemented in West and Central Africa over the past five years that aimed to reduce primary and middle school dropout, especially by girls; increase access to alternative learning pathways, and/or help adolescents deve...
Report
Multi-country study on multilingualism & bi/plurilingualism in schools in Burkina Faso, Mali & Niger
Sub-Saharan countries have been working for many years to introduce local languages into their education systems, alongside the official languages inherited from their colonial history. This report showcases the results of studies conducted in central Sahel countries, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, aimed at evaluat...
Annual report
UNICEF São Tomé and Príncipe 2022 Annual Report
In 2022, UNICEF and its partners continued to sustain critical programme interventions for transforming children's lives in Sao Tomé e Principe. Despite the aftermath of the pandemic and the global impact of the war in Ukraine, significant results were achieved for children. Check the UNICEF Sao Tomé e Principe 20...
Report
Our Education, Our Future
In the lead up to the Transforming Education Summit, UNICEF launched an initiative to hear directly from young people in Africa about their perceptions on education in their countries. Nearly five million responses from over 600,000 young people across 13 countries in Africa were gathered, leading to key recommend...