UNICEF’s acceleration strategy for girls’ education involves engaging governments, civil society, teachers, families and children themselves in actions to call attention to the right of every child to an education, as well as to advance those strategies that will bring more girls into school and help them succeed once they are enrolled. The campaign mobilised high-level partners who make some of the key policy and resource decisions affecting the education of girls. For instance, in November 2004, ministers of education from around the world were among the attendees who gathered at a 3-day meeting in Brazil’s capital to review progress in fulfilling the commitment to universal primary education. Similarly, in June 2004 the Forum of African Women Educationalists held an International Conference on Girls’ Education to bring together representatives from United Nations (UN) agencies, donors, and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from sub-Saharan Africa. Participants in the Kenya gathering reviewed good practices regarding girls' education.

The campaign took a different shape in each of the 25 countries, engaging a wide range of participants - from children and teachers to religious leaders - and undertaking a variety of approaches, such as the use of popular sports such as soccer and cricket. To cite one particular example, UNICEF worked to involve children themselves in advocacy for girls' education through a global Child-to-Child Survey that was launched on June 16 2004 (the Day of the African Child). Implemented first in Ethiopia, this survey process engaged children to participate in research that aimed at putting names and faces to the 121 million children out of school. The strategy involved helping out-of-school girls and boys become "more than statistics and come alive as someone’s sibling, cousin, friend or community member." Specifically, children in school identified the reasons other children might be out of school and suggested what could be done to help them get the education that is their right. According to UNICEF, the child-to-child concept for dialogue and action makes children active participants in their own development by passing information by children to children. (For additional examples of specific activities carried out in Ethiopia - where “There is a lack of adequate appreciation of the importance of girls' education on the part of parents and the community, particularly in rural areas where the majority of the Ethiopian population reside” - click here.)

Children, Education, Gender.

UNICEF believes that “Education is vital to ensuring a better quality of life for all children and a better world for all people. But if girls are left behind, those goals can never be achieved.” The organisation's aim is to get more girls into school, ensure that they stay in school, and equip them with the basic tools they need to succeed in later life.

The 25 countries participating in the initiative are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Tanzania, Turkey, Yemen and Zambia. In identifying these countries, UNICEF looked for:

• low enrolment rates for girls;
• gender gaps of more than 10% in primary education;
• countries with more than 1 million girls out of school;
• countries included on the World Bank’s Education For All Fast Track Initiative;
• countries hard hit by a range of crises that affect school opportunities for girls, such as HIV/AIDS and conflict.