Children and Youth: Tomorrow’s Global Citizens Today
WATCH HERE THE WEBCAST OF THE ROUNDATBLE 3
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Tuesday, 31 May – 10:30 – 12:00
This conference acknowledges the centrality of SDG 4 as a driver for transformational change, and the primacy of educating children as the starting point for achieving all 17 SDGs. Enrolment in primary education in developing countries has reached 91 per cent, but 58 million children of primary school age, and 63 million children of lower secondary age remain out of school, with sub-Saharan Africa and conflict zones representing stubborn pockets of exclusion. This roundtable will aim to galvanize global commitment to ensure that all girls and boys get twelve years of free, publicly-funded formal quality education, nine of which should be compulsory, and to discuss effective strategies to invest in early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs and services. The session will focus on concrete ways to ensure quality education for children in armed conflict and post-conflict situations including effective measures to deal with trauma and other impediments, as well as peace education to help avoid conflict. Formal and informal education together with advocacy for global citizenship which puts a premium on building a culture of peace and social well-being for all will be explored. The session will also offer approaches to avoid breaks in education due to natural disasters and public health emergencies.
The roundtable will also examine the disparity in the amounts that governments spend on military and education sectors, respectively, and highlight the economic and social benefits that higher budget allocations for primary and secondary education in particular promise.
Moderator
Cristina Gallach
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information (DPI)
Confirmed Speakers
Dr. Yanghee Lee
Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); former Chair of the Convention of the Rights of the Child
Mr. Ahmad Alhendawi
United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth
Ms. Nasrine Gross
Founder and President of the Roqia Center for Women’s Rights; Founder and President, Kabultec
Ms. Ediola Pashollari
Secretary General, World Assembly of Youth (WAY)
Ms. Wendy Carbajal Sotelo
Director, Comité de Paz Zihuatanejo
Mr. Darren Oh
Graphics and Packaging Sales Representative, DuPont Tyvek
Ms. Teopista Birungi Mayanja
Founder, Uganda National Teachers Union; Deputy Director of Uganda Education Services; Commissioner, International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunities