PRESIDENT OF THE UN/AFRICA DIALOGUE

Cristina Duarte, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser for Africa, and Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations, briefed the press today (May 6) on their annual flagship event, the Dialogue Series on Africa, May 6-30, 2024.

The theme of the 2024 edition of the annual Africa Dialogue Series (ADS 2024) is “Education through science, technology and innovation towards the Africa we want”.

ADS 2024 aims to mobilize action and inspire solutions by harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation to boost access to quality education in Africa.

Ambassador Fatima Kyari Mohammed said: “This is basically a wake-up call to action. It is a rallying cry for African member states to prioritize education as a cornerstone of progress and development. “This initiative also underscores the importance of building transformed and resilient education systems that not only increase access, but also the inclusive quality and relevance of learning.”

Introducing the first sub-theme of the event, ‘STEM Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in Africa with a focus on generating decent jobs for Africa’s youth’, Duarte said: “The main challenge is to create decent jobs in Africa . 95 percent of Africa’s youth population – I would like to repeat this figure: 95 percent of Africa’s youth population – do not have access to decent jobs, which means that sometimes having a job in Africa is not useful as a tool to get out of poverty.”

On innovative financing to transform education in Africa, he said: “We have more than 100 million children out of school. We can assure you that the old funding model, business as usual, will not solve this problem. 100 million people out of school and without fiscal space. Education therefore requires innovative financing, leveraging ICT to address these issues.”

On education and learning in crisis-affected areas, Duarte said: “Instability has increased, conflicts have increased, and from the point of view of policymaking and the United Nations system, we must discuss how to address the instability in conflicts without putting at risk suspending education, that is, without suspending or closing schools.”