Insights from a Rural Youth’ perspective during GAWE2023 Youth & Students Global Event
The Global Action Week for Education (GAWE2023) is an annual global campaign that aims to raise awareness about the importance of education and advocate for increased education financing. The Youth and Students Global Event for GAWE webinar held on May 31, 2023, was aimed at engaging youth in the importance of their participation in education financing. Youth involvement in education financing is critical to ensure that education systems are inclusive, equitable, and responsive to the needs of young people. The webinar provided a platform for young people to discuss the challenges they face in accessing education and the role they can play in advocating for increased education financing. The event emphasizes the importance of investing in education as an essential driver of socioeconomic development.
Kuyenda Collective rural youth from Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe joined the Youth and Students Global event virtual webinar and participated in the dialogue event. One of those participants was a young man named Eric Musiwa Banda, from Nkata Bay District in Malawi who engaged in the dialogue and had these takeaways to share after the event:
I have loved the meeting and its content was superb. From my side I have grasped and I would like to amplify and make noise (advocate) on the issues raised so I am very geared and very much happy to amplify these issues in Malawi.
Eric, a Kuyenda Collective rural youth participant from Malawi
Eric highlighted some key takeaways from the event that he felt he could participate in advocating for in his district and country as follows:
- 10 Action Points in Education Financing Advocacy (as presented by David Archer) – Youth have a blueprint to follow in the 10 Action Points on Education Financing Advocacy which will enable them to use practical and transformative approaches to advocacy. The most impactful being the #10 (tenth) Action Point which demands for Youth and Students to play a major and vital role in raising awareness about education financing and having their voices heard by their governments and other key stakeholders.
- Equitable Allocation Management Systems – The need for equitable allocation has to be amplified at national level to because if it is achieved, it has the potential to benefit all learners and raise the education standards we aspire to have resulting in better education outcomes for rural youth.
- Decolonisation of our Education Systems – The critical areas highlighted in the dialogue centred on the lived realities of learners and the main aspects of the education system that require change, namely;
- Curriculum reform
- Being conversant on and acknowledging the colonial history of a country resulting in understanding why the change is necessary.
- Challenging the exclusion of indigenous language presentation and championing their inclusion in our education systems
- Understanding colonial funding approaches and advocating for change in education financing and resource allocation to meet the need of the modern day learning and the socioeconomic context of the country
- Revising assessment and Evaluation methods to make them relevant and useful for learners taking into account context and opportunities available to learners, particularly rural learners.
WATCH THE FULL DIALOGUE EVENT HERE