Remote, but not forgotten: UNICEF & Educate A Child launch ...

Remote, but not forgotten: UNICEF & Educate A Child launch education campaign in Kenya NAIROBI, 5 October 2015 – UNICEF and Educate A Child (EAC), a program of Qatar’s Education Above All Foundation, are launching today a project to accelerate access to education for children in the most remote areas of Kenya. Operation Come-To-School seeks to reach 300,000 children in Kenya by 2017. Operation Come-To-School – is in line with the Kenya Ministry of Education’s 2014-2018 National Education Sector Programme that seeks to accelerate access to education for the most marginalized children. EAC has been a strong partner of UNICEF’s since 2012. Kenya has nearly 1.5 million children, aged 6-13 years old, who are out of school due to poverty, child marriage and gender-related cultural practices. Operation Come-To-School will focus on: - Improving demand for education in order to increase school enrolment and attendance; - Improving school facilities, including construction of classrooms, solar lighting and sanitation facilities; - Strengthening in-school teaching and the learning process through a child-friendly school approach; - Providing mobile schools and alternative basic education so that nomadic children can access education, and - Strengthening county education systems. “This agreement with UNICEF Kenya represents an important additional milestone to our efforts to ensure every out of school child in Kenya is given the opportunity to a basic education, said Dr. Mary Joy Pigozzi, Director of Educate A Child. “Operation Come-To-School builds on our existing successful partnerships in Kenya with the Girl Child Network and UNHCR, which have enrolled almost 68,000 out of school children. As we continue to push for universal primary education, it is through the local expertise of our partners that we will make a difference for children and communities across Kenya.” EAC’s Operation Come-To-School will help out of school children in the arid and semi-arid lands of Wajir, Garissa, West Pokot, Turkana, Kajiado and Marsabit, together with those in informal urban settlements (Nairobi and Mombasa) the one coastal island of Lamu. “UNICEF is committed to supporting the Government of Kenya to ensure that out of school children are not denied one of their most basic human rights, the right to education” said Pirkko Heinonen, acting interim Representative for UNICEF in Kenya. “We are delighted to partner with the Educate a Child program to make sure children out of school in Kenya can access education wherever they live.”

Educate A Child is one of the programmes run by Education Above All Foundation, the global initiative founded in 2012 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. Worldwide there are 59 million children out of school and this is now a critical time to ensure those hard to reach children who remain out of school are not forgotten. A final push is needed by the global community, both financial and political, to ensure universal primary education for all is an essential element of sustainable development. ### About Educate A Child (EAC) Launched in 2012, EAC, a global program of Education Above All Foundation, aims to trigger significant breakthroughs in providing quality primary education to the 59 million children who currently have no access to schooling. Through EAC supported projects, (today more than 40 projects in 38 countries) children overcome barriers to educational access and retention. With the overall goal of successfully completing an entire cycle of quality primary education, EAC strives to improve both individual and social outcomes for these children. For more information, visit educateachild.org About Education Above All (EAA) Education Above All (EAA) is a global initiative founded in 2012 by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. EAA’s aim is to build a global movement that contributes to human, social and economic development through quality education and other welfare programmes and initiatives. With a particular focus on areas affected by poverty, conflict and disaster, EAA champions the needs of children and youth and empower them to be active members of their communities. By meeting the demand for education, EAA equips them to support sustainable development and to nurture environments of peace, security, justice and prosperity. EAA is the umbrella organisation overseeing three core programmes: Educate A Child, Al Fakhoora and Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC), as well as one special project, the Kakuma/Kenya Project. For more information, visit educationaboveall.org. About UNICEF UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information, visit: www.unicef.org. Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook

For further information, please contact: Lubna Al-Attiah Education Above All +974 5563 8868 [email protected] Kelly Signorelli-Chaplin Memac Ogilvy PR for Education Above All +974 5516 2822 [email protected] Edita Nsubuga UNICEF Kenya +254 708989221 [email protected]