UNHCR Djibouti Representative Speech - 3rd Conference of IGAD Ministers in Charge of Education

Speech of the UNHCR Djibouti Representative Speech on the 3rd Conference of IGAD Ministers in Charge of Education (06-09 December 2021) :

"As the UN Agency for Refugees, we are honoured to actively participate and support the 3rd IGAD conference on education in Djibouti. This meeting follows the first conference also held in Djibouti in 2017, during which IGAD Member states Ministers of Education signed the Djibouti Declaration.

The Second Conference of Education Ministers took place in 2018 in Addis Ababa where we developed the Call for Action which reiterated the commitments made in Djibouti and developed concrete action plans to support the process.

On behalf of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Regional Director for the East and Horn of Africa, I welcome you to this conference on the review of the progress made so far since these important commitments.

Since the adoption of the CRRF in 2016 and the Goblac Compact for Refugees in 2018, UNHCR has been working closely with the governments to improve the lives of our people of concern (refugees, IDPs and Stateless) and strengthen the national capacity of governments to facilitate the inclusion of refugees into national systems. Education plays a big part as does Health, a sector which held a similar conference last week to review progress made.

Dear Participants, distinguished delegates, please allow me to share some few rates which portray the education sector. Across the region, we are seeing gross enrolment rates of refugee children average at about 60% in primary school and only 20% in secondary school. This number decreases to 1% in higher education.

Besides, gross enrolment rates in secondary schools are considerably lower compared to primary schools, and gross enrolment rates for girls at secondary level are significantly lower than boys. This, in other words, impacts their future earning and learning opportunities: if refugee children can not complete their education journey, little hope remains that they can grow into their full capacity as our future leaders and changemakers. So,investing in Education for refugees is an investment in the future, is developing and nurturing the leaders, teachers, peacebuilders, civil servants, healthcare workers and parents who will rebuild and revitalise their countries.

This situation for refugee education does not look good. Enhanced policies and measures that are inclusive of refugee students need to continuously be advocated for to fast track enrolment of refugees into ECD, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education.

Refugee children need to be included in the national education systems of their host countries – accredited systems that are regulated and monitored. Children need a proper curriculum all the way through primary and secondary school, resulting in recognized qualifications that can be their springboard to university or higher vocational training. Early and sustainable access to education for all displaced children and youth is only possible through joint commitment, action and investment in support of inclusion in national education systems.

Innovative ways of opening up more access opportunities and improvement on quality education need to be explored.

It is with the collated efforts of all the actors at the national, regional and international level that the refugee education can reach great length. I know the next few days will be spent updating each other on progress made against pledges committed during the Global Refugee Forum as well as the commitments included in the Djibouti Declaration.

In some extent, the COVID pandemic has certainly challenged the efforts and progress to support inclusion of refugee education into national systems, however I hope that hearing from each other and learning of how each country had managed to put in place concrete actions to move forward the inclusion needle will re-invigorate us all to continue to support education for all.

Ladies and Gentlemen; The outcomes of this conference need to be clear so that we can continue our drive to ensure we are making the lives of refugee children and youth better. I am confident that discussions such as these will lay the foundation of a true collaboration between all the actors.

UNHCR will stand as always to support the government, to support IGAD as well as our partners in protecting and serving refugees.

I wish you a fruitful meeting and look forward to reading the outcome document.

Thank for your attention"