Girls’ education is a global priority, interlinking SDGs 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Although many countries have made significant progress towards improving access to education for girls in recent years, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on this progress with recent studies showing the alarming increases in the occurrences of domestic violence, child pregnancy and school dropouts among girls during this period.
Girl’s education is also a UK priority, with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) publishing a 5-year strategy in May 2021 entitled ‘Every girl goes to school, stays safe, and learns: Five years of global action (2021-26)’, with corresponding targets of 40 million more girls in school and 20 million more girls reading by age of 10.
Taking action on climate change causes and effects is similarly a global priority encompassed under SDG 13 and took centre stage at the recent COP26 conference hosted by the UK.
What is less well known is the causal relationship between these two global priorities of climate change and girls’ education.
Girls’ education and climate change in ASEAN – a vicious or a virtuous circle? is an FCDO funded programme aiming to strengthen awareness of the intersectionality between girls’ education and climate change among young people, teachers, education practitioners, as well as policy makers in 10 ASEAN countries plus Timor-Leste and potentially could be cascaded in other regions. The programme provides school resources and platforms for youth engagement and empowerment to discuss then to present the issues and possible ways for relevant parties to collaborate and take action towards tackling the issues.
Programme objectives
- To raise awareness among young people, the wider public, educational practitioners, and policymakers among ASEAN countries of the interconnectivity of the climate change impacts and the importance of girls’ education
- To encourage and empower young people to take action in tackling climate change and understand the importance of gender equality
- To provide platforms for policymakers and stakeholders to hear from young people, share their knowledge and experience and discuss potential collaborations on mitigating the impact of the climate crisis and improving girls’ education in ASEAN
Programme activities
- School resource pack on climate change and girls’ education topics, in English and in one local language per ASEAN country where appropriate
- ASEAN-wide poster competition for young people aged between 14 – 17 years old involving schools, with prizes for winners from each country
- Policy dialogue online event involving key stakeholders at the country and ASEAN level to discuss the topic in general plus ideas and solutions highlighted by competition winners, and possible multi-level collaborations across ASEAN with wrap-around pre-and post-event promotional activities
Any enquiries, please contact ClimateChangeandGirlsEducation@britishcouncil.org