“Yes She Can!” 2011 Global Action Week on EFA (2 - 8 May): mobilizing millions for girls' education | WPN World People News

“It is a Right, Make it Right! Education for Girls and Women Now.” Citing the slogan of the 2011 Global Action Week (GAW) on Education for All, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova delivered a strong message in support of the campaign: “We can get it right with strong political will, smart policies and adequate resources. It is not acceptable that gender discrimination remains so pervasive in education. This is a denial of universal human rights established many decades ago.”Millions are mobilizing for girls' education through GAW, including UNESCO. Here is a selection of planned activities:

School children in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

Launches of the 2011 edition of the UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report (GMR) are being organized worldwide. Canberra, Santo Domingo, Moscow, Gaza and Kinshasa will host GMR launch events ranging from policy workshops to concerts and exhibitions. Many key GMR messages concern education issues such as gender-based violence confronting girls and women.

Along with its partners in the UN Girls’ Education Initiative for East Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO Bangkok has facilitated the translation of the GAW lesson plan into 22 Asian languages, from Bengali to Urdu. In addition, it is running a drawing contest for Asia-Pacific countries on the theme: "How does girls' education help us all?"

UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in the Arab States is collecting stories for use on blogs and other social media to disseminate messages on girls’ and women’s education throughout the region.

Finally, as in other years, UNESCO Associated Schools is mobilizing its global network of more than 9000 educational institutions in 180 countries.

source: UNESCO