The Minister for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell has
today launched a new programme to support 60,000 children, mainly
girls, to access education in the Kasai province in the DRC.
Kasai is one of the most deprived regions in the DRC, where both
attendance in school and literacy rates for children are low.
Up to £28 million of UK funding will go to the new programme,
Accès et Égalité pour l’Éducation des Filles (AXE-Filles), to
improve school facilities and provide a better quality of
learning for Congolese children, including marginalised girls.
This builds on previous UK education programmes which have helped
approximately four million children access schooling across the
DRC, and have supported the Congolese government’s efforts to
roll out free education and improve quality.
The UK is committed to tackling gender inequality around the
world and helping girls get a quality education, a priority
reaffirmed by Foreign Secretary in Sierra
Leone last week where
he launched the UK’s new global Women and Girls Strategy. The
strategy puts a continued focus on educating girls, empowering
women and girls, championing their health and rights and ending
gender-based violence – the challenges the UK believes are most
acute.
AXE-Filles will work with schools, provincial government, and
communities to provide education on sexual health and
reproductive rights, tackle sexual and gender-based violence at
school, and provide scholarships to help girls attend and remain
in secondary school.
The Minister for Development and Africa, The said:
The launch of our new education programme is vital for ensuring
that Congolese children who need it the most get the access to
education they deserve. By transforming the way they learn, we
can boost the quality of teaching, improve school attendance and
outcomes, and empower girls.
We work closely with DRC on common challenges, including the
fight against climate change. From strengthening democratic
processes, to UK-supported hospitals saving lives in North Kivu,
we are collaborating to improve the lives of Congolese people,
supporting sustainable development, empowering women and girls
and working towards regional peace.
During his three-day visit to the country, Minister Mitchell will
also discuss steps towards ending the violence in the east of the
country.
In Kinshasa, he will meet President Felix Tshisekedi and Foreign
Minister Christophe Lutundula to discuss the ongoing work to
strengthen the UK-DRC partnership.
Alongside development and humanitarian support, the UK is also
keen to work with DRC to improve the business environment and
help deliver economic prosperity. The UK has invited the DRC to
the UK-African Investment
Summit, to be held in London in April 2024, aiming to grow
two-way trade and investment.
He will also visit North Kivu to listen to a range of voices on
finding a peaceful solution to the violence in the east of the
country, and see first-hand how UK humanitarian support is saving
lives and reducing suffering of the most vulnerable who have been
displaced by ongoing conflict.
Notes to editors:
-
The new programme (to be implemented by Save the Children)
builds on lessons from a 1.5-year pilot (implemented by
UNICEF), which improved teaching and learning for 24,000
children, and enabled 2000 out-of-school children (72% girls)
to re-enter school.
-
Kasai is one of the poorest provinces. It has the lowest
school attendance in the country (57%). In Kinshasa, the
average lower secondary attendance rate is 56%, however in
Kasai, overall attendance is 14% on average, with 26% of boys
attending lower secondary school, compared to 3% of girls.
-
Bilateral UK aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo will
total up to £42.8 million for this financial year.
