Yaounde, October 13, 2023 – Under the High Patronage of Cameroon’s Minister of Basic Education, His Excellency Professor Laurent Serge ETOUNDI NGOA, Mauritania’s Minister of National Education and Reform of the Education System, His Excellency Mokhtar OULD DAHI, and Togo’s Minister of Primary, Secondary, Technical and Handicrafts Education, His Excellency Professor Dodzi Komla KOKOROKO, held a workshop on the roll-out of GPE’s new funding model, in collaboration with UNICEF and GPE.

This workshop brought together the National Technical Teams in charge of developing the partnership compact of Cameroon, Mauritania and Togo who are faced with similar major education, political and socio-economic challenges. Indeed, eight years after these countries committed to the Sustainable Development Goals, a large percentage of students in Togo (75.6%) and in Cameroon (60.6%) still do not have access to the necessary skills to pursue their education, according to PASEC[1] 2019 data.

The objective of the workshop was to bring together National Technical Teams, partners and key stakeholders of the education sector to collectively discuss and support priority reforms so that every child can have access to quality education.

“It is important to highlight that this workshop is the perfect opportunity to join our forces and hasten the realization of the commitments taken by our respective nations during the Transforming Education Summit held in New York in September 2022. Because we have similar and pressing challenges, we need more understanding and collaboration between those leading the process to transform education and those studying and framing theoretical knowledge in this important task”, said His Excellency Prof Laurent Serge ETOUNDI NGOA, Minister of Basic Education of Cameroon.

Education is every child’s fundamental right. However, some children cannot access it for reasons related to gender, disability, poverty, ethnic origin, language, displacement from their place of origin or because of a humanitarian emergency.

Moreover, schooling is not synonymous to quality education and learning. The lack of trained teachers and appropriate teaching materials, makeshift classrooms, and poor sanitation facilities prevent many children from learning in good conditions. Others are too hungry, too sick or too exhausted from work or domestic chores to take advantage of the education services offered.

“This workshop is the perfect opportunity to bring into reality the countries’ commitment concerning the structural transformation of education systems during the Transforming Education Summit (2022). The change we desire can only come through the adoption of a new paradigm to face the learning crisis, which has been deepened by COVID-19,” added Nadine PERRAULT, UNICEF’s Representative in Cameroon.

The workshop was an opportunity to develop a collective understanding of the new Global Partnership for Education 2025 model in the three countries facing similar challenges and to leverage peer-to-peer exchanges as a way to steer countries towards dialogue on priority reforms based on data and evidence.

“The Global Partnership for Education has been proudly supporting Cameroon, Mauritania and Togo for several years to help them give quality education to more children” said Jo Bourne, GPE’s Chief Technical Officer. “By working together during this workshop, the three countries are showing their determination to fight more effectively against the current education crisis, which is characterized by poor teaching quality, and to identify the priority reforms that will help transform their education systems.”

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About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child in everything we do. We work in 190 countries and territories around the world with our partners to make this commitment a reality, with a special effort to reach the most vulnerable and marginalized children, for the benefit of all children, everywhere.

About the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)

GPE is a shared commitment to end the global learning crisis. We mobilize partners and funds to help nearly 90 lower-income countries transform their education systems, so that every child can receive the quality education they need to unlock their potential and help build a better world. www.globalpartnership.org

For more information, please contact:

• Laure Atangana-Menounga, Communication Specialist, @email/ Tel: +237 675 296 971
• Georges Bissiongol, Education Officer, @email / Tel: 653 135 604
• Tamara Kummer, Communications Lead, GPE. Tél : + 33 7 82 26 07 18, @email

[1] CONFEMEN (Conference of Ministers of Education of the States and Governments of the Francophonie) Education Systems Analysis Program