Quality Education

Photo: Students in Marrakech planning change for their university community. Credit: The High Atlas Foundation.

Morocco Provides 'Safe Spaces' for Youth

By Julia Payne

MARRAKECH (IDN) – As a society, we have hopes and dreams for the future; for our children, our countries, and the global community. These aspirations rest on the shoulders of the young generation. August 12, 2018 marked the 18th celebration of the UN's annual International Youth Day.

This awareness day was a unique opportunity to reflect on youth's challenges and to celebrate and support the world’s future leaders. This year’s theme, 'Safe Spaces for Youth' highlighted the importance of youth’s engagement, participation, and freedom of thought.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 19 August 2018

Photo credit: The University of Lincoln.

UK University Launches Distance Learning PhD For Diplomats

An affordable Professional Doctorate for G-77 diplomats and personnel of international organizations

By Robert Johnson

LONDON (IDN) – Personnel of United Nations agencies and international organizations as well as accredited diplomats now have an excellent opportunity to pursue a globally recognized postgraduate academic degree DProf (Professional Doctorate) that has the same status as a PhD, while attending to their fulltime professional and personal commitments.

The University of Lincoln, a public research university based in the cathedral city of Lincoln in England, has launched a two-year distance learning Professional Doctorate to empower the next generation of international scholar practitioners. With origins tracing back to 1861, the institution achieved university status in 1992.

: Robert Johnson; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 17 August 2018

Photo: Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul, speaking in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in November 2016. CC BY-SA 4.0

A Nobel Laureate who was 'the Most Homeless, Rootless Person'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) – "V.S. Naipaul's legacy is complex – but his writing must be celebrated," writes essayist Amit Chaudhuri. "His comments about Islam, women and Africa were often unjustified, unpleasant and untrue – but that can be acknowledged alongside his gifts."

Novelist Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, known as V.S. Naipaul, died on August 11, 2018 at his London home at the age of 85. Born in Chaguanas, Trinidad, in 1932, in a family with Indian roots, he wrote more than 30 books including A Bend in the River and his masterpiece, A House for Mr Biswas.

: Global Information Network; ARTS & CULTURE; 15 August 2018

Photo: AIDS-2018-march. Credit: smugmug.com

AIDS 2018 Conference Trying To Break Barriers, Build Bridges

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | AMSTERDAM (IDN) – The International Conference on AIDS (AIDS 2018) – the largest gathering on any global health issue in the world – opened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on July 23 under the title Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges.

With hundreds of scheduled talks and roundtables, the five-day 22nd International AIDS Conference has defined its goal as promoting human rights-based and evidence-informed HIV responses tailored to the needs of people living with HIV, displaced populations, gays, people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people, women and girls and young people – and collaborating in fighting the disease beyond country borders.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 25 July 2018

Photo: The Aboghlou women’s cooperative meets outside in Ourika Valley, Morocco.

Education Isn't the Only Key to Female Employment in Morocco

Viewpoint by Katherine O’Neill*

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has the lowest female employment rate of anywhere in the world. Though most countries in the MENA region, including Libya and Iran, have seen gradually increasing rates of working women, Morocco’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate has actually decreased since 1999, now sitting at 26 percent, according to Brookings.

This decline not only contradicts global and regional trends, but also comes despite significant efforts both by the Moroccan government and NGOs to increase women’s education, in hopes of improving their employment opportunities. The World Bank estimates that higher FLFP rates could result in a 25 percent average increase in household income, something which would dramatically improve the lives of men, women, and youth in the region.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Middle East & North Africa; 23 July 2018

Photo: From Left to Right (front row): Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth; Karunarathna Paranawithana, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, Research, Skills Development 7 & Vocational Training and Kandyan Heritage; Dr. Rohan Perera, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York; Francisco António Duarte Lopes, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Portugal to the UN in New York; Guy Ryder, Director-General ILO; Marie Paule Roudil, Director UNESCO. Credit: Sri Lanka Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

291 Million Youth Live With No Electricity, No Computers, No Printers – UN Laments

By Shanta Roy

NEW YORK (IDN) – When the United Nations commemorated World Youth Skills Day on July 16, there was one strong underlying theme that overshadowed the event.

Despite marked progress in the role of youth in a society increasingly characterized by high technology and artificial intelligence, the new generation, particularly in the developing world, was still lagging far behind in the fast-moving digital world.

Addressing a High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on July 16, the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed pointed out a realistically depressing fact: globally, over 291 million children attend primary schools without any electricity.

: Shanta Roy; UN INSIDER; 22 July 2018

Asia-Pacific May Achieve Only One Out Of 17 Goals By 2030

By Ramesh Jaura

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) spanning an area home to 4.1 billion people, or two thirds of the world’s population, sprang a surprise when it admitted that at the current rate of progress in the region only one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Goal 4 on achieving quality education and lifelong learning – is on track to be met by 2030.

This astonishingly forthright message was delivered at the 2018 High-level Political Forum (HLPF 2018) at the UN headquarters in New York on July 16 when participants were briefed on the outcomes of the Fifth Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD), held in Bangkok, from March 28-30, 2018 in preparation for the HLPF.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 July 2018

Photo: Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (l), stands with ambassadors Juan José Gómez Camacho of Mexico (c) and Jürg Lauber of Switzerland (r), co-facilitators of negotiations on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, at UN Headquarters in New York, 13 July 2018. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

Global Compact on Migration Agreed Despite Differences

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – When Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the agreement an all-encompassing Global Compact to better manage international migration, address its challenges, strengthen migrant rights and contribute to sustainable development, calling it “a significant achievement” and General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák described it as a “historic moment,” it was far more than a rhetorical posture aimed at giving themselves a pat on the back.

Though, the Global Compact presents a non-legally binding, cooperative framework, it is the first time ever that the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has been agreed after discussions and consultations among member states, local officials, civil society and migrants themselves, spread over more than one year.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 15 July 2018

Photo: Kevit Desai, the Principal Secretary in Kenya‘s State Department of Vocational and Technical Training, speaking during the launch of BEAR II project in Nairobi. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Kenya and UNESCO Partner to Upgrade Training and Tackle Unemployment

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Soaring unemployment and loud rumblings of discontent from the labour market about the mismatch between skills offered in learning institutions and industry needs in Kenya and the East African region has led stakeholders to swing into action to reverse the trend.

One approach is being spearheaded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) which, in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Education, is promoting and supporting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) systems in the country and the Eastern Africa region.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 June 2018

Image: Buddhism – which has shaped Asian civilizations for over 2000 years – has much to offer in guiding Asia's development path.

Asia's Buddhists Should Step Forward to Pave the Way to Sustainable Development

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne*

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Buddhists across Asia are going to temples, bathing the baby Buddha, giving food to monks, lighting lamps and offering incense sticks accompanied by chanting paying homage to the Buddha on Vesak day, May 29 this year. While keeping with these traditions is important, Asia's Buddhists are letting go a great opportunity to shape the global development path in an ecologically friendly, compassionate and a sustainable manner.

As the centre of gravity of the world’s economy shifts to Asia, Buddhism – which has shaped Asian civilizations for over 2000 years – has much to offer in guiding Asia's development path. Buddhist philosophy has a rich reservoir of ideas on living sufficiently and comfortably without exploiting nature and people, ideas that anyone can adopt irrespective of your religious affiliations, as the mindfulness fad in the West shows. Mindfulness itself is rooted in the age-old Buddhist meditation practice of 'Vipassana Bhavana'.