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of gender equality. Without it, women are always given a
secondary place in education and technology.
This is, indeed, the reason why UNESCO has made
gender equality a global priority since 2008, as it realized
that gender equality should be an integral part of all its
programmes and initiatives.
First articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948, the concept of gender equality has been rein-
forced time and time again through international agreements
including the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms
of Discrimination Against Women in 1979 and the Beijing
Declaration in 1995. Most recently, it was recognized as a
central component of the 2030 Sustainable Development
Agenda, as Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 is to
“achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
In addition to distinguishing gender equality as a devel-
opment imperative, the international community has also
acknowledged its critical role in pushing the education agenda
forward. UNESCO helped shape SDG 4 on education, through
the Education 2030 Framework for Action. The framework
recognizes that achieving gender equality is a requirement
to ensure that girls and boys, women and men not only gain
access to and complete education cycles, but are also empow-
ered through education.
About PAJEF
UNESCO formed the Projet d’Alphabétisation pour les Jeunes Filles
et les Femmes au Sénégal (PAJEF) under its Global Partnership
for Girls’ and Women’s Education. With a slogan reading ‘Re-write
the future’, the project ran from 2012 to 2014 to improve access
to education for 40,000 neo-literate and illiterate women between
the ages of 15 and 55 years old, across seven regions of Senegal:
Diourbel, Fatick, Kédougou, Matam, Saint-Louis, Dakar and
Tambacounda. The project also explored the role information and
communication technologies (ICTs) can have in improving literacy
skills. Mobile phones were not supplied to learners. In the span
of the two years, 253 classes followed in French and national
languages benefitted the 6,500 girls and women who enrolled in
the programme. The project inspired Senegal’s national literacy
programme to use ICTs in boosting literacy rates in the country.
Image: UNESCO Dakar
The PAJEF slogan: Re-write the future
A mother speaking on her mobile phone in the Sahara Desert
Image: cdrin/Shutterstock.com
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