Keynote address: World Vision Evidence & Learning Day in Matsapha

On behalf of the United Nations Family in Eswatini, I would like to thank the management of World Vision Eswatini for inviting me here today, and to offer the UN’s congratulations for the successful convening of this event. Thank you, too for inviting the UN to be a part of your reflections as you review WV programmes over the past two years.

I wish to recognise the important role that WVE continues to play in support of the development aspirations of the country, and to acknowledge the close partnership that exists between WVE and the UN family through various agencies including UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, among others.

We value these partnerships and are committed to deepening them for the benefit of the people of Eswatini.

I also want to acknowledge and commend His Majesty’s Government for its strong commitment towards ensuring an Eswatini fit for all children through the National Plan of Action for Children 2023-2027, which gives concrete expression to the constitutional and policy commitments of the Government. As the UN, we share Government’s  strong belief that in order to realise sustainable development, all children must have the opportunity to grow up in environments which inspire them to pursue the best life and in turn become productive human capital for the country.

This important event focuses on evidence and learning and is an opportunity to reflect, showcase and learn from the work of World Vision and its partners in Eswatini.

Indeed, we came to understand years back, through such initiatives as the Action-Reflection-Action model, that our interventions must be grounded in reflective learning and action to drive results.

I usually compare our daily work to swimming in a fast and furious river where the pre-occupation is to keep swimming so as to stay afloat.

When we gather like we do today, it is like stepping out of the river, taking up a strategic position on a hill and surveying the river below us, its course and contours, the curves and falls. We can then return to the raging river with a clearer sense of where the river is going.

As already pointed out by those who spoke before me, the theme of this year’s event is Going further together for sustained wellbeing of the most vulnerable children. This theme allows for a broad, yet focused reflection on the well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable. The theme also captures the idea of partnerships in order for our interventions to have more impact through our combined strengths.

In my remarks this morning I will reflect on three things: 1) the broader context and its implications for our work; 2) the place of education in sustaining the well-being for all children; and 3) the need for comprehensive view of the well-being of children.

First, then, I want to reflect on our broader global context and what it means for our work. We are living in a world buffeted by many pressures and crises which include the impacts of COVID-19, climate change and a global financial crunch. And it seems likely to get worse before it gets better. The past three years have both challenged and taught us valuable lessons regarding working in a context that is increasingly VUCA – vulnerable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

With only 7 years to go in the race to 2030, how will we keep the promise of protecting the planet, peace, prosperity and better lives for all people? How do we work with this uncertainty in order to keep the promise of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals?

Unfortunately for our reflection today, the picture does not look very bright, especially for children. The UN Secretary General has relentlessly sounded the alarm that, on many fronts, were are moving at full speed in the wrong direction: worsening climate change, rising inequalities and poverty, waning global solidarity when it is most needed, and a global financial architecture that is not fit for purpose.

Within this broader reality, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have included an increase in poverty, violence and worsening mental health for children across the globe.

It is estimated that 10 percent more children were forced into poverty in 2022. Mental health helplines are said to have seen a demand surge by as much as 7,000 percent, according to a report by Save The Children. 

In Eswatini, substantial losses were incurred as a result of the closure of about 900 schools and 10 tertiary institutions at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and again during the civil unrest. Many young girls did not return to schools as a result of teenage pregnancies, which became rife during the closure of schools.

According to a World Bank report on Eswatini, it is estimated that 18 percent of girls drop out of primary school and 35 percent of girls drop out of junior secondary school.

An estimated 22% of children do not transition from junior to senior secondary school. Children in rural areas are at greater risk of dropping out of school. Approximately 25% of children in senior secondary school are at risk of dropping out before graduation.

The situation is compounded by the estimated 100,000 children who grow up without their parents. Due to high levels of poverty and HIV, the phenomenon of children raising children is quite common.

Most orphans are often deprived of quality health services and even miss out on decent education.

While the picture may be depressing, the message is clear: our work is cut out for us if indeed we are going to sustain the well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable.

Our work must combine concrete efforts on the ground to support the vulnerable while, at the same time, crafting global and national advocacy for the emergence of a more equitable world. Given its firm faith base and global reach, WV is well-placed to play a key role in the needed advocacy.

For us in the UN Family, the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs remain the True North and compass and, even with the pressure on resources and multiple demands, we just must do our best to keep the promise even as the clock ticks away.

The magnitude and urgency of the reality of children worldwide suggests that we must come together in fit-for-purpose partnerships, align energies and resources in order that we may go further in achieving better results and giving children a good start in life.

My second point is on education as it relates to the sustained well-being of children into independent and productive adulthood. Last September, the UN Secretary-General convened the Transforming Education Summit in New York. The Summit was prompted by two concerns:

1. A global learning crisis that is depriving hundreds of millions of children, young people, and adults of their right to quality education, with many of the education targets of the SDGs well off track. COVID-19 and the uneven learning recovery measures is turning this crisis into what has been described as a generational catastrophe, especially for marginalized and vulnerable groups.
2. Current education system and approaches have not kept up with the demands of our times in terms of preparing our children for the world by delivering the knowledge, skills and outlooks needed for children, young people and adults to excel in today’s world and contribute to sustainable, healthy and peaceful futures.

Indeed, increasingly in our societies, including here in Eswatini, there is a debate about the employability and job-readiness of the products of our education system. We also hear of increased cases of stress, anxiety and mental health challenges of learners across our world.

We also know that the world has changed rapidly and that people of my generation and older have a challenge understanding what our children do for a living these days because thier jobs did not exist a few years ago. Other jobs that have been common are ceasing to exist or thretened. Attention spans of children have become shorter. Information technologies have reduced the need to memorize information.

So, the world has changed rapidly, and we are being invited to reflect on whether our education, in effect the preparation of our children for their lives, has kept up.

I commend the Ministry of Education who, with the support of UNESCO and UNICEF, undertook very successful preparatory national consultations ahead of the Summit last year. The consultations helped Eswatini to identify priorities to reimagine the education system for a changing world. The great task is now for the Government, with the support of partners, to bring home and work on the commitments, beginning with a few workable ones, for example:

• Ensuring that all children of school-going age go to school, stay in school and finish school.
• Explore and advocate for ways of improving efficiencies so that the available resources can go further and benefit more children especially the most vulnerable.
• Explore and lay the foundations for digital learning and digital classrooms as part of transforming education and in line with the national vision of becoming a developed economy. This shift could help us more boldly explore new teaching approaches and technologies including those enabling quick translation of books and learning materials and connecting learners with relevant tutors wherever they may be in the world.

We will do well to continuously interrogate whether our schooling approach is providing the education that our young and restless generation needs in today’s world.

Ultimately, education should give every girl, every boy, every young or not so young person both the ambition to expand their dreams and the capacity to make them real, the capacity to become the person they want to be and to participate in the creation of the world they want to live in.

My third and final point is about the need to connect the dots and invest in children in rounded and comprehensive way at all stages of their development.  I am sure many of you have heard the now overused phrase ‘investing in children is investing in future’.

In many contexts we are working in, it is not only the future that is our concern, but also the violations of children’s rights here and now that need our urgent attention.

A closer look at the SDGs shows that at least 40% of the targets and indicators of this global agenda are directly linked with children. Despite this huge attention to children, the evidence is not telling a good story.

First, we need to work harder to stop violence against children including young girls. We just must do more to ensure our children flower into confident and healthy adults. Statistics show that 1 and 3 girls in Eswatini experience some form of sexual abuse by the age of 18.

Adolescent birth rate stands at 87 per 1000 adolescents, and teenage pregnancy is one of the main factors contributing to school dropouts in the country.

Second, we need to protect young girls, in particular, from contracting HIV and AIDS by addressing the structural barriers and patriarchal practices that perpetrate violence and sexual exploitation of children.

Third we need to understand better and act on the impacts of climate change on children, particularly in areas of nutrition, water and hygiene.

Yesterday, 22 March, on World Water Day, we reminded ourselves of the climate risks, and unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene which create a deadly combination for children.

Globally, 600 million children still lack safely managed drinking water, 1.1 billion lack safely managed sanitation and 689 million lack basic hygiene service. 149 million children still face the indignity of practising open defecation.

We also know that food insecurity and poor diets come with severe implications for children, requiring particular attention in our articulations and plans around climate change mitigations.

The message here that our responsibility to children must cut across all areas of their lives and needs.

As I conclude, I would like to share that, just as WV is looking back to its two years of programming, the United Nations in Eswatini is also half-way through the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2021-2025, where World Vision continues to play an important role as an implementing partner.

As we also review the implementation of the UNSDCF on an annual basis, we look forward to the outcomes of the WV learning and evidence process so that we can learn and from and enrich each other.

I want to again appreciate the partnership between WVE and the UN Family which has enabled the protection of the most vulnerable including through cash transfers provided to vulnerable families during the COVID-19 pandemic. I also applaud the collaboration in support of the Malindza Refugee Centre and trust that, with the commendable step by His Majesty’s Government to allocate land to the refugees, we as partners come together and help transform the lives of the refugee families.

Congratulations, once again, for convening us today and sharing in your learning, and especially for spotlighting the well-being vulnerable children.

I thank you.