The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a devastating effect on the African continent. The pandemic will exacerbate the inequalities already faced by vulnerable populations, particularly adolescent girls.
Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, the Rozaria Memorial Trust, the Global Partnership for Education, Plan International and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) stand in solidarity with the African Union to ensure that the work to prioritize girls’ access to education is not interrupted, and mitigate the risk of an increase in child marriage and other vulnerabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global emergency, one which is likely to have a devastating effect on the African continent if the trends seen in other parts of the world take root in the region. The pandemic will exacerbate the inequalities already faced by vulnerable populations, particularly adolescent girls.
Measures to control the spread of the virus – including school closures, working from home, physical distancing and restrictions on movements – will have unintended consequences for girls’ education. Lessons from the Ebola crisis show that school closures can lead to increases in gender-based violence, teenage pregnancies, child marriage, exploitation and other forms of abuse against adolescent girls. School closures will be especially devastating for girls with greater vulnerabilities, such as refugees, internally displaced persons (IDP), returnees and girls with disabilities.
Countries experiencing extreme poverty, economic vulnerability and crises have the highest gender disparities in education. School closures in Mali, Niger, and South Sudan —three countries with some of the lowest enrolment and completion rates for girls —have forced over four million girls out of education. This could increase the risk of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, exploitation and gender-based violence.
Many of the complex factors that drive child marriage are also exacerbated in emergency settings, as family and community structures break down during crises. A pandemic of this nature presents unique challenges that require action to protect adolescent girls from violence and exploitation, both in the response and recovery phases. Critical interventions that prioritize gender-responsive education plans, along with economic incentives and other social protection measures, will ensure that adolescent girls are not left behind, and that they receive the education they deserve.
The impact of COVID-19 on adolescent girls is likely to surpass that caused by the Ebola epidemic.
“We collectively express our solidarity with the African Union and its Member States in the COVID-19 response. We reflect and applaud its remarkable leadership on the ‘Africa against Ebola’ program that mobilized relevant resources and expertise to establish response mechanisms that contained the epidemic.”
As multilateral and NGO partners working on girls’ education and ending child marriage, we have put in place several measures to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. These include rapid response financing for the education sector at the country level, policy recommendations and technical assistance, as well as collating and sharing evidence and good practice.
In solidarity with the AU, there were mobilized collective expertise to share the following principles of good practice to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on girls’ education and their vulnerabilities.
The joined organizations are committed to working with the AU to address the challenges of this pandemic.
Read the Joint solidarity letter to the African Union: The impact of COVID-19 on girls’ education and child marriage.
Original source: Global Partnership for Education
Published on 30 April 2020
