Reed Elsevier and Save the Children - Rewrite the Future

Our 2008 global fundraising drive for Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future campaign, yielding $62,000, has contributed to the following efforts.

SOUTHERN SUDAN

Southern Sudan has seen 21 years of civil war. Children have been killed, abducted, recruited into militias, abused or separated from families. Today the education system is under-resourced, its Ministry of Education over burdened, with limited education programmes supported by aid agencies.

The issues:

  • 400,000 children occupy 339,000 school places, and a further 1.5 million children are out of school, most of them girls
  • 80% of children at school have to sit on bricks, logs or the ground
  • Re-integration of children linked to armed groups into their communities is difficult, especially for girls
  • Children, especially girls, often face harassment and physical punishment
  • There are high numbers of early marriages and teenage mothers, but poor provision of teaching about reproductive health and life skills

Our donation is helping Save the Children:

  • Build 19 schools in Upper Nile, and 38 schools in Bahr el Gazal region
  • Purchase 11,335 school desks
  • Supply learning materials to 146 schools
  • Train 292 children (half of them girls) from 146 schools to promote child protection and children’s rights

COLOMBIA

For over 50 years, internal armed conflict has taken a toll on Colombia, which has one of the highest levels of income inequality in Latin America. During the last 15 years, more than 3 million people, 83% of whom are children and women, have been forced to flee from their homes to safer areas. Approximately 14,000 boys and girls have been recruited by illegal armed groups, creating a spiral of conflict and lack of education.

The issues:

  • Almost a quarter of Colombia’s 12 million children are not in school because of poverty, displacement and violence
  • Teachers are often poorly trained, and lack appropriate resources
  • Colombia has the fourth highest number of children associated with illegal armed groups in the world
  • Children comprise the majority of Colombia’s forcibly displaced people

Our donation is helping Save the Children:

  • Ensure more than 2,000 children affected by forced displacement and conflict gain access to basic education
  • Provide training programmes for teachers, school administrators and students
  • Introduce educational models to improve self-esteem, cultural identity and peaceful conflict resolution

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan’s civil war, flamed by foreign interests, began in 1978. Fundamentalist Taliban control ended in 2001, but despite reconstruction efforts, Afghanistan is deeply poor with chronic malnutrition, lawlessness and frequent violence against children. Girls are still excluded from many activities.

The issues:

  • Only half of Afghan children between 7 and 13 attend school, and only a third of these are girls
  • Fewer than 15% of teachers lack professional credentials
  • Teachers often lack skills to discipline children in a constructive way; physical and psychological punishments are common in both homes and schools
  • 50% of schooling takes place in tents and open spaces

Our donation is helping Save the Children:

  • Create new schools and provide improved teaching materials and equipment to schools
  • Increase enrolment at primary level to 75% for girls and 85% for boys
  • Support school nutrition activities so children are more ready to learn
  • Emphasise teaching on health, hygiene and HIV and AIDS
  • Ensure 70% of teachers meet a defined level of competency

 
Staff raise money for Save the Children