COMMUNITIES
Nomadic Education in East Africa: a cooperation between UNESCO and African Development Bank
In 2002-2003, UNESCO was commissioned by the African Development Bank to carry out a study entitled ‘The education of nomadic peoples in East Africa’.
The Challenge
Six per cent of the Africans still lead a nomadic lifestyle. Marginalized by their highly mobile and harsh way of life, nomadic communities pose a particular challenge to the national and international target of achieving Education for All (EFA) by year 2015.
The Study
The research carried out by UNESCO Internatioanl Institue for Educational Planning took a closer look at the facts and figures of educational programmes in six countries, namely Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It considers the reasons for the low levels of participation in basic education and why this poses a challenge.
The key lessons
The study provided a rare insight into the challenges, constraints and opportunities for using education as an approach to meet developments of nomadic communities.The key lessons relate to:
Collaboration
This study was based on a close collaboration among UNESCO International Institute for Education Planning (IIEP), the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), UNICEF ESARO (East and Southern Africa Regional Office) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).