Business Partnership for Girls’ Education Launches Summer Campaign [Archives:2008/1157/Business & Economy]
The Business Partnership for Girls' Education (BPGE) is to launch the summer campaign during an inauguration ceremony to take place on Monday, the 26th of May 2008. The summer campaign aims at raising awareness on the importance of Girls' Education to raise girls' enrollment and maintain their retention at the coming academic year.
The Business Partnership for Girls' Education was formed in 2006 and represents the first major private sector initiative of its kind in Yemen. It consists of four leading business houses including Arwa Mineral Water Company, MTN Yemen, Universal Group and was joined recently by Fast Print. UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are also participants. The partnership is devoted to build a national consensus and attitudinal change for making a positive contribution in cash and kind to help overcome the barriers that surround girls' education.
Under the general theme of the Let Me Learn Campaign, this summer the theme voice out “Dear Mothers and Fathers: the School is waiting for your daughters” as a reminder for parents to enroll and retain their daughters in schools. The campaign will include advocating for the issue through disseminating more than 30,000 stickers, 400,000 flyers, and placement of 200 mopiz in the governorates of Al-Dale'e, Lahj, Taiz, Ibb, Hodiada, Sana'a, Aden, and Socotra Island. Additionally, the campaign will extend to the beginning of the academic year emphasizing the message of the Let Me Learn Campaign by sending 1.5 million text messages (sms) to the subscribers especially in rural areas. The campaign will also include the distribution of more than 10 million Shamlan mineral water bottles that contains the Let me Learn Message on their label. Furthermore, the BPGE have up to now secured 50,000 notebooks to be given to the children at the beginning of the academic year.
Moreover, the BPGE will be launching the initial phase of the Let Me Learn Website (www.letmelearn-yemen.com) that includes information on the partnership on Girls' Education and how to get involved in advocating for the promotion of Girls' Education in Yemen and reducing the gender gap.
In this spirit, the summer campaign will also focus on inviting other businesses to do their share for education in Yemen. The website provides ideas on how businesses and individual businessmen and businesswomen can get involved in schools in their neighborhood and promote education for the children of their employees. There will also be guidance for new business partners who are interested in joining the partnership.
This initiative comes as a crucial step to mobilize community participation in addressing one of the major challenges of Yemen and bridging the education gender gap. It is worth noting that Yemen is facing a serious challenge to bridge the gender gap that at the national level shows that there are 63 girls per 100 boys in the Primary schools in 2006. Statistics also show that the growth rate of gender gap has been increasing in the last two years requiring serious attention of all the stakeholders to this critical issue.
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