Before the current global pandemic of Covid-19, an estimated 258 million children remained deprived of education, 128 million of whom lived in situations of conflict or crisis. It is estimated that 46% of the most marginalised groups have very little chance of going to school by 2030, whereas 31% have none at all. Poverty, remoteness, religion, ethnicity, language spoken – which is sometimes different from the official medium of instruction, gender, etc. are some of the numerous causes.

Furthermore, 25 years after the Beijing Declaration (considered “the most progressive blueprint” ever for the empowerment of women and girls worldwide), girls are still the ones who are subjected to and face the most discrimination and remain deprived of their most basic rights. Speeches by the greatest experts and international organisations have followed one another, warning that, under these conditions, the goal of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 would be compromised.

The future of education

If current trends were to continue, one child in six will be out of school in 2030 as regards primary and secondary education, while four out of ten young people will be excluded from secondary education. The situation for adults will not be much better: more than 750 million adults in low- and middle-income countries will lack the skills to participate in tomorrow’s economy and 1.5 billion adults will not be educated beyond the primary school level.

Faced with such injustice, Aide et Action has chosen to rethink its mission “to help build a world where everyone has the opportunity to develop their full potential through access to quality education and learning”. Established
in 1981 to ensure Education for All, we focus our actions to reach the most vulnerable and marginalised, the most isolated, those whose human rights – in particular the right to education – are the most flouted.

Aide et Action’s commitment

We are committed to using education to support our beneficiaries throughout their lives so that they can acquire knowledge – from preschool to primary and secondary school to socio-professional learning – and become free citizens, capable of contributing to social change. These new approaches in our interventions will enable us to act globally, addressing many of the impediments to education, so that the most vulnerable and marginalised can, through knowledge and learning, remain in charge of their own development and therefore contribute as quickly as possible to a more peaceful and sustainable world.

Our projects, which you can read more about in this activity report, are already making a difference. In 2019, in our 83 projects conducted in 19 countries in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, 1,911,194 people were impacted by our activities (950,170 children and young people, 800,549 adults and 18,797 teachers from 8,925 schools). In pages 38-45, you can read more about work in Southeast Asia specifically.

The path remains difficult and many challenges lie ahead as we face an unprecedented education emergency in 2020 but we believe the work we have already done has created a sturdy foundation to build from.

Thank you

A special thank you goes out to our volunteers, donors, and partners who relentlessly take action, on our side, so that education in 2030 may be within reach without exclusion or discrimination.

All this would be impossible without the mobilisation of our teams in the field, our employees and our managers, who embody the values and know-how that has built our reputation over the past 40 last years.