Seychelles has been invited to chair two meetings during a world conference on early childhood care and education to be held in Moscow, Russia, next month.

This followed a meeting Vice-President Danny Faure had in Paris last week with officials from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), which is staging the forum.

Mr Faure went to Paris from Windhoek, Namibia, where he attended the 30th anniversary summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

In Paris he also met members of the Paris Club to thank creditors for the recent second write-off of Seychelles’ debts to the club and to discuss our present economic situation with them.

Giving details of the meetings he will be chairing during the first Unesco World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education from September 27-29, Mr Faure said these are very important occasions for Seychelles as it has been chosen to take on a leading role in the summit.

The first of these meetings – the financial commission – will look at various ways countries can improve their financial situation and will discuss strategies that can be adopted to support children around the world.

The second – the international donors’ conference – will seek ways to raise funds to improve the plight of children.
The conference as a whole aims to:

● Raise global awareness of early childhood care and education as the right of all children;
● Take stock of progress, identify challenges and establish more effective benchmarks towards achieving education for all;
● Engage governments, policy-makers, researchers and a range of institutions in reorienting national systems and programmes to take into account the early childhood years as an integral part of development.

The conference, which is the result of a partnership between Unesco and the Russian Federation, is expected to bring together around 1,000 delegates including heads of state, ministers, policy-makers, researchers, educators, care workers, intergovernmental and civil society organisations, as well as bilateral and multilateral donors and UN agencies.

 

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