ESSA to partner with Dubai Cares to focus on nexus between education and work in sub-Saharan Africa
Education sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA) today announces a significant expansion of its work, through a $1.5m investment from Dubai Cares. The focus of this two-year investment and collaboration agreement is on the nexus between education and work. Building upon the swift progress ESSA has made since start up in 2016, it marks the next phase of an ambitious growth strategy.
The work will have relevance across sub-Saharan Africa, with an initial set of projects in a number of countries from East, West and South of the region. Preparatory work is already underway in the first two of these countries, Ghana and Uganda.
With a population expected to grow by a further 1.3 billion by 2050 and requiring the creation of 800 million new jobs, it is estimated that 100 million additional students will join tertiary education in sub-Saharan Africa. This will place huge pressure on the tertiary education sector and calls for broad systemic changes to improve the access to education, to the efficiency in the delivery of knowledge, to qualifications and skills, and to better align educational development with changing economies.
Dubai Cares joins a growing list of blue-chip Foundations and partners investing in ESSA’s work. Part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Global Initiatives, Dubai Cares, has been working towards providing children and young people in developing countries with access to quality education through the design and funding of programs that aim to be integrated, impactful, sustainable and scalable. As a result, the UAE-based global philanthropic organization, has successfully launched education programs reaching over 18 million beneficiaries in 57 developing countries. This collaboration marks Dubai Cares’ first investment in tertiary education, reinforcing its position as a major player in education.
Speaking about this strategic debut into tertiary education, Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Cares said:
“We are excited to announce our expansion into tertiary education, as we believe it is essential for growth, breaking the cycle of poverty and enabling individuals and communities to prosper. We believe this first ever intervention in tertiary education by Dubai Cares will help connect students and graduates to employment opportunities and will be central to developing successful and sustainable economies and societies. It also represents a logical extension of our programming which has been targeting young people, to now cover the third stage of education. This program, which is in partnership with ESSA, presents an exciting opportunity for Dubai Cares to play a leading international role in contributing to the academic success of millions of students, boost employment in the long-term and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.”
Commenting on the announcement ESSA’s Director, Dr Olaf Hahn, said:
“The opportunity to make the nexus between education and work far more effective for Africa’s youth and its employers is considerable. Yet, there are huge challenges to be overcome. Having made swift progress since our start up in 2016 and with African’s at the heart of all we do, we are delighted to be working with Dubai Cares to make a further significant contribution.”
“We are also very pleased to welcome His Excellency Dr. Tariq Al Gurg, the Dubai Cares CEO, as a Patron of ESSA. His inspiring leadership, deep knowledge and relationships in the sector will be of tremendous help. “
ESSA’s most notable projects in the Higher Education sector to date have been to:
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Create the African Education Research Database the first online searchable database of research on education by African researchers based in Africa.
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Model the Demographics of Faculty in Ghana’s 213 tertiary institutions in order to support the Government and individual institutions plan faculty needs for the future.
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Create a Scholarship Impact Hub to increase access, impact and return on investment in scholarships in the region.
The partnership with Dubai Cares on “Improving the systemic effectiveness of the Tertiary Education (TE) Sector in sub-Saharan Africa”, enables ESSA to expand its reach to tertiary more broadly. It will focus on projects relating to the following four areas:
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Building the human capacity and capability in TE.
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The employability of graduates from the TE sector.
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Leadership and managerial skills of TE leaders.
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Knowledge transfer and practical adoption of best practice in the TE sector
To keep in touch with progress on this and other work that ESSA is doing please visit the ‘Our Work’ section of our website.
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About Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA):
Education sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA) was established in 2016 by founder and chair, Patrick Dunne, a serial social entrepreneur and with significant support from the Robert Bosch Stiftung. ESSA’s vision is to see transformed educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and it contributes to achieving this through joining up, informing, inspiring, focusing and increasing impact for those investing in education in sub-Saharan Africa.
ESSA has made great progress and is now broadening its initial focus on higher education to the tertiary sector more broadly and to the nexus between education and work in particular.
The charity’s ground-breaking work in transforming the accessibility and visibility of African research on education, supporting the development of high-quality capacity and capability in tertiary education and the creation of its Scholarship Impact hub are already contributing to transforming educational outcomes.
Six principles drive ESSA’s work and these are: a partnership model, high engagement, a step by step mentality, having Africans at the heart of all we do and finally, a high impact cost effective mindset.
ESSA has been funded to date by a range of blue-chip Foundations and high net worth individuals.
@essa_africa
https://www.facebook.com/EducationSubSaharanAfrica/
About Dubai Cares:
Since its inception, Dubai Cares, part of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has been working towards providing children and young people in developing countries with access to quality education through the design and funding of programs that aim to be integrated, impactful, sustainable and scalable. As a result, the UAE-based global philanthropic organization has successfully launched education programs reaching over 18 million beneficiaries in 57 developing countries.
Dubai Cares is playing a key role in helping achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which aims to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning by 2030, by supporting programs in early childhood development, access to quality primary and secondary education, technical and vocational education and training for youth as well as a particular focus on education in emergencies and protracted crises.
In the UAE, Dubai Cares engages residents through a series of volunteer, awareness and fundraising initiatives that are linked to its global mandate. These initiatives include the annual Walk for Education, Volunteer Emirates, Volunteer Globally and Ramadan Campaign.
To learn more, please visit www.dubaicares.ae