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How the Education for Rural People policy
contributes to sustainable development
Lavinia Gasperini, Senior Officer, Agricultural Education, Office of Knowledge Exchange,
Research and Extension, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
N
early one out of six of the current inhabitants of the
world suffers from hunger and illiteracy and the major-
ity of those affected are in Africa. Education for Rural
People (ERP) is a policy approach aimed at reducing this figure
by helping the approximately one billion food-insecure people,
the 776 million illiterate adults and the 75 million illiterate
children within the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
framework. Education, labour, land, livestock and infrastructure
are the key assets enabling rural households to escape poverty,
and ERP is one of the most powerful weapons against hunger.
A 2007 report from the British Department for International
Development (DFID) indicates that more than USD11 billion is
needed annually for education if Africa is to have any hope of
getting all children into primary school by 2015. The ERP part-
nership flagship operates under the leadership of the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and in
close collaboration with UNESCO and more than 370 partners.
ERP is one of the Partnerships for Sustainable
Development of the United Nations Commission for
Sustainable Development. The partnership – launched
during the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) – is a worldwide call to action to foster rural
people’s capability to be food secure, to manage natural
resources in a sustainable way and to provide education
for all rural children, youth and adults. The partner-
ship aims at contributing to the removal of barriers that
prevent poor people from using their capacity, includ-
ing the urban-rural knowledge and education gap. ERP
works through the identification of political, institu-
tional, organizational and individual opportunities and
constraints that poor people face in accessing education
and training services at all levels of education in both
formal and non-formal settings. It seeks to empower the
rural poor to become fully integrated actors in the devel-
opment process by promoting collaboration among the
education, agriculture and rural development sectors to
ensure education and skills training for all rural people.
The strategy addresses research, knowledge generation
and sharing, advocacy, policy and capacity development,
as well as normative and field work. ERP is also one of the
nine flagships of the Education for All (EFA) programme
led by UNESCO. The most important products of ERP
to date have been the knowledge generated and dissemi-
nated, the innovations identified, and the lessons learned
by ERP partners related to policy and practice in areas
such as education quality and access, gender-responsive
learning environments, parent and community engage-
ment, and accommodation of non-traditional learners, to
name just a few. These knowledge products have formed
the basis for national and regional capacity development
meetings worldwide.
Education is essential to FAO, as indicated in its
Constitution,
1
to achieve the goals of raising levels of
nutrition and standards of living, bettering the condi-
tions of rural populations, and ensuring humanity’s
freedom from hunger.
2
ERP employed a research-based policy approach involv-
ing both FAO and UNESCO in promoting multisectoral
alliances between ministries of education and agriculture.
Work took place simultaneously at the policy and field
levels with an emphasis on policy work to ensure the
highest impact in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Satellite schools are established in remote areas for the youngest children
Image: FAO