From 12 to 15 August, our Associate Programme Officer, Roselyne Onyango, attended the inaugural East Africa Community Regional Education Conference in Arusha, Tanzania. The conference celebrated the AU Year of Education with the theme" Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Collective Actions for Quality Education."

Throughout the conference, we advocated for sustainable public education financing through progressive measures. We emphasised the need for member states to establish robust regulatory frameworks for private actors involved in education provision.

Additionally, in collaboration with partners from ISER, we co-facilitated a session on Public Interest Litigation as an Accountability Tool for realising the right to education. We shared impactful examples from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa, highlighting how citizens and human rights organisations can use public interest litigation to protect and promote the right to education. 

The EAC conference concluded with a draft declaration prepared by the representatives of the Ministers of Education, which will be reviewed and signed later by the Ministers of Education in the respective eight member states of the EAC.

Also, during the RELI Annual Convening, RELI's Africa strategic plan was launched, with one of their vital advocacy focus areas being "Equitable and Efficient Investment in Public Education."

GI-ESCR's Programme Officer Africa, Aya Douabou, advocated for this to be added to the strategy, focusing on financing public education. RELI Kenya members also agreed on priority actions from the outcome document, committing to focus on data and research, quality education, and government accountability in education over the next two years.