Ambassador Robert P. Jackson’s Speech at the Launch of the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 11:00 AM

Dembo Primary School Students

Madam Minister, Mr. Governor, Madam Representative of UNICEF, Ladies and Gentlemen, And, last but not least, Distinguished Students,

I thank you for the opportunity to share some brief remarks in association with the launch of the Cameroon Chapter of the UN Girls Education Initiative.  I am pleased to do so at the Dembo Primary School, where the U.S. Government is funding the construction of classrooms, latrines, and wells and is providing school supplies, bicycles, scholarships, community grants, and other forms of assistance.

This support is part of an $800,000 grant that we provided to UNICEF to improve educational prospects in eastern Cameroon, particularly among refugee communities.  And the UNICEF program is but one component of a broader U.S. assistance effort (totaling over $9 million in 2010) to support refugee populations in Cameroon and the communities that have absorbed them.

I am pleased to inform you of other U.S. initiatives on education in Cameroon.  These include an $8 million Food for Education project that encourages the cultivation of school gardens and the improvement of student nutrition.  There is also the Ambassador’s Girls Scholarship Program, through which we have provided over 7,000 scholarships to Cameroonian girls and boys at the primary, secondary, and university levels since 2004.  Our Peace Corps volunteers are also engaged in educational programs around the country and have joined UNICEF in some of its activities this year.

The reason for this support is simple.  There is no greater resource in this resource-rich and beautiful country than the Cameroonian people—and no segment of the population more worthy of investment than Cameroonian youth—and no investment with greater promise than that of education.  In this endeavor, we are pleased to work alongside UNICEF and the Ministry of Basic Education. 

B.B. King said, “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”  Let us approach social development with vision.  May we seek to improve the prospects for populations in their entirety.

I do not like to speak of “droits de l’homme;” I prefer “droits humains,” which surpasses gender divisions.  Let us improve the horizons of all youth, male and female.  Anything less cannot and will not do.  Dropping out of school is dropping out of the 21st century.  Cameroon and Central Africa can either join the melee of highly developed and competitive economies of scale, or they can languish.  We commend the Government of the Republic of Cameroon on its progress towards increasing enrolment of girls in primary school over the last ten years, for the launch of its National Campaign on Girls Education (SCOFI), beginning in 2006, and for aligning itself with the UN Girls Education Initiative.  Certainly much work remains to be done.  Gender disparities continue to exist.  However, I am optimistic that if we maintain this momentum, we can make great progress.

In addition to outside intervention and government direction and leadership, overcoming gender disparity requires action at the community level.  Without this, it simply will not happen.  I invite parents to accept nothing less than a 100% attendance by their sons and daughters.  To encourage only boy attendance would be akin to an athlete developing his right arm and at the expense of his left or to growing his left leg at the expense of his right.  It makes little sense.

I encourage your communities to support women entrepreneurs, who offer this region so much promise.  It is a fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) drive economic growth and create jobs.  This is true in my country, and it is true around the world.  And, women-owned enterprises often have a better growth rate and a better loan payback rate.

Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca Cola and a native of Turkey, put it another way when he announced a significant new commitment by Coca Cola to empower five million women entrepreneurs by 2020.  He said that the “21st century goes to the women.” He went on to explain why:  “The only way a projected billion people will rise to middle class in the next 10 years . . . the only way nations will rise out of poverty and become politically stable will be by women achieving gender parity on a global scale.” He added, “If we fail, the world economy will fail.”

I also invite you you, women (of all ages), to play a more active and vital role in your communities.  Register to vote.  Become visible and positive forces within your society.  Become self-sufficient.  Permit yourselves to dream.  Plan to succeed.  Approach your education as a pathway out of poverty.  Aspire to govern and lead your communities with the same care with which you raise your families.  Distinguish yourselves in your studies and do not settle for anything less than excellence in your personal efforts.

Ayn Rand, the American writer, wrote that “the smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”  So let us press forward in promoting opportunities for women.  And let us not forget that no society can function, no country can progress, and no civilization can prosper, so long as half of their populations are marginalized.  Cameroon’s prosperity depends on educational achievement by its boys and girls.

I thank you once more for the opportunity to speak today and I thank you for all you do toward advancing this noble cause.  To that end, I wish you good luck.