UN staff join Great Ethiopian Run, advocate for the child’s right to education

More than 500 UN staff joined the Great Ethiopian Run (GER) on Sunday 20 November in support of the ‘running for cause’ campaign that aims at assisting different local organizations selected by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

“Running for a Cause” is the Great Ethiopian Run’s annual fundraising campaign to support local organizations. This year three local NGOs working to protect vulnerable children and promote health and education were identified to receive the funding raised from the race.

Ethiopia’s President Sahlework Zewdie, Addis Ababa Mayor Adanech Abebie, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Dr. Catherine Sozi and UN Heads of Agencies including WFP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNESCO, WHO and UNICEF as well as UN staff members took part in the run that also advocated for every child’s right to an education. UNICEF partnered with the GER to get across the messages on the right of children to have access to quality education.

Currently, Ethiopia hosts the largest number of out-of-school children in East and Southern Africa. According to the Ministry of Education /UNICEF joint study on the Situations of Out-of-school Children, about 6 million children in pre-primary, 4.5 million children in primary, and 2.7 million children in lower secondary schools were out of school as of December 2020.

This year, the Great Ethiopian run also coincides with World Children’s Day, a global day of action for children, by children, marking the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – the global document that guarantees a child’s right to an education, as well as many other important rights.

Dr. Sozi also launched the GER’s mobility race organized for people with disabilities. Building on the principle of “leaving no one behind”, the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development emphasizes a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all.

In 2018, the United Nations launched a first-ever UN flagship report on disability and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Disability and Development Report on the “Realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities”. The report demonstrates that persons with disabilities are at a disadvantage regarding most Sustainable Development Goals. Concrete action is needed to include the world’s one billion persons with disabilities – 15% of the world population – as both agents and beneficiaries of development. Against the backdrop of all available evidence, the report identifies good practices and recommends urgent actions to be taken for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities by 2030.

In December 2019, Member States took note with appreciation of the report through two resolutions adopted in the General Assembly. The first resolution titled “Promoting social integration through social inclusion” (A/C.3/74/L.17/Rev.1) and the second titled “Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol thereto: accessibility” (A/C.3/74/L.32/Rev.1) note the importance of this report for the continuing work to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Children of the UN family also joined the Children’s Race held on Saturday 19 November under the theme “Play Matters” to promote learning and wellbeing outcomes through playing.

The PlayMatters project aims to improve holistic learning and wellbeing outcome for 800,000+ refugee and host community preprimary and primary school children aged 3-12+ in Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania using learning through play methodologies.

Photos: UN Ethiopia Family in the 2022 Great Ethiopian Run Road Race and Children's Races