Education is the backbone of development and the struggle for education for all in The Gambia has been long and hard fought. As one of the people who have dedicated most their lives to this struggle, I know that the fact that so many of my countrymen and women cannot read and write is a fundamental injustice and points to some systemic problems in the way resources are allocated and programmes are prioritised.For years The Gambia has demonstrated a solid intention to improve literacy and overall education in the country, particularly among women. The Department of State for Education's strategy and Education Sector Plan (ESP) focused on increasing education among children and literacy for adults, arguing that without both age groups accelerating in education, society as a whole misses out. However, like most sub-Saharan and developing countries, a single yet major gap kept the ESP from being implemented - adequate funds.
The result of this funding gap was a much-heralded outcome for primary school access but the gap between child and adult literacy has simultaneously widened. Simply put, there is no aid forthcoming for adult and formal education compared to that of primary school education. And, those concerned about this are finding it impossible to have their voices heard at the highest level.
The impact is that there is a sense of injustice building as not all are granted their fundamental right to learn. Our discussions on aid effectiveness need to be considered within these terms, to break once and for all with the notion that aid is some kind of charity. It is justice and it is fitting that in 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, we remind ourselves that we are shockingly slow to preserve the rights of everyone in the world equally.
The consistent lack of funding for adult education and failure to secure mutual agreements between beneficiary and donor where adult education is concerned, is at the heart of this injustice. This weakens any progress being made towards Gambia's Millennium Development Goal targets on education as well as in the wider fight to end poverty and inequality in our country.
In 2003, a Fast Track Initiative supported by the World Bank signed with Gambia showed signs of being a positive aid programme that would work for all. The global partnership, to help accelerate Education for All had a gender component, which, coupled with the county's national plan, helped The Gambia reach the Millennium Development Goal 3 target - Eliminate gender disparity in primary school, just two years later.
But still, tackling illiteracy among adults, especially women, at a rate of 4000 a year until 2015, as committed by our government, has not been sufficiently resourced and is holding back progress in so many other sectors. Without basic literacy skills, there will not be workers for the much dreamt of tourist-friendly Gambia, or healthcare professionals for the health system we want to build and among other ambitions. It will hold back the opportunities for those boys and girls now in primary school if the adults running their country are not educated too.
When adults - and especially women - are educated, their children and the entire family is educated. Educating girls educates nations, and is one of the best investments a society can make. Environmental management improves and communicable diseases such as TB, HIV/AIDS and malaria are reduced. The incomes of families increase as educated women are more productive at home and better paid in the work place. Wages increase by approximately 15% for each additional year of schooling.
Gambia is just one small country in the vast African continent where these goals of an education for all are not funded properly and risk being missed shamefully. We know that $2,5 billion dollars per annum is needed to meet the literacy goal yet across Sub-Saharan Africa less than 1% of national budgets is spent on literacy.
While we might be a small West African country, our vision is great. It is a joint vision between the people and its government. We need to know that, if we are holding them to account for the way aid is spent in our country, it comes from donors in a way that makes this possible.
Our aspiration for the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana is that the targets for aid - so unclear in the Paris Declaration - are redefined so they really benefit the men, women and children of countries like mine.
Adelaide Sosseh is Co-Chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP alliance), Director of Worldview and chairperson of the Education for All Campaign Network in The Gambia.