Global leadership role for senior academic

Global leadership role for senior academic

Advocating for 1.5 million refugees to access basic education and trying to find ways for quake-ravaged Nepalese communities to get their schools back up and running are among the early challenges a senior University of Waikato academic faces in her new role as global head of the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE).

Associate Professor Sandy Morrison has spent more than a decade involved in adult education and is the former president of the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education. She was elected to her new role at the ICAE World Assembly in Montreal recently and says the challenges the organisation faces are substantial.

She says her role is to represent “a strong civil society movement committed to highlighting the key role of adult learning and education - including adult literacy - into global agendas”.

The ICAE‘s work reaches into the most marginalised communities and through policies of advocacy, networking and capacity building, these experiences can be used for future planning.

“It is imperative to start with recognising the needs and aspirations of the peoples I represent,” she says.

“For example, our members in Nepal tell me that almost 100% of schools in the earthquake districts are destroyed, so children cannot go to schools and the temporary learning spaces are not attractive, let alone appropriate, particularly for girls. Even though there has been a huge response to the relief and rescue process, most of the women’s practical needs have been overlooked and ignored, resulting in increased reports of gender based violence and trafficking.”

She says access to education “is imperative”.

“Right now the world is dealing with unprecedented issues such as displacement, labour migration, and severe impacts of natural disasters as well as human induced change. ICAE recognises the value of education as a tool for development and something that is essential for sustainability.”

ICAE was created in 1973 and as seven regional bodies - Africa, Arab Region, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and North America - representing more than 800 NGOs in more than 75 countries. As a global network of organisations - including universities – it advocates for youth and adult education as a universal human right and as a path to secure healthy, sustainable communities.

Her new role is for a four year term and she is the first New Zealander and only the second woman to head the organisation.

ENDS

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