Foreword
1. We, Heads of State and Government of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, met in Nouakchott, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, on December 5, 2021.
2. We thank His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, for the initiative of this important meeting and for welcoming us in the tradition of Sahelian hospitality. We have discussed the common development challenges of our countries, agreed on common objectives and goals to improve our children¡¯s and young people¡¯s learning, and highlighted the critical importance of education sector funding, in a context marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the security crisis in the G5 Sahel region.
3. We express our sincere thanks to all our development partners for the actions already implemented and their commitment in favor of education for our youth.
4. We welcome the ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Group¡¯s engagement model of promoting a collaborative spirit shown by listening, understanding, and sharing challenges to better support our countries in the implementation of their national strategies, as shown by the launch today of its Sahel Education White Paper.
5. This document, the ¡°Nouakchott Declaration¡±, represents the outcome of our discussions. It constitutes a framework for prioritizing and coordinating our policies, practices and actions in education in the coming years.
Strategic Approach to Education in the Sahel:
6. We affirm that a quality education for all constitutes for our region the foundation for a future where prosperity is both sustainable and shared. Sustainable and equitable development requires citizens to receive an education that reflects our needs and realities, in a world where change is constant. A well-performing education system increases productivity and employment, and leads to better outcomes in public health, public institutions and peace. Over the last fifteen years, our countries have seen major improvement in this sector, with a doubling of enrollments in primary education and a tripling in secondary education.
7. In order to expand on these achievements, our countries must continue to develop an education system where children arrive ready to learn in their early years of schooling and where children and youth learn efficiently and sustainably the basic skills they will need throughout their lives. This goal requires us to develop innovative policies to improve education quality. Even amongst children who have been schooled, many are unable to read and understand a short text by the time they finish their primary education. This problem is particularly acute amongst those who most need a quality education: girls, children in rural areas, children whose parents have not been to school or dropped out early, and children in families affected by the security crisis. Our societies suffer the consequences of this learning poverty in the basics of literacy and numeracy: heavy school drop-out, limited social advancement, and a low-qualified workforce. An environment where our young people, especially girls and young women, cannot all feel safe negatively impacts not only their education but also their subsequent adult lives and our societies more broadly.
8. With an eye to this better future that a quality education promises, we are of the view that the following the core