Soroptimist International President Ann Garvie spoke about the importance of education for women and girls at the  first Forum of NGOs in Official Partnership with UNESCO in Paris on 23rd September 2013. Organised by the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee in cooperation with the UNESCO Secretariat the event was an opportunity for NGOs to come together and debate current and future objectives post 2015.

The theme of the meeting was ‘What Education Goals for Tomorrow’s Citizens of the World. Is Quality Enough?’. The morning session was devoted to a discussion on Education and hopes for 2015. September 2013 is only two years before the end of UNESCO’s 2015 initiative Education for All

SI President  Ann Garvie sat on a high level discussion panel entitled ‘The Unaccomplished EFA Goals: Views of high-level representatives of international NGOs from different regions’. She described the work of Soroptimists around the world and offered case studies of club projects. She also conveyed SI’s visions and hopes for the future where every woman and girl receives an education. Ann explained that equipping women and girls with confidence and choice gives them the tools necessary to reach their fullest potential and set out four key Soroptimist priorities:

1. Policies and programmes must take a life-course approach to education and employment for women and girls, recognising and understanding that access to learning is a human right at all ages. It must also pay attention to relevant vocational education within context in each community.
2. Education about sustainable development is critical to creating the future we want, particularly looking at how the three pillars (social, economic and environmental) must work in harmony to right the wrongs of past generations.
3. Conflict is a major barrier to educational attainment, particularly for girls and women. We must recognise that peace is a precursor to achieving our global educational goals and take proactive steps to address the barrier.
4. We must work to ensure that vocational education does not reinforce occupational segregation. Goals should recognise and work towards removing "male" and "female" dominance in certain fields of work.

Ann further explained that educational development is not possible unless we involve those affected by the decisions in the decisions and that by addressing each stage of educational development, that are relevant and within context, we can create more equal and effective societies. 

In the afternoon decisions were made to adopt the following priorities post 2015:

1. The teaching of non violence and how to manage conflicting situations with reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
2. The reassertion of the value of Education for reaching everyone’s welfare in society. 
3. The creation of synergies, partnerships and inter-disciplinary networks of all educational levels to build tomorrow’s education.
4. The facilitation of social and cultural mixing at all levels of education to enhance inclusive and active citizenship.

Soroptimist International will continue to work in all of these areas and we hope Governments can start to make greater commitments to education, especially targeting those who are discriminated against the most, and therefore the most vulnerable, women and girls.