ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Education ministers of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) member states have vowed provision of quality education for refugees.
Regional ministers of education have expressed their common commitment during the first IGAD Regional Ministerial Conference on Refugee Education underway in the red sea nation of Djibouti.
IGAD Executive Secretary, Mahboub Maalim, said on the occasion that the high-level meeting on refugee children education aims to ensure that every child is guaranteed access to quality education.
"As a regional economic community, which is part of the African Union (AU), IGAD is not a stand-alone organization," Maalim said, adding that "we are to implement continent-wide decisions and initiatives within the priorities of the sub-region."
The east African bloc's recent move came amid similar move from its individual member states.
The Ethiopian government last month had launched a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), which aims to transform the socioeconomic condition of refugees presently relocated in the country.
The newly introduced CRRF is expected to benefit some of the 890,000 refugees that were relocated to Ethiopia mainly from its neighboring countries such as South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia in 26 refugee camps across the country through the provision of education, trainings and employment opportunities.
IGAD, in a statement issued on Friday, also called on its member states and development partners to strengthen the IGAD Health and Social Development Division so as to leverage and render the new initiative, which envisages to provide quality education for refugees.
United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) Special Envoy for the Somalia Refugee Situation also hailed the move as the first of its kind, according to the statement from IGAD.
UNHCR further called on all parties involved to keep the momentum going for the benefit of refugees and their hosting communities.
