Faith communities to mobilise for education on World Day of Prayer – Nov. 20

On November 20 the world’s faith-based communities will celebrate the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children. It will be a day to stand up for the millions of children from around the world who are denied their most basic rights and particularly those excluded from school.

This year we are working with the members of the Global Faiths Coalition for Education to help overcome the human rights violations that keep children out of school – whether through child marriage, child labour or discrimination. The action on the day will be to ask everyone who shares the belief that every child should go to school to sign and share the #UpForSchool Petition – a winnable and impactful campaign for global education.

The #UpForSchool Petition has been started by over 500 youth ambassadors in 85 countries with the ambition of making it the biggest in history. And many faith communities around the world are getting behind the campaign. The World Evangelical Alliance, a member of the Global Faiths Coalition for Education, has pledged to collect one million signatures by the end of 2015.  

In a recent article about the Global Faiths Coalition for Education, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, exalted the need to expand the engagement with faith communities to help make the #UpForSchool Petition a success.

He said: “It is time to harness [the] historic goodwill and action of faith-based communities, a group of 5.8 billion people across the globe, to enact significant change for the 58 million children who are out of school.

“If we want [the #UpForSchool] movement to generate the support needed to transform popular advocacy into action by governments, faith groups must encourage their communities to take action. On November 20, the members of the Global Faiths Coalition for Education will call on each and every one of their supporters to sign the #UpForSchool Petition and take action against education injustice. We encourage everyone to do the same.

The world’s largest petition to date was raised by the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign, a movement driven by faith communities around the world that resulted in the unjust debts of 35 countries being dropped resulting in children going to school for the first time.

We want to finish this challenge and tackle the injustice of girls and boys being denied a future by being out of school, unable to reach their full potential.

The World Day of Prayer and Action for Children will be an opportunity for faith communities to show their support for children’s rights and education by signing and sharing the #UpForSchool Petition and engaging their communities.

Whether you are a faith-based organisation, an individual or a community, here are some ways you can get involved in lead up to and on 20 November – the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children.

Download the petition in English and several other languages here.

Collect Signatures

• Collect as many signatures to the #UpForSchool Petition as possible with your community or network before and during the 20 November.
• If you are an individual, attempt to collect 1000 signatures as part of the World Day of Prayer and Action. Notify [email protected] when you have 1000 signatures and we will send you a certificate to recognise your effort, include you in our world record attempt and tell you where to send the signatures.

Share

• Share the #UpForSchool Petition through a directed email to your network, through social media or at an event. Ask them to sign and also share the petition!
• Promote the petition on social media

The Petition: upforschool.org
Twitter: @AWorldatSchool, @GFCEducation 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aworldatschool

Host an Event

•  Host an event to commemorate the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children. Make sure to tell us about your event by contacting [email protected] and we will promote your work and look to register your event as an official action for the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children.
• Explore the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children website to see how others have defended children’s rights though over 400 activities in more than 90 countries since 2008 on 20 November.