EDU.INT
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION
EDU joins global response to Ebola Crisis
One month ago on September 18 2014 His Excellency Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, made an almost unprecedented address to the United Nations Security Council calling for a coordinated global response to the worsening Ebola Crisis in West Africa.
His assessment was stark: “The gravity and scale of the situation now require a level of international action unprecedented for a health emergency.”
His Excellency Irving Le-Vance, Secretary-General of EDU was listening!
The very next day, as head of an Intergovernmental Organization which is a full participant of the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Academic Impact, the Secretary-General of EDU immediately ordered his planners to assess ways in which assistance could be best targeted within EDU’s remit.
This was despite the fact that none of the countries affected by Ebola is currently a participant state to the EDU Framework.
UN Secretary General - Ban Ki Moon
EDU Humanitarian Response to Ebola Efforts
The Secretary-General of EDU indicated that he wanted a workable plan on his desk within 30 days
He is well familiar with the Organisation of the BSEC and has been actively involved in its activities as a member of the Committee of Senior Officials of the BSEC, as well as National Director representing Azerbaijan at the influential think-tank International Centre for Black Sea Studies – ICBSS.
EDU planners identified one of its core commitments – “Supporting the Continuation of Education in Crisis or Post-Crisis Scenarios” – as providing a suitable aim for this Intergovernmental Organization to pursue in the case of Ebola.
Over the intervening 4 weeks, intensive study and planning was undertaken to allow EDU to offer substantial, relevant, practical and effective assistance to the countries in West Africa affected by this terrible health crisis.
His Excellency Irving Le-Vance determined that such assistance should not duplicate or replicate existing efforts and should not be swallowed up by the overall efforts by the national governments, other Intergovernmental Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations.
As part of the planning and assessment process, the Secretary-General personally attended an EDU sponsored Ebola Response Training Seminar to see first hand the challenges faced by the volunteers who are bravely tackling the outbreak.
Without teachers, there is no education!
Having assessed all the criteria for an effective, achievable and appropriate aim in keeping with EDU’s primary commitment to promote education, the Secretary-General of EDU has decided to concentrate the Intergovernmental Organization’s initial assistance to the affected countries in the form of the provision of Primary Protection Kits for Front Line Educators.It is intended that the availability these assets to front line teachers will help to reduce the natural anxiety that may affect teachers and help to reduce class, school and college closures and the consequent interruption of educational activities during the crisis.
Because of the quasi-sovereign nature of Intergovernmental Organizations, it is customary for direct action of this sort in the territory of a sovereign state to be formally acknowledged in advance by the government of the host nation. Accordingly, on October 18 2014 His Excellency Irving Le-Vance drafted and signed Protocols to be presented to the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea by way of diplomatic Notes Verbal in the coming week.
Immediately each government accedes to the Protocols, the Intergovernmental Organization EDU will commission the dispatch of 5000 Primary Protection Kits for Front Line Educators directly to the respective Ministry of Education for distribution to schools and colleges. Following this, EDU will continue to monitor the situation in order to assess the effectiveness of its assistance with a view to reacting appropriately as the situation unfolds.
