UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

May 2006 - “When I visited our partner school in Ghana, the children’s singing was fantastic,” says Trudi Binns, a teacher who visited Ghana last year as part of CAMFED’s school partnership programme. “Song is song all over the world...”

Now schools from the East of England and Northern Ghana have recorded 22 of their favourite songs as part of the programme set up by CAMFED and the Harambee Development Education Centre to connect and encourage greater understanding between children across the world.

“This is an ideal way for children to learn more about each other’s lives,” says Caitlin Boast, Development Education Officer for CAMFED. “They have already sent letters and drawings to each other, and the songs will add another dimension of self-expression.”

The songs offer a celebration of life, with subjects ranging from peace to the importance of education. Each school has provided lyrics so their peers can learn the songs. The Ghanaian songs are in the local language of Dagbani, with the words provided in English. And the songs and lyrics from England will help the Ghanaian children with their English lessons.

Christine Yakubu, the coordinator of the project in Ghana, said of the initiative:
“The exchange has given children and teachers the chance to learn about other cultures. It’s going to promote the ideas of global citizenship, to help children understand they’re part of the world.”