The African Union Commission (AUC), in collaboration with the Government of Namibia and UNICEF, officially launched the “End Learning Poverty for All in Africa (ELPAF)” campaign on July 31, 2025. The launch took place during the final day of a high-level continental conference aimed at accelerating foundational learning outcomes across Africa, and falls under the African Union Year of Education 2024 framework. The ELPAF campaign aims to eliminate learning poverty by 2035 by encouraging national action plans, policy commitments, increased domestic education financing, and scalable interventions to improve literacy and numeracy among children under ten.
The Namibian launch was attended by key national leaders, including Prime Minister H.E. Dr. Elijah Ngurare, who spoke on behalf of President H.E. Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. In his address, he reaffirmed Namibia’s commitment to education as a basic right and recognized its investment of over 23% of the national budget and 9% of GDP into the education sector. He praised the African Union for putting foundational learning at the forefront of its agenda and stressed that political commitment must be matched with concrete actions across society.
Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture, Hon. Sanet Steenkamp, reinforced the government’s dedication to transforming foundational learning. She emphasized the importance of equity, inclusive policies, and community involvement in education reform, calling for collective responsibility to ensure that every child has access to basic literacy and numeracy skills.
Mrs. Sophia Ashipala, Head of the Education Division at the AUC, commended Namibia’s leadership and quick adoption of the ELPAF initiative. She reiterated the African Union’s support for its Member States and expressed urgency in addressing the learning crisis, as 90% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa still cannot read a basic text or solve simple math problems. She called for immediate national-level interventions supported by sustained political will.
The launch underlined the necessity of integrating foundational learning into education sector planning and national budget frameworks. Speakers highlighted the critical role of cross-sector collaboration and community engagement to ensure the longevity and effectiveness of reforms. UNICEF also reaffirmed its partnership with both the AU and national governments in advancing ELPAF.
Namibia, now the fourth country to roll out the ELPAF campaign, is setting a strong example for others. Its national campaign urges scaling up of evidence-based teaching strategies, strengthening of early education, better teacher training, and consistent monitoring of learning outcomes. The event concluded with a pledge to track progress through national and regional platforms and to align ELPAF with national development goals, Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
