Activities

The purpose of the IDAY network is to conduct advocacy in African and European countries and support the empowerment of African CSOs. To this end, several activities are organised together in each member country to raise awareness on education issues and mobilise the civil society and authorities on addressing the needs.

The key event is the Day of the African Child on June 16, a date that was chosen by the African Union to commemorate the massacre of young South-African on June 16, 1976 in Soweto while they were peacefully demonstrating for better education. ?IDAY has chosen this important date as an inescapable moment of dialogue between the CSOs and their governments on basic education. On this occasion, a variety of events are organised:

- At the local level (in Africa and in Europe): celebrations covered by the media with official handing over to the authorities of the IDAY Annual report listing the demands and recommendations of the OCS regarding basic education. ??

- At the international level: official ceremony of presentation of the Annual Report to the African and European authorities at the European Parliament.

IDAY also encourages its members to participate in the Global Action Week of the Global Action Campaign, and seeks to create more opportunities for consultation between civil society and authorities through the organisation of meetings, seminars and conferences throughout the year. It also promotes awareness-raising campaigns on education issues targeting the wide public.

A large number of IDAY members are involved in activities targeting vulnerable children. The network is therefore actively engaged in promoting their right to effective access to primary education. To do so, the members exchange ideas, experience and best practices.

Bridging Africa and Europe through the Diaspora: IDAY seeks to encourage solidarity between Europe and Africa and supports various initiatives such as pairing of European and African schools, exchanges between African and European students, the bringing together of donors and project promoters (see Project Support and Funding Opportunities. The African Diaspora who is known to be an ideal intermediary in this sort of business, plays a key role within IDAY to promote these activities.

IDAY National Coalitions

IDAY is an international network of national and regional coalitions, each of them made up of civil society organisations active in the field of education. All member organisations are signatories of the IDAY Charter and commit to carrying out, at local, regional or international level, activities concordant with the network’s objective.
The IDAY national coalitions are organised along democratic principles. They decide themselves on their own organisational structure according to local conditions, and they elaborate their own internal regulations. They are open structures that seek to gather organisations united by a same vision and willing to get a stronger voice to promote, both in Europe and Africa, quality basic education for all in Africa. IDAY-International coordinates the common agenda of the network. ?

IDAY network – Africa

As of 2009, IDAY counts 19 African members, which are national coalitions of civil society organisations committed to supporting quality basic education for all in Africa.

IDAY network –Europe

The IDAY network counts 8 European members. These are non governmental organisations (NGOs) and associations – many of which from the African Diasporas – involved in education-related projects in Africa.