29 July 2020 | St Albans, UK [ADRA / tedNEWS]
Pathfinders, educators, pastors and thousands of church members across the Trans-European Division (TED) have joined with the World-wide Seventh-day Adventist Church and its global humanitarian arm, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), to sign a petition in support of Every child. Everywhere. In school.
With one million signatures and growing, they celebrate the reality that all children around the world are now one step closer to accessing education.
Adventist communicators started signing the petition during the 2019 GAiN Conference in Jordan. Since then TED and ADRA staff shared the rationale of the petition at the TED Camporee in England, the teachers’ convention in Serbia and at numerous other events. In the autumn the initiative went viral as church members used social media to encourage the sign up.


Getting It Done
Grassroots efforts for the education campaign kicked-off in October 2019 with the Adventist Church and ADRA urging support for the nearly 300 million children, adolescents and youth globally—or one in every five—who are out of school, according to a UNESCO report. This is a staggering number of children worldwide who need quality education, and live free from exploitation and intergenerational poverty. As a result, ADRA and Adventist church members in nearly 200 countries pledged their support to this issue, and momentum to get online signatures spread, including countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the South Pacific.

What Comes Next?
With the achievement of one million signatures and widespread support, the next step of the global campaign is for the Adventist Church and ADRA to come together to localise this effort in individual countries. The decisions about how education is delivered and funded are not made by global leaders, but by national and state leaders.
To localise this effort, the campaign will focus on the following:
- Define a clear ask to your government. Each country will create goals tailored specifically for their country’s education needs, and hone in on relevant education issues. Some key priorities will include: (1) Advocating for increased allocation of education funding in developing countries; (2) Increasing foreign aid assistance for education; and (3) Improving social inclusion for marginalised children.
- Communicate your ask to your national leaders. Once the ask is identified, each country will strategise how to approach policy makers and law enforcers to ensure all children have the opportunity to get an education. Key to this effort will be to communicate the campaign to the most relevant leaders and decision makers in each country. These communication pieces will need to include information about the campaign, the importance of education, what they can do to ensure every child is in school, the success of our global petition, and the tremendous grassroots support that is behind us.
To support the next phase, ADRA is developing a policy report that will analyse the state of out-of-school children around the globe and the policies and actions needed to address this. In addition, ADRA is also developing a resource kit for church ministry departments, local churches, youth groups and schools to continue their involvement beyond the petition. These resources will be available for distribution in October.
To download “The Next Step: From Support to Action Guide” and other key resources, go HERE.
In addition, ADRA has started an advocacy master class to build, implement, and evaluate an advocacy strategy tailored to a country. The course is designed to help countries understand how to effectively engage their leaders to bring about change. Additionally, a resource packet, including draft letter templates, a policy report, meeting guides, and more, will be made available at ADRA.org/InSchool/Resources.
Further information and resources about the Every Child. Everywhere. In School. initiative can be found by visiting ADRA.org/InSchool.
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ABOUT EVERY CHILD EVERYWHERE IN SCHOOL
Every Child Everywhere in School is a global Adventist-led movement to ensure that every child everywhere in the world attends school, has access to free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education, and completes their education so they can fulfill their God-given potential. Learn more at ADRA.org/InSchool.
ABOUT THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in Christian and Jewish calendars, as the Sabbath, and its emphasis on the imminent Second Coming (advent) of Jesus Christ. The world church is governed by a General Conference with smaller regions administered by divisions, union conferences, and local conferences. It currently has a worldwide baptised membership of over 20 million people, and 25 million adherents. Learn more at https://www.adventist.org/
ABOUT ADRA
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is the international humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church serving in 118 countries. Its work empowers communities and changes lives around the globe by providing sustainable community development and disaster relief. ADRA’s purpose is to serve humanity so all may live as God intended. For more information, visit ADRA.org.
SEE ALSO:
Join the 'Every Child, Everywhere. In School.' Advocacy Campaign
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojković, associate editor
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