MORE THAN ONE MILLION SUPPORTERS FOR EVERY CHILD. EVERYWHERE. IN SCHOOL

SILVER SPRING, MD (July 29, 2020) – The reality that all children around the world can have access to education is one step closer after the petition for Every Child. Everywhere. In School., spearheaded by the Adventist Church and its global humanitarian arm, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), surpassed one million online signatures in July.
“It’s indeed a blessing to see our global church family and ADRA standing up together in support of millions of children who don’t have access to education around the world. Our brothers and sisters have shown that we can be a powerful voice for change when we work together. Thank you to everyone who helped us reach one million signatures and for your strong commitment to making a meaningful difference in the lives of so many children worldwide. But our work doesn’t end here. We must now become agents of change in our communities and use our voices to ensure that every child, everywhere, has access to education and can reach God’s potential for their lives as they prepare themselves and others through the power of the Holy Spirit for Jesus’ soon coming,” says Ted Wilson, president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
“Adventists around the world have spoken loudly and clearly that we care deeply about assuring access to education to millions of vulnerable children so that they can learn and thrive. The commitments of our church family and ADRA united to bring awareness to this global issue speak volumes. Thank you for standing up for the rights of all children everywhere. Let us continue to increase our efforts and magnify our voices on behalf of the children who have no voice,” says Dr. Ella Simmons, ADRA board vice-chair and general vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
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.
As the impact of the coronavirus grows, the importance for advocating for out-of-school children has significantly increased. Today, more families have become vulnerable due to joblessness, illness and other issues, which has affected their ability to pay for education leading to more children being out of school. In fact, there are 75 million school-aged children living in 35 crisis-affected countries who cannot get an education due to increased vulnerability, school closures and other issues as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a 2020 UNESCO report.
“We are facing a growing education gap, especially among vulnerable children. While one million signatures is a phenomenal milestone worth celebrating, we are only at the beginning. We are developing new global alliances with key organizations to amplify our voices. We need your ongoing support and commitment to ensure that we continue to make progress on this important issue. This is why we will be providing resources so that individuals, groups and churches, can speak up on this issue of access to education. We will also share essential details to give you a clear roadmap of what we need to advocate for. Let’s join forces and take this initiative much further,” says Michael Kruger, president for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency.
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 localize 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 localize this effort, the campaign will focus on the following:
Watch the video announcement : www.youtube.com/watch