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The Francophone civil society against commercialisation of education

The Francophone civil society against commercialisation of education

Launch of the Call of the Francophone civil society against commercialisation of education

 

In response to civil society’s mobilisation, 57 heads of States make a landmark commitment against commercialisation of education

Press release by 58 organisations, 2 December 2016

(Antananarivo, Nairobi, Uganda, Paris, Port-au-Prince, Quebec, Rabat) Whilst last Sunday 57 head of State and Governments of the Francophonie raised concerns regarding the development of commercialisation of education and reaffirmed their commitment in favour of public quality education in a landmark common declaration, a group of 302 organisations from 38 countries of the Francophone area launches this week a Call of the Francophone civil society against commercialisation of education.

This call represents an exceptional mobilisation of the Francophone civil society, in response to the unprecedented global phenomenon of privatisation of education.

“Many African countries have seen an explosion in the number of private schools during the last decade, in particular low quality low cost schools, which target the poorest people. Since 2000, the share of private institutions at the primary level has for instance increased from 10% to 17% in Burkina Faso and fivefold in Mauritania”, observes Samuel Dembelé, president of the Africa Network Campaign on Education for All (ANCEFA).

Similarly, in Morocco, where the share of private education has more than tripled in only fifteen years, “the State has failed in its role of ensuring schools for all. Today the Moroccan State encourages privatisation and commercialisation of education as a solution to educational challenges faced by the country. The Head of government even declared that the moment had come for the State to disengage from education and health provision”, declares Ibtissam Mzibr, General Secretary of the Mouvement Anfass Démocratique (Morocco).

Yet, “research in many countries has demonstrated that privatisation of education has disastrous effects in terms of quality of educational content, of segregation and socio-economic inequalities, and hence on the fulfilment of human rights, which contravenes States’ legal obligations,” regrets Sylvain Aubry from the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR),

The Call of the Francophone civil society against commercialisation of education warns against the different forms of commercialisation in the formal and non-formal education sectors, and opposes the transformation of education into a commercial product. It notably calls States to:

  • put in place public educational systems of quality and completely free of charge

  • regulate private education

  • eliminate educational establishments with a commercial purpose

“This Call demonstrates that privatisation of education is a crucial global challenge, and it constitutes an important tool of solidarity, for us who act daily in Haiti to redevelop our public education system, while 80% of educational establishments are private! This is due to decades of abandonment of public education by the Government, and to the support of the private sector by international donors such as the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education” explains Mona Bernadel, from the Programme Collectif pour le Développement de l'Éducation et du Dialogue Social in Haïti.

In this context, the Antananarivo Declaration, which was signed in conclusion of the 2016 Francophonie Summit which took place in Madagascar on 26th and 27th November, and which includes a great part of the Francophone civil society’s demands, constitutes a major political commitment. The 57 signatory Member States of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) express concerns at paragraph 39 with the “development of academic and educational establishments with a commercial purpose”.

“We are particularly concerned with chains of private schools with a commercial purpose, such as Bridge International Academies, which has over 400 schools in Kenya, Uganda, and Liberia, and which promotes a low-quality and hyper-standardised education model”, denounces Carole Coupez of Solidarité Laïque. “If Francophone countries have not yet been as affected by these chains of schools, it is important that they mobilise prior, and that they promote at the international level another educational model that ensures social justice and the dignity of all”.

Francophone States additionally requested that the OIF, “in collaboration with civil society”, “take measures to promote efficient institutional mechanisms for the regulation of private actors in education, in order to ensure quality and equity of education services”.

Sonia Chebbi, of the Fédération Internationale des Céméa underlines that “the signatories of the Call now expect that the OIF implement this clear request of States: act to put in place efficient regulation of private actors in education. It is crucial to reinforce the joint work of civil society organisations, the OIF and States to defend and protect public educational systems of quality in the formal and non-formal education sectors.”

“The mobilisation of all must continue after this important step. We expect in particular from donor States that they support partner countries in the development of quality public education systems and in the regulation of private actors in education” added Hélène Ferrer, coordinator of the Education Coalition in France.

Luc Allaire, General Secretary of the Comité syndical francophone de l’éducation et de la formation concluded: “Quality education for all will only be achieved through compulsory, free, and universal public education. This is an indispensable tool to end educational inequalities that have been exacerbated by the privatisation and commercialisation of education, in Northern countries as well as in Southern countries.”

Key documents

About the Francophone Network against commercialisation of education

This informal network was originally initiated by six organisations (the French Education Coalition, the Comité syndical francophone de l’éducation et de la formation, the Fédération internationale des Céméa, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Right to Education Project, and Solidarité Laïque) on the occasion of a symposium in March 2016. It now has 302 member organisations which signed the Call of the Francophone civil society against privatisation of education. The Network works to ensure a collective reflection and mobilisation concerning the growing role and impact of private actors in formal and non-formal education throughout the Francophone area, by bringing together in their diversity education actors (NGOs, associations, media, teachers, educators, unions, researchers…).

Contacts

For any information or interview request, contactEkaterina Mikhaylovaat This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +33 7 83 21 57 74 (English and French).

Signatures

 
 

Contact

1. Amnesty International Mali, Mali, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2. Amnesty International/ Senegalese Section, Senegal, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

3. ANCEFA International This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

4. Association Tchadienne pour le Bien Etre Familial, Tchad, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

5. BANI BA HAW, Niger, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

6. Campagne Mondiale pour l'Éducation International This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

7. Carrefour de la Famille Marocaine, Morocco, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

8. CEMEA-F France This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

9. CEMEA-HAITI, Haiti, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

10. Centre d'Actions pour la sécurité alimentaire et le Développement Durable, Benin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

11. Centre d'assistance à la diffusion des méthodes d'éducation active, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

12. Centres d'Entraînement aux Méthodes d'Education Active du Sénégal (CEMEA Sénégal), Senegal This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

13. Coalition Éducation, France, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

14. Coalition Nationale pour l'Education Pour Tous du Burkina Faso, Burkina Faso, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

15. Coalition Nationale Togolaise pour l'Education Pour Tous, Togo, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

16. Coalition Nigérienne des Associations, Syndicats et ONG de Campagne EPT (ASO-EPT Niger), Niger This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

17. Comité National de Développement des Réseaux pour l'Education en Afrique de l'Ouest (CNDREAO Sénégal), Senegal, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

18. CONAMEPT, Madagascar, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

19. CONEPT, DRC, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

20. Conseil des Activités Educatives du Bénin (CAEB), Benin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

21. Conseil National des ONG de Développement, DRC This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

22. Construisons Ensemble le Monde, DRC, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

23. CSFEF, International, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

24. Défense des enfants international Belgique, Belgium, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

25. Education Notre Vision (ONG ENVI), Niger, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

26. Edugestion Cameroun, Cameroon, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

27. Fédération des Aroéven, France, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

28. Fédération des Syndicats Libres de l'Enseignement, Roumania, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

29. FICEMEA, International, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

30. Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

31. Graine de paix (AGP), Algeria, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

32. Héritiers de la Justice, RDC, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

33. IDEF - Initiatives pour le Développement communautaire et la conservation de la Forêt, Ivory Coast This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

34. Jeunesse et Emplois Verts pour une Economie Verte, Benin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

35. Maan promotion économique et culturelle des personnes risquant la précarité, Tunisia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

36. Migrations Co-développement Alsace, France / Morocco, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

37. Miroir Vagabond, Belgium, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

38. Mouvement Anfass Démocratique, Morocco, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

39. Mouvement Associatif pour l'Education et l'Egalité des Chances, Comoros, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

40. ONG Changement Social Bénin, Benin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

41. Plan International France, France, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

42. PROCEDH, Haiti, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

43. Réalisation Téléformation Animation, Belgium, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

44. Regroupement Education Pour Toutes et pour Tous, Haiti, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

45. Réseau des Acteurs de Développement de l'Éducation au Bénin (RADEB), Bénin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

46. Réseau des Organisations pour le Développement de l'Éducation au Burkina (RODEB), Burkina Faso, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

47. Réseau des Organisations pour le Développement de l'Éducation au Burkina (RODEB), Burkina Faso, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

48. Réseau Ivoirien pour la Promotion de l’Education Pour Tous (RIP-EPT), Ivory Coast, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

49. Réseau Nigérien  pour le Développement de la Femme (RENIDEF), Niger, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

50. Réseau Progrès et Développement Humanitaire du Niger (REPRODEVH-NIGER), Niger, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

51. Réseau Wallon de lutte contre la Pauvreté (RWLP), Belgium, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

52. Re-Sources Enfances, Belgium, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

53. Right to Education Project, International, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

54. SNESUP-FSU, France, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

55. Solidarité Laïque, France, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

56. SOLIDARITE-UNAFETPCI (Union Nationale des Formateurs de l’Enseignement Technique et Professionnel de Côte d’Ivoire), Ivory Coast, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

57. SYNAFEN NIGER, Niger, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

58. Syndicat alternatif et indépendant du personnel de l'Education de La Réunion 2,  France This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.