By External Source
Oct 9 2025 (IPS-Partners)

 
Mohamed M. Malick Fall was appointed as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria in February 2024. He has more than 20 years of experience in the development, humanitarian and peacebuilding fields. Prior to his appointment, he served as the UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, where he provided oversight and guidance to 21 UNICEF Countries Offices, including on the formulation and implementation of the Country Programme Documents, the UN Reform process, and the engagement with the Regional and Economic Commission and African Union and the private sector.

Furthermore, Mr. Fall has led the response to multiple and complex crises with massive humanitarian needs and high security challenges, and managed the strategic review of the country documents, research and knowledge-management-related activities, ensuring that the results are used to inform programmes and policies.

Before that, he served as UNICEF Representative in Nigeria (2016–2019), Central African Republic (2014–2016) and Mongolia (2012–2014), as the Senior Education Adviser in Haiti (2010–2012), and as Chief of Education in Indonesia (2006–2010) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2003–2006). He was also temporarily assigned as Education Officer (2001–2003).

Mohamed M. Malick Fall has a Master’s degree in Demography from Université de Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne in France and a B.A. Degree in History (Licence d’Histoire) from Université de Dakar in Sénégal.

ECW: Today, there are 18.3 million children out of school in Nigeria. How can relevant organizations – UN agencies, civil society organizations and ECW – work better together with national/state/local governments to get these girls and boys into safe and protective learning environments?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: Given the scale of the number of children that are out of school, building partnerships (as well as strengthening existing partnerships) at national, state and local level is one of the ways to support out-of-school children (OOSC) to get back to school or into alternative learning pathways. No single actor can address this challenge alone – it requires collective leadership, resources and innovation to address this profound challenge. Together with the Ministry of Education, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and religious and faith-based leaders, ECW must align their support with national education priorities. This way, interventions do not create parallel systems but instead strengthen and reinforce existing education structures.

Strengthening collaboration and leveraging resources is essential to achieving a clearly communicated goal of reducing the number of OOSC. The learning environment must be safe and conducive to encourage attendance and learning. Hence, ensuring that the learning environment is free from all forms of abuse and violence, providing inclusive classrooms for learners with disabilities, and equipping teachers with requisite skills and knowledge to support learners as need arises. The UN with ECW has demonstrated this through a Multi-Year Resilience Programme – which has brought together different INGOs and local NGOs, under the leadership of the three state governments, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY). This partnership resulted in about 200,000 children benefiting from various interventions. In addition, over 130,000 children in the BAY states will benefit from ECW-supported interventions. ECW, through its First Emergency Response, is also supporting over 100,000 boys and girls in insecurity prone areas of Northwest Nigeria to continue accessing formal and non-formal education in safe spaces. ECW’s approach of working through the cluster strengthens coordination, encourages government ownership and leadership and avoids duplication of efforts.

Aligning with the government’s plans for education is also key to sustainability of actions in addressing OOSC. The Nigerian Government’s Education Renewal initiative prioritizes the issue of OOSC in its agenda and continues to call on actors to collectively harmonize strategies and resources to answering these key questions ‘Who are they?’, ‘Where are they?’ and ‘Why are they OOSC?’

Additionally, at the national level, the UN continues to engage with the Federal Ministry of Education and its agencies such as the Universal Basic Education Commission, National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children with the aim of 1) keeping the issue of OOSC on the agenda of the government, 2) supporting development of policies and strategies for addressing the needs of OOSC, 3) implementing actions to ensure enrolment, retention and completion for learners, and 4) mobilizing and allocating resources for states in addressing these issues.

Finally, predictable and flexible funding is essential in Nigeria’s highly unpredictable context, where families are displaced multiple times. Donor support through ECW and other mechanisms is critical – not only to meet urgent needs but also to build resilience so education systems are protected during future crises.

ECW: Over your career, you have worked in some of the world’s most severe crisis contexts, including Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Indonesia (Banda Aceh post-tsunami) and Nigeria. Why should donors, the private sector and national governments invest in education as a building block for sustainable development?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: When communities are destabilized by conflict, education is often the first service disrupted and the last to be restored. Yet, it is the one investment that gives children and youth the tools to rebuild their lives and societies. In my experiences in the conflict-affected and post-disaster countries in which I have served, education provides protection, keeping children safe from recruitment into armed groups, exploitation and harmful practices, and provides post-trauma recovery.

Having worked in countries that experienced the worst disasters of the past decades (for example, the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, each with over 200,000 lives claimed, millions displaced and massive destruction of infrastructure), I witnessed how education services were vital in bringing back normalcy to people’s lives and providing children with the psychosocial support they needed to recover from being separated from or having lost their parents and/or families. This is why I always carry the conviction that education in emergencies is a life-saving intervention, beyond the role it plays in immediate response as well as longer-term recovery.

Investing in education is not charity; it is a smart, long-term investment. Every dollar spent on education in conflict-affected countries is a critical contribution to building long-term human capital and resilience. Take Nigeria, for example: the country has a rapidly growing youth population, and if these young people are left without education and skills, it will create a crisis for the future.

However, if they are educated, they will be empowered to make informed health choices now and in the future, thereby leading to reduced maternal and child mortality, improved nutrition and stronger resilience against diseases. It is also important to mention that today’s socioeconomic progress is mostly based on people’s skills and knowledge, as shown by countries that have taken the lead on innovations such as new technology, artificial intelligence, etc. Therefore, in my view, in fragile contexts, education is not optional, but rather it is the foundation for recovery, peacebuilding, social cohesion and sustainable development.

It is the bridge between immediate humanitarian response and long-term stability. Without it, sustainable development simply cannot be achieved. Thanks to the generosity of donors, ECW has not only mobilized much-needed resources but also demonstrated that education response must begin at the very onset of a crisis.

ECW: As we embrace the Pact for the Future, Grand Bargain Agreements and the UN80 Initiative, how can we streamline efficiencies and activate local networks to deliver life-saving foundational education supports across the globe and make good on the promise of education for all as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: The objectives of these initiatives revolves around a similar theme – how nations can better align their resources to reach more, especially marginalized, conflict- and disaster-affected populations, and utilize local resources.

Partnership is key – where countries have found what works to better their foundational education, these proven approaches and interventions should be scaled up and with appropriate cultural context, establishing and building on the existing government structures, communities, local CSOs and NGOs (including youth organizations). The CSOs are closest to the grassroots; they can touch and reach many communities. We must shift from centralized delivery models to locally led solutions. The localization model is gaining real momentum within the humanitarian architecture. In Nigeria, for example, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund allocates pooled funds directly to national NGOs, enabling them to deliver faster, more efficiently and in closer partnership with those on the frontlines. This approach is showing promising results. With continued investment in strengthening their institutional and technical capacities, national NGOs can take greater ownership of the response, ensuring that interventions are not only timely but also more sustainable and rooted in local realities.

The other example that remains indelible in my mind is from my tenure in the Central African Republic at the peak of the crisis there. At a time when many teachers had to flee from their positions due to religious and/or ethnic affiliation, many parents stepped in to replace them, serving as “maîtres-parents” (parent-teachers) and ensuring that children continued to receive education. The UN provided them with essential support such as basic training, teaching and learning materials. This is, to me, a great example of community engagement that maintained a sector as vital as education during one of the worst crises the country had ever experienced. The home-based schools that I saw in Afghanistan, created to provide education to girls whose right to education was denied by the Taliban, are another memory of community efforts to sustain education in the face of the strongest religious and cultural barriers.

When we go together, we achieve more. In this time of cuts to aid funding, we must align resources and avoid duplication of initiatives – so we can get more returns for every dollar invested. The availability of quality education data can help countries design and allocate resources to where it is most needed. The Federal Ministry of Education is investing a lot in the Nigeria Education Data Initiative – a government-led effort to centralize and modernize education data across all levels in Nigeria. This will help to align interventions to where it is needed most, design fit-for-purpose interventions and avoid duplication of efforts by the intervening agencies/partners.

Today, new technology offers unprecedented opportunities to accelerate both access and quality of education while, at the same time, reducing its cost. Teaching and learning can be done through low-cost tech solutions to reach maximum learners, as demonstrated during lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Distance learning using new technology helped to avoid a lost generation. The acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals related to education should make maximum use of the opportunities offered by new technology.

We can build a resilient local ecosystem that can support education for all children. By streamlining financing, empowering local networks and embedding education in crisis response, we can turn commitments under the Pact for the Future, the Grand Bargain and the UN80 Initiative into concrete action – making education not just a promise, but a guarantee for every child, everywhere, as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda.

ECW: Why is investing in girls’ education – especially for vulnerable girls on the frontlines of conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises – so important?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: Investing in girls’ education – especially for vulnerable girls living on the frontlines of conflict, climate change, forced displacement and protracted crises – is not only a moral imperative, but also a strategic investment in the country’s recovery, stability, resilience and long-term development.

There is global evidence on why it’s important to invest in girls’ education, with benefits including improved income for the girls, breaking down of the cycle of poverty, low maternal and child mortality rates, and shifts in social norms. Nigeria has made strides in improving the enrolment and retention of girls in schools. In conflict and protracted crisis regions, girls are reported to be at risk of sexual exploitation, gender-based violence and early and forced marriage. Investing in education for girls will reduce their vulnerability and provide an opportunity to contribute to development and build their confidence to make informed decisions about their lives and future. The UN and its partners are ensuring that girls who have been forced into child marriage and teenage motherhood (i.e. due to socio-cultural or economic barriers) have an opportunity to enrol in school and break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. We have collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Education to develop national guidelines for the facilitation of re-entry of pregnant and married adolescent girls into school.

UNESCO estimates that child marriage would drop by 64% if all girls completed secondary education. Primary completion rate is around 73% for both boys and girls, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF. Disparities in completion rates are shown at junior secondary school level with 69% for boys and 67% for girls; at senior secondary school, the completion rates are 57% for boys and 51% for girls. For example, the Girls’ Education Programme led by the UN brought back over 1.5 million girls in basic education and supported their retention programme. This initiative strengthened community efforts to enrol girls in school, encouraged completion and transition, and built resilience. As of July 2025, the capacity of over 290,000 girls in Kano, Jigawa and Sokoto was strengthened through Girls for Girls clubs that empowered communities to speak out around issues of gender-based violence and school safety concerns, according to UNICEF.

The UN in Nigeria is also supporting the Federal Ministry of Education to build the capacity of teachers across states to deliver Education for Health and Wellbeing to learners in Nigerian schools. Since 2020, over 3 million learners (boys and girls, especially in humanitarian settings) have been empowered with factual sexual and reproductive health information, and the required life skills to build their agency to be resilient and set goals towards becoming respectable adults.

ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: “L’enfant noir” by Camara Laye (The Black Child); “L’aventure ambigue” by Cheikh Hamidou Kane (The Ambiguous Adventure); “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama.

The first book is about a child growing up in Africa who is very close to his mother and whose upbringing was supported by the extended family. This book touched me because it highlights the importance of the mother-child relationship in the development of a child’s character and how this is defining in determining how successful a child will be.

The second book is about a Senegalese child growing up in a context of interaction between Africans and Western culture. This book helped me to navigate and find the right balance between these two cultures growing up in post-independence Senegal, and studying in both my own country and in France.

The third book helped to strengthen my leadership, mainly working in a context of hardship and extreme human suffering, where hope remains a major factor in helping communities to recover from conflict and get back on their feet.

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By Friday Phiri
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 9 2025 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s body on climate science, has over the years, repeatedly and steadily reported on the science of global warming leading to the changing climate with visible impacts.

IPCC Assessment Reports, particularly the Sixth Assessment chapter on health and well-being (AR6, 2021–2022), highlight an increased burden of climate-sensitive diseases, rising demand for emergency and preventive care, and health system disruptions as some of the direct impacts of climate change on primary health care.

Hope and Despair at UNGA80

On the sidelines of the 80^th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA80) in New York, during NY Climate Week, the health sector, as they have done recently, showed up to highlight these climate-health realities for global leaders.

As the UN Secretary-General convened over 120 heads of state and ministers at the UN Climate Summit, where over 100 countries pledged to update their national climate commitments ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the health sector followed keenly and pointed out the importance of health inclusion in climate action plans, popularly known as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’s Paris Agreement.

However, this positive mood was dampened by one of the world’s major emitters, the United States’ absence on the list of progress. Reason? President Donald Trump does not believe in the concept of Climate Change.

And he reminded the global community of his opinion during his address to UNGA, when he continued on his anti-climate change trajectory, referring to climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”

But as they did in President Trump’s first term when his administration actively rolled back climate regulations, including pulling the US from the Paris Agreement, climate campaigners have yet again responded with defiance.

Africa’s Call for Equity and Justice

Women advocates participated in a Climate Action event during UNGA80. Credit: Friday Phiri

“Such statements are scientifically false and morally indefensible. For millions of Africans, climate change is not a debate. It is a daily reality. When powerful leaders mock the climate emergency, they undermine the global solidarity urgently needed to save lives and livelihoods,” commented Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.

Amref Health Africa’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Githinji Gitahi, echoed this urgency, noting that communities across Africa don’t need science to be convinced about the climate crisis, as it is their daily lived reality.  Referencing the Lusaka Agenda, which calls for aligning global health financing with country priorities, and the Belem Action Plan Summary Version, which outlines concrete adaptation actions for health resilience, Gitahi outlined Africa’s concrete policy asks—integrating health into NDCs, prioritizing climate-health financing, and ensuring equity in negotiations and climate action.

“It is unfortunate that countries that contribute a paltry 4 percent of global emissions are asked to do more,” said Gitahi. “It is for this reason that at Amref, we place equity and justice at the core of our programming. Communities most affected—women, children, youth, pastoralists, and those in informal settlements—not only require support to adapt but are also best positioned to shape meaningful solutions. We cannot afford to get sidetracked and dwell on climate science, which is clear as day.”

In fact, for communities in Africa, they don’t need science to be convinced about the climate crisis—it is their daily reality. They don’t have to wait for meetings and discussions like this one to decide on their fate. But even as they adapt using their means, our asks are clear: strengthening primary health care through climate-resilient infrastructure, early-warning systems, surveillance, and community-centered adaptation solutions.

A panel discussion on Africa’s Primary Healthcare equity at UNGA80. Credit: Friday Phiri

The key to all these objectives lies in integrating health in climate plans to not only unlock financing but also support integrated implementation of climate action, particularly for health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water, among others, that have a direct bearing on health outcomes.”

Health sector’s call for strong leadership on the climate crisis

Multilateralism continues to be under serious pressure, and President Trump’s tirade on climate change exemplified the continued geopoliticking and outright mistrust in global processes.

“We want to raise the ambition, because we are in a crisis. We need leaders to be in crisis mode about the science that is guiding us. It’s guiding us on health, but somehow, leaders are ignoring the science,” said Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland, pointing out that leaders hold the key to rebuilding multilateralism and galvanizing investment and action for the interconnected pressing threats overwhelming the health sector.

And in keeping with the leadership, on the sidelines of UNGA80, stakeholders took time to highlight the importance of women leadership for climate action, in view of gender-differentiated impacts of climate change.

“It is generally agreed that climate impacts are gender-differentiated. Women and girls often bear higher risks from climate change impacts—yet they remain on the sidelines in key discussions and policy decisions,” said Desta Lakew, Amref Health Africa Group Director for Partnerships and External Affairs.

Speaking at a roundtable co-organized with Women in Global Health and Pathfinder International, Lakew called for deliberate efforts to let women take the lead. “It is time we let women lead, as their active participation leads to interventions that reach the people most affected and therefore deliver stronger resilience for communities.”

Brazil Takes the Lead

Despite the noted gloomy picture resulting from climate denialism and dwindling multilateral trust, the health sector is determined to ensure climate and health are not left behind. And Brazil, the COP30 Presidency Designate, is already supporting the agenda.

Through the Belem Climate and Health Action Plan, which is set to be tabled at COP30, Brazil has outlined adaptation solutions, encompassing health surveillance, technological innovation, and the strengthening of multi-sectoral policies, to build climate-resilient health systems. It proposes a global collective effort for health and seeks the voluntary adoption by UNFCCC Parties and the endorsement of civil society and non-state actors.

“Don’t tell me there’s no hope at all; together we stand, divided we fall,” said Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão, Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance at Brazil’s Ministry of Health. “Discussions can’t start with financing. You need to have a solid plan and the Belem Climate and Health Action Plan will bring together health and climate agendas in Belem, including surveillance and monitoring as the first line of action.”

In the words of Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, “For every family that goes to bed hungry, for every child deprived of nutrition… the pace of global climate action remains painfully inadequate. This inequity is not only a moral failing; it is a direct threat to global security and stability.”

Therefore, as the global community heads to COP30, Africa is calling for health inclusion in NDCs for evidence policy and implementation, financing for climate-resilient primary health care in the context of adaptation support rooted in equity and historical responsibility as enshrined in the UNFCCC, and community-centered solutions with women and youth taking the lead.

Note: The author is the Climate and Health Advocacy Lead at Amref Health Africa.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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