UNITED Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has called investment into education for the poor so that the world can reap real change and environmental justice as the world faces a multitude of "deep crises".
Mohammed made the call while delivering a speech at the 12th annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture in Cape Town, the first since Tutu's death last year.
The lecture, themed "A Vision For Hope and Healing in a Time of Crisis", was organised by the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation to foster a meaningful dialogue on healing and reconciliation.
Mohammed said nearly three years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, nations across the world, particularly African countries, faced a multitude of cascading and compounding crises.
"More people are poor, hungry and are being denied health care and education. The climate crisis is gathering pace, crossing all borders."
However, she said the world should recognise that it had the necessary tools to effect change.
"We must change the narrative, we are not hopeless nor helpless, our potentials are enormous. We are 54 sovereign nations on varying paths to democracy. We have 1,4 billion people, 2,5 trillion dollar market opportunities, and the fastest growing FinTech -- connecting people, especially women, to financial services.
"We have the necessary instruments – the 2030 Agenda, Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Mohammed said political leadership with the will and courage to act for people and the planet was also needed to meet the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which envisioned a world that cherished human dignity, a world free of poverty, hunger, violence and injustice.
"At the core of our actions, we must cherish and invest in education for its intrinsic value to both industry and society."
But today, instead of being a great equaliser, education was "fast becoming a great divider – separating poor children from opportunities almost from birth," she said.
Mohammed said seven in 10 children in poorer countries were unable to read a basic text by age 10, because they were either out of school or in school but barely learning.
She called on world leaders. to "Invest in institutions and systems that deliver on basic rights and services, health, education – attaining the SDGs".
"We need to begin at the local level, supporting communities, especially women and youth. That means devolution of resources to build resilience and strong foundations for the Africa house."
Mohammed said the world was in crisis and in "desperate need" of hope and healing.
She also described Tutu as a "towering global" figure for peace and a "voice for the voiceless".
"As a proud African man, the archbishop leveraged his position in international bodies, from the World Council of Churches to the All Africa Conference of Churches and, later, the Elders, to promote positive change and share his wisdom, not only in his own country and continent but around the world."
Mohammed also called for the protection of natural resources so that they must be handed down from generation to generation.
"In the coming years, if we are to stand a chance of securing a future of peace for all, we must make good on those commitments, in our homes, communities and societies, in the hope that we are able to build nations fit for now and future generations," she said.
Mohammed described Tutu as a believer in social interdependence, expressed as “Ubuntu”.
"He understood that peace, in its broader conception, can only be achieved if we approach humanity as a community in which -- as in any African village --everyone takes care of each other."
Chairperson for the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Niclas Kjellstrom-Matseke noted that the lecture was taking place at a time when the world was faced with an energy crisis.
“The global south is taking the heat and we must pay the most for the behaviour of the global north.
“But we have brothers and sisters throughout the world who recognise interdependence of us humans and continuity of the values of love, justice and equality that Tutu left us with”, he said.