Speaking at the opening of a joint meeting of the NGOC and CEF on January 13, Mrs. Mohapeloa revealed that the meeting was meant to establish areas of cooperation between the two organisations in view of the upcoming Global Campaign for Education Action Week beginning from April 19 to 25.

While the NGOC serves as a watchdog on matters relating to children, the  CEF strove to promote education as a basic human right and also mobilises pressure by the pubic on government and the international community to fulfill their promises to provide free, compulsory, quality education for all, particularly for children, women and all disadvantaged and deprived sections of society, Mrs. Mohapeloa said.

CEF General Secretary Mr. Robert Ts'euoa said the Forum unites civil society in the common pursuit of the right to quality, compulsory and free education for all, with emphasis on publicly funded education. The organisation believes that education is a universal human right, the key to poverty alleviation and sustainable human development and a core responsibility of the state that it is achievable if governments mobilise the political will and available resources.

The NGOC is a network of 35 non governmental organisations in Lesotho concerned with the rights of the child, initiated in 1998 by Save the Children UK while CEF was established in 2003 as an alliance of diverse independent and voluntary organisations like NGOs, community-based organisations, trade unions and their federations as well as faith-based groupings.

13 January 2004