EU in Eswatini launches annual EU Bushfire Schools Festival 2026

European Union (EU) Ambassador to Eswatini, Karsten Mecklenburg, has presented the concept and its background, together with Festival Coordinator Melanie Dlamini, at the main Eswatini TV breakfast show on 19 February 2026. 

The Ambassador has been highlighting that this longstanding support to connecting young learners with the importance of arts and creativity, does perfectly supplement the historic and current engagement of the EU in Eswatini. Having been instrumental in the past in supporting the almost complete coverage of free primary education, a current EU flagship program is aiming at both market-driven and inclusive skills development and TVET. At the same time, the EU, together with its Member State Finland, is supporting the government on teacher training and curriculum reform. 

However, as the Ambassador highlights in the interview, academic skills, technical or scientific knowledge are only one side of the coin when preparing the young generation for the labour market of today and tomorrow. Apart from an actual perspective to become a professional artist, creativity and critical thinking are general essential requirements for getting fit for the future. With many high schools still struggling to find the resources for including arts in their formal curriculum, the EU Bushfire Schools Festival, which over its 15 years of existence has targeted about 10.000 learners, has therefore been a tremendously important factor in the country. (This has also been recognised by a CNN Africa documentary about the main Festival last year.)

Watch the launch interview: https://youtu.be/ZZbfU4J6Z0U