The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (“Education Commission”) established last year is an important initiative and unique opportunity to raise the profile and much needed resources for education. The Education Commission, the brainchild of the Norwegian Government and chaired by UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, comes at a crucial time and boasts an impressive line-up of world leaders and experts.  

Next week, they will gather in London to discuss how to reverse the lack of funding for education. Like others in the international community, I have high hopes for the Education Commission. Much is at stake and I am committed to support the commission and its panels to achieve a successful outcome.

What do we hope to achieve?

The Education Commission’s objectives are clear – to bring together the best evidence about what works and agree an investment case and agenda for action. Some observers may think we already know why education is important and what works - we just need more money - and they are right.

The Global Partnership for Education is a multi-stakeholder partnership and funding platform and funding requests from developing country partners far outstrip supply. But what we (and our partners) have struggled to do is to make a more compelling investment case for education.

The Education Commission can help invigorate the investment case, and identify new sources of funding and effective financing mechanisms to ensure all children are in school and learning. Equally important is its potential to build the political will across the donor community, public and private, to prioritize increased support for effective education programs.

A new era for the Global Partnership for Education

At the end of last year, the Global Partnership’s Board of Directors endorsed a new Strategic Plan for the period 2016 to 2020. It commits the Global Partnership to gradually move to supporting a full cycle of quality education for every child. The strategy is in direct support of what the new Global Goal for education calls for.

At the core of the GPE Strategy 2020 is the Global Partnership’s unique ability to lock together improved sector planning, government-led sector dialogue and monitoring, and the financing needed to improve equity for all, learning outcomes, and education systems. These three elements -- planning, partnership, and financing -- lie at the center of the Global Partnership’s powerful country-focused model.

The GPE Strategy 2020 is our clearest and boldest articulation of what we want to achieve and how we will achieve it, and marks the beginning of a new era for the Global Partnership. But we still have a lot more work to do. Over the next five years, we will strengthen each of the elements of our work to ensure that the Global Partnership has the ability to deliver results and support the expanded vision and ambitious goals set out in the Strategy 2020.

We will develop new financing pathways to mobilize additional international and domestic resources to meet the educational needs of the poorest and most marginalized children. As a first step, our Board has opened the way for the Global Partnership to accept targeted financing. The Global Partnership will work in lock step with the Education Commission to achieve this.

Evidence of what works

In addition, over the coming months, the Global Partnership will develop country-level case studies as input to the Education Commission. The case studies will show how the Global Partnership encourages increased, sustainable and better coordinated international financing for education, and leverages domestic financing that is better targeted to meeting equity and learning goals. We will also look at some of the major barriers and possible solutions to more and better financing for education.

Among the many problems that our partner countries have to contend with is aid fragmentation. Another is the unequal distribution of financial resources within countries and its consequences. These strike at the heart of the Global Partnership model and highlight the importance of sector planning and dialogue as the basis for effective and efficient resource allocation.

As a member of the Commission’s Financing Panel, I will share my ideas about what I think best fits the financing challenges specific to the education context, drawing on my experience in the health and private sectors. One of our immediate priorities should be to identify practical pathways that will help generate long-term predictable financing for education. Success can only be achieved if the Education Commission’s recommendations include specific and executable actions that can lead to better results.

No time to waste

With less than nine months until the Education Commission presents its report at the UN General Assembly in September, there is no time to waste. The commission is a critical step toward achieving the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals. This is a rare opportunity we cannot afford to squander.

The Global Partnership for Education is stepping up: for us, the Global Goal for education isn’t simply noble words on paper. We are truly committed to achieving that goal. Millions of children around the world are counting on us to help them secure a brighter future.