Washington, September 23, 2015 -- The Global Partnership for Education welcomes the timely launch of the new International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunities. The Commission includes more than 20 world leaders, including five former presidents and prime ministers and three Nobel Prize recipients.
“We are very pleased that our Board Chair Julia Gillard will be a member of this important commission and its crucial and urgent work,” said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer, Global Partnership for Education. “As agreed in Addis Ababa in July, now is the time to scale-up action and funding for education. We look forward to working with our partners on the Commission to explore new and strategic education financing approaches and to building the political will to secure a step change in support for global education. The Global Partnership will strongly support the work of the new Commission in any way we can.”
The Commission is the result of a Norwegian initiative led by Prime Minister Solberg and Commission chairman, Gordon Brown. The launch coincides with the adoption of the new, ambitious sustainable development goal on global education by the United Nations General Assembly this Friday.
It is expected that the Commission will invigorate global education financing and identify more effective and better coordinated ways to deploy resources, ensuring that children around the world are in school and learning.
The focus of the Commission will be to bridge the finance gap for global education estimated by UNESCO/GMR at US$39 billion per year between 2015 and 2030, and put global education funding on a sustainable basis.
Globally, 124 million children are out of school. One third to one half of them live in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Aid to basic education has dropped by 8 percent between 2010 and 2013 while overall aid to development increased by 8.5 percent over the same period.
Recognizing that education is key to fighting poverty and overall development, the Commission will also explore how better education could lead to greater economic growth, better health outcomes, and improved global security over the next two decades.
It will make recommendations to the UN Secretary-General in September 2016.
The Commission is co-convened by Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, President Peter Mutharika of Malawi and the Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova.
The inaugural meeting of the Commission will take place on September 29 during the United Nations General Assembly and focus on building the economic case to inspire and persuade world leaders to action.
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The commission includes the following leaders:
Anant Agarwal, CEO, EdX
José Manuel Barroso, Former President, European Commission
Felipe Calderón, Former President, Mexico
Kristin Clemet, Managing Director, Civita, Former Minister of Education and Research, Former Minister of Labour and Government Administration, Norway
Aliko Dangote, CEO, Dangote Group
Julia Gillard, Chair, Global Partnership for Education and Former Prime Minister, Australia
Baela Raza Jamil, Adviser/Trustee, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)
Lee Ju-ho, Former Korean Minister of Education
Jakaya Kikwete, President, Tanzania
Jim Kim, President, World Bank Group
Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group
Graça Machel, Founder, Graça Machel Trust
Strive Masiyiwa, CEO, Econet Wireless
Teopista Birungi Mayanja, Founder, Uganda National Teachers Union
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Former Minister of Finance, Nigeria
Shakira Mebarak, International Artist; Founder, Fundación Pies Descalzos
Patricio Meller, Professor, University of Chile and President, Fundación Chile
Kailash Satyarthi, Founder, Bachpan Bachao Andolan
Amartya Sen, Professor, Harvard University
Theo Sowa, CEO, African Women’s Development Fund
Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus, Harvard University; 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton and Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Former Prime Minister, Denmark
Yuriko Koike, Member of the House of Representatives, Former Minister of Defense, Japan
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development for the United Arab Emirates will join the inaugural meeting of the Commission. Jeffrey Sachs, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advisor, will join the third meeting of the Commission. Kennedy Odede, Founder and CEO, SHOFCO and Rosemarie Ramitt, Young Voices Guyana, will Co-Chair a Youth Panel. Malala Yousafzai will also join the Commission’s youth panel.