Today Global Citizen, the Send My Friend to School coalition, and the One Campaign are taking the voices of 1.4 million to the UK Prime Minister to call for investment in education for all children, everywhere.
Thousands and thousands of people have come together to take action because they know that investing in education is essential for sustainable development – for ending poverty, improving health outcomes, and empowering girls and women.
They include over 300,000 British children who have participated in the ‘Send My Friend to School’ campaign, and 1.1 million people from the United Kingdom and around the world who have signed petitions, emailed their local member of Parliament (MP), or tweeted DFID as members of Global Citizen and the ONE Campaign.
Months of campaigning raise voices in the UK and around the world
Stephen Twigg MP, chair of the International Development Committee, will join representatives from the campaigns today to take the message directly to Downing Street. They are asking Prime Minister Theresa May to invest in education around the world by making a pledge of US$500 million to the Global Partnership for Education, ahead of the Financing Conference on February 1-2, 2018.
This is the culmination of months of campaigning, which has seen countless MPs visiting their local school to hear about why young people think investing in education around the world is important. There have been lots of creative actions such as photo stunts, marches, song-writing and more, as well as huge engagement online and on social media to get the word out and build support.
Today’s action coincides with the sending of a letter from Stephen Twigg and Henry Smith, co-signed by 53 other MPs, to Penny Mordaunt, the new Secretary of State for International Development. This cross-party letter echoes the call of the 1.4 million campaigners in requesting a UK pledge of US$500 million at the GPE Financing Conference.
Keeping our promises so that children don’t miss out on education
These campaigners and MPs know that education is powerful and transformative, for each child and their family, but also for whole communities and countries.
However, there are 264 million children and young people missing out on school across the world. The GPE replenishment offers a huge window of opportunity to change that. Over 1.4 million campaigners – as well as cross-party group of MPs - will be watching closely, in hope, to see if the UK and world leaders hear their call and take this important opportunity to deliver on their global promise of education for all the world’s children.