Here in Doha at the 2012 World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser today launched Educate a Child (EAC), a new initiative focusing on getting more children in school.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a strategic partner in this new initiative. Carol Bellamy, our Board Chair said “Educate A Child will make a valuable contribution to our shared goal of seeing more children in school for a good quality education.” Carol went on to say that Sudan, South Sudan and Chad, the three initial countries which GPE and Educate A Child would collaborate on, “require significant additional education support and we are delighted that Educate A Child has included them in their first round of funding.” The Educate A Child initiative allows us to support these countries in a way that is fully aligned with local education plans and the strategic priorities of both the GPE and our developing country partners.
How will we work together?
GPE will help to facilitate Educate A Child’s engagement and participation with local education groups in GPE partner countries and to harmonize EAC’s financial and technical support. EAC will primarily fund programs that accelerate enrollment of out-of-school children and we will work together to make sure that what we fund is properly evaluated. Finally, we will work together to identify and share best practices in education, with a particular focus on vulnerable, marginalized and hard-to-reach groups.
The Multiplier Effect
This partnership will provide real added value to the work that both our organizations are currently doing. We hope, for example that our collaborative efforts will catalyze additional resources for the education sector for getting more kids in school, particularly those living in countries affected by conflict. Our joint work can also serve as a model for other countries or organizations to invest their resources into programs and projects that are aligned with local education strategies in GPE developing country partners. Finally, through shared advocacy and outreach activities, GPE and EAC can work together to ensure that education remains a priority on the global development agenda, especially as we move toward 2015 and the development of the next phase of Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. Ultimately, this partnership between GPE and Educate a Child means that there will be more resources to ensure that more children go to school and receive a quality education.
Read our press release.