Today is my first day as Chief Executive Officer at GPE.
I am grateful to join a partnership with such an essential mission: to make education a reality for millions of children who are shut out of school or don’t learn enough even if they attend school.
I see education as the springboard to a more equal and just world: a world where any child, even if they were born in a poor family, come from a minority group, live in a remote area or have a disability, has access to the right teachers and learning to thrive and lead a fulfilling life.
Education is a public good, not just because it gives individuals the opportunity to channel their potential to better themselves, but because it is also the catalyst to improve society as a whole.
Education builds a skilled population, the precondition to countries’ stability, economic growth and development.
Education must lead to jobs
“Transforming education” is not just a catchy slogan. It ensures that we’re not limiting our view to what’s happening in the classroom. Instead, it means seeing education as a system, with many different participants and inputs, and with the expectation that it will help children transition from learners to adults with jobs.
Through education, they will have the ability to earn an income, to be good citizens, to make decisions for themselves and their families.
An educated mother will be a better mother to her children; she’ll know how to take care of their health, how to feed them nutritious meals, how to guide them on their own education path. Education is what makes everything else possible.
GPE’s unique value
One of GPE’s most unique and greatest assets is the “P” in our name: the partnership. I strongly believe that bringing all stakeholders’ voices to the table, acting as a convener and neutral broker, is the only way we will help countries progress toward a sustainable future.
Civil society has a role to play to ensure no one is left behind and to keep governments honest. The private sector has a role to play to ensure the skills that children learn in school is what they will need for the jobs of the future, 50% of which don’t even exist yet.
Throughout my professional life, I have worked with bilateral and multilateral organizations, with the private sector, and I bring this knowledge and experience to GPE.
Keeping education as a priority in a changing world
One of my priorities is to ensure that GPE has the resources it needs to achieve its objective of helping 175 million children learn by 2025. The pandemic has created devastating learning losses. We must invest in education now to turn this trajectory around before it’s too late.
When I visit partner countries in the coming months, I look forward to meeting children and asking them about what they learn in school. I look forward to discussing with government officials and partners to understand the challenges they face and how GPE can help overcome them.
Let’s seize the momentum from the UN Transforming Education Summit last September and keep education top of mind for policy makers and world leaders. I will remind them that GPE is the only platform with the dedicated funds, convening power and tools to help drive lasting change through education.
I look forward to learning from the Secretariat staff, from the Board of Directors and from the many partners that I will soon meet, about what it has taken to bring GPE so far, and what is needed to continue to strengthen the partnership and achieve results together.