On the occasion of International Women’s Day, I was pleased to accept the invitation from Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, Minister Delegate for Francophonie and International Partnerships, to speak at a high-level roundtable in Paris, France, last week.

GPE is a partnership fully committed to investing in education for girls to enhance the societies they live in, and I’d like to share some reflections on the challenges and opportunities we face in our work of advancing girls’ education globally.

GPE’s commitment to education for every girl and boy

At GPE, the heart of our mission is to transform education so every girl and boy, in whatever circumstances they face, can thrive. We believe that education is the bedrock of achieving equality.

Investing in girls’ education is not just a moral imperative; it is one of the smartest investments a country can make.

However, despite the clear benefits, 118.5 million girls remain out of school worldwide. This is a reality we cannot accept.

Challenges in promoting education for girls

While significant progress has been made, girls still face many challenges. Being educated if you are a girl is still dependent on where you happen to be born.

In too many contexts, barriers exist which limit what girls can become and achieve. These barriers include early marriage, gender-based violence, and poverty.

To address these challenges, we must engage boys, men, and community leaders in the conversation. By involving the entire community, we can create a safe and enabling environment that supports and values girls' education.

Empowering girls to reach their full potential

Our approach is helping partner countries diagnose obstacles and implement reforms that provide equal opportunities for boys and girls to access education, stay in school and thrive through their time at school.

In Djibouti, our focus is to reduce the enrollment parity gap in rural areas – addressing not only access to school but also gender-based violence within schools.

Through our Girls’ Education Accelerator, we will support an additional 3.6 million marginalized girls in the most challenging contexts to attend school and receive a quality education.

In Zimbabwe, our grant supplements the broader educational reform efforts by targeting the specific challenges that girls face in staying in school, such as early marriage, gender-based violence, and poverty.

There is still much work to be done. Countries like Nigeria and Pakistan, which have among the highest numbers of child marriages, face significant challenges in addressing educational disadvantages for girls.

In our work, we also support the use of data and evidence to identify gender barriers within education systems and ensure that plans, policies, and processes are in place to address them.

For example, in Nigeria, GPE’s partnership approach will support strategies to promote more women to head teachers and senior administrative positions.

Mobilizing our resources and partnerships

As we continue our collective effort to invest in transforming education, it is crucial that all partners—governments, private foundations, and civil society—join in. We must mobilize resources and partnerships to ensure that no girl is left behind.

School is where boys and girls need to spend their youth enhancing their skills, reinforcing their talents, nurturing their hope, and presenting their early ideas. School is also a model environment where boys and girls should be given equal opportunities to thrive.

Our investment in their education is an investment in our common future, not an expense. Let us commit to this mission and together build a brighter, more equitable future for all.