At the end of September world leaders gathered in New York to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, as part of an updated, inclusive and sustainable development agenda for the next 15 years.

This comes following the largest consultative program in the history of the United Nations, which involved open working group discussions with representatives from 70 countries, thematic and national consultations, door-to-door surveys, and the global online ‘MyWorld’ survey.

The scope and ambition of the Global Goal on education (SDG4) has been rightly celebrated by education activists – it covers the full spectrum of education, going far beyond enrollment in primary education that formed the heart of the education Millennium Development Goals.

This would not have been possible without the sustained and targeted efforts of civil society. As the world’s largest civil society movement working to realize the right to education for all, the Global Campaign for Education has participated actively in these consultations, and its members, representing civil society at national, regional and global levels, have engaged with post-2015 processes since negotiations began.

Coalitions involved with GCE’s Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) have utilised CSEF resources and tools to boost their engagement.

In Nepal, citizens’ voices are heard

The National Campaign for Education Nepal (NCE Nepal), supported by CSEF since 2009, works in collaboration with its 286 members and represents a broad base of civil society voices in Nepal. NCE Nepal submitted its own civil society report during the EFA review period, and was invited by the government to input into the official National EFA Review at national, regional and district levels.

Several of the coalition’s recommendations were incorporated in the final report, on issues including teacher training, multilingual learning, needs-based learning for adults and youth, marginalized groups, and early childhood care and development (ECCD).

Moreover, following an extensive consultation conducted with CSEF support, NCE Nepal released a position paper on SDG4, to illustrate national priority targets. This was shared with the NGO Federation of Nepal, which is the SDG national coordinating body for civil society.

Advocating for early education and marginalized children

Despite impressive progress shown in pre-primary education enrollment rates over the last 15 years (84.2% of children enrolled in 2013, compared to just 18.1% in 2004), quality and availability of provision remain priorities for the NCE Nepal.

Early education is key for learning in later years, and in line with the SDG target on pre-primary education, NCE Nepal has advocated for improved teachers’ conditions, and suitable teaching materials and learning environments.

The coalition also urged the government to give serious attention to education for marginalized groups, such as street children, domestic workers, children with disabilities, dalits, and linguistic minority communities – all of whose learning outcomes are below the national average.

In acknowledging these issues in the SDG processes, and making a space for formal participation of civil society in national-level fora, the government of Nepal is signalling a strong commitment to universalize education in the country.

Nigerians demand better education

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, despite efforts to expand access to school over the last decade, there are still more than 10.5 million children who are not in school, and the gap between the richest and poorest students accessing education has widened.

Sustained insurgent activity in the north by terrorist group Boko Haram has forced huge numbers of children out of school, and poses a grave challenge to stability. However, the change in government this year brings with it new opportunities.

GCE member and CSEF-supported coalition CSACEFA (Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All) has lobbied hard to push education to the forefront of the new government’s agenda.

It is already a priority for Nigerian citizens - of the more than 8 million people who voted education as a top priority in the UN’s MyWorld survey, over 1.6 million were from Nigeria.

CSACEFA ran awareness campaigns (like the Thumbs Up For Education! national campaign), increased training and capacity of members in areas such as proposal writing, board management and local government engagement, and conducted advocacy training for young education activists.

Engagement with the new government has been positive so far. During this year’s Global Action Week, a government representative announced the President’s commitment to increase funding for education and reviewing the Universal Basic Education Act.

Civil society’s education priorities are heard

CSACEFA welcomed this, as well as the fact that space was provided for civil society contributions to the official positions on the SDGs. CSACEFA was able to engage actively in the National EFA Review process and included priority areas in the final report: education in emergencies, eliminating gender disparities in education, ensuring adequate training for teachers, reducing teacher/pupil ratios, especially in rural areas and providing safe and non-violent learning environments with adequate facilities, with a focus on girls.

A representative of the coalition was supported by CSEF to participate in UNGA events in 2014, where she had the chance to discuss these priorities with the Minister of Finance and Minister of Education during a side meeting.

The availability of accurate data is another pressing challenge in Nigeria – this is essential in order to allocate attention and resources in the best way possible.

The coalition urged the post-2015 negotiation team to work with the National Bureau for Statistics and the Education Management and Information System to address this issue. The government has pledged to do this, and to maintain this open dialogue with civil society.

Next steps: ensuring that promises are kept

Of course, the next challenge for national coalitions will be the implementation and monitoring of the agenda, including the formulation of national-level indicators.

In countries affected by conflict or natural disasters, like Nigeria and Nepal, this is no small feat. However, since education is a catalyst for sustainable development, and therefore essential to the success of the new global agenda, civil society will continue to hold governments to account for their promise - to make quality education for all a reality.

This piece was written by Rebecca White (Communications Officer) and Kjersti J. Mowe (Networks and Learning Manager) at the GCE Secretariat, with the help from Ram Gaire (Program Manager at the National Campaign for Education Nepal), and Chioma Osuji (Policy Adviser at the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All in Nigeria). NCE Nepal and CSACEFA are two of the 54 national civil society education coalitions supported by the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF), which operates in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The CSEF is managed by the Global Campaign for Education, and funded by the Global Partnership for Education.