The GPE team is back from an action-packed week at the United National General Assembly and there is a definite vibe of renewed excitement about our mission to put education first and the strategic plan for 2012-2015. Perhaps it helped that we told 60,000 people in Central Park of New York City and millions more online viewers on Saturday, September 29th about our plans to raise an additional $500 million to help children living in conflict-affected countries.

Before the concert, we ran into other presenters including GPE partner UNICEF, United Nations special advisor Jeffrey Sachs, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunis, just to name a few. I stood near musical artist K’Naan just after his performance as we intently watched the Band of Horses on stage. Just before K’Naan left, he noticed a young man standing next to him and without hesitation shook the boy’s hand, leaned over and said something along the lines of “amazing, right?!” Amazing was exactly the vibe the festival organizers were after…and I’m not just talking about the performances by K’Naan, Band of Horses, The Black Keys, Foo Fighters, John Legend and Neil Young with Crazy Horse. The Global Poverty Project put on a show which perfectly balanced the rock concert with NGO pledges and commitments, eye-opening documentaries about extreme poverty and inspirational messages from celebrities.

For example, GPE Board Chair Carol Bellamy joined pop-star actress and education advocate Sophia Bush onstage, along with Adam Braun of the NGO Pencils of Promise, at the Global Poverty Project’s “Global Citizen Festival” in Central Park. Sophia Bush said “If we are to end extreme poverty, then every child–every future Global Citizen—needs a good education. It is not just for the privileged few, it is a RIGHT for every child.” Carol followed Sophia Bush by explaining to the crowd that 61 million primary school-aged children are not in school–28 million of them because their homes are torn by war, conflict and natural disasters. “Every child–no matter how poor, no matter how difficult his or her circumstances–deserves an education so they can have hope for their future. Educating children–especially girls–increases their incomes, improves their health and nutrition, and it literally saves lives,” she said. Carol went on to pledge that the Global Partnership for Education will raise an additional $500 million to educate children who live in countries experiencing war and violence, floods, earthquakes or other humanitarian emergencies. This pledge will help build 80,000 classrooms, train over 100,000 teachers and distribute 10 million textbooks to children in desperate need of an education.

Adam Braun from Pencils of Promise followed Carol pledging that his organization will expand into Africa this year where 17 million children will never go to school. Pencils of Promise also pledged to match our $500 million by mobilizing a campaign to get 500,000 voices to rally for a quality education for all. Our pledge tied for the largest financial commitment of all pledges at the Global Citizen Festival with our partner UNICEF who pledged to raise $500 million by 2015 to fight for the survival and development of all kids! Other notable pledges included the World Food Program’s $15 million commitment to fight childhood malnutrition in Central America, World Vision’s $14.5 million pledge to combat child & maternal mortality.

Watch the video that aired just after our pledge, featuring a Cambodian girl named Srei and her quest to get an education and Surik, the Cambodian national coordinator for the GPE data collection project (and thanks to Natasha Graham for making this happen). Learn more about our work in crisis zones and get involved.