“US$3.5 Billion is a Small Number When Investing in Children’s Hopes and Dreams”
Investments in education are fundamental to reducing poverty, building vibrant economies and boosting shared prosperity. That was the overall tenor of a series of education meetings this week here in Washington involving many of our partner.
by Alexandra Humme, GPE Secretariat
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4 minutes read
“US$3.5 Billion is a Small Number When Investing in Children’s Hopes and Dreams”

Investments in education are fundamental to reducing poverty, building vibrant economies and boosting shared prosperity.  That was the overall tenor of a series of education meetings this week here in Washington involving many of our partner.

At the Learning for All Symposium on the margins of the World Bank Spring Meetings, Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education highlighted the importance of the Second Replenishment Conference to secure crucial education funding for the post- 2015 period. The conference will take place on June 26, 2014 in Brussels and will be hosted by the European Union.

“The replenishment is a historic opportunity to re-invest in education,” said Alice Albright. “Our goal is to secure US$3.5 billion needed over four years to support 29 million children in school in 66 countries to increase by 25 percent the number of children who complete primary education annually with core reading and numeracy skills. And we are asking our developing country partners to increase their domestic financing for education which would leverage an additional $16 billion in domestic financing.”

Our real clients are children

And then she added something that made me pause. Typically we hear finance ministers and world leaders juggle incredibly large numbers all the time –sometimes they are powerful but sometimes they lose their meaning. 

But Alice Albright said, “US$3.5 billion is a small number in relation to the GDP of the 20 largest economies in the world and a tiny number when compared to the dividends that education pays. We must remember that our real clients are children. Let’s invest in their hopes and their dreams.

And that’s exactly what the GPE Replenishment Pledging Conference is all about: Investing in children. In fact, we are giving our donor partners 250 Million Reasons to Invest in Education. That’s because there are 250 million children in the world who fail to make it to grade 4 or do not reach minimum learning levels. Another incredibly large number!

The Learning for All Symposium: Investing in a Brighter Future was convened by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown and the Global Partnership for Education who along with many other partners focused on ways to support these 250 million children.

We count on our partners…

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the finance ministers in the room to prioritize their limited financial resources on education and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said “The World Bank Group is proud to support the Global Partnership for Education, which brings development partners together in support of countries’ education plans. The GPE replenishment this June is an important opportunity to mobilize new and better investments in education that can change millions of lives.”

We have strong partner in the World Bank and the United Nations Education First Initiative.

…and could not do without them

On Wednesday, our civil society partners held an event Looking Ahead to the June 2014 GPE Pledging Conference highlighting issues and implications for financial support for global education. Charles Tapp, GPE’s Head of Partner Relations and External Affairs stressed in a crowded room full of education supporters that “the replenishment is a global litmus test regarding the world’s commitment to education in the post-2015 era.” And Chernor Bah, Global Youth Advocate urged for the involvement of young people when talking education policy to ensure accountability and inclusiveness.

Earlier on Thursday, the new Emergency Coalition for Global Education Action had been announced at the 2015 Countdown Summit to pressure the international community to take action on behalf of children across the world. The coalition includes celebrities like Shakira, Goldie Hawn and Jude Law who all take a strong stand for education.

The summit was convened by Gordon Brown, U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education who said the education crisis was "unacceptable from a moral, economic and global security perspective". He also urged donor countries to pledge at the GPE Replenishment Conference.

And then Hugh Evans from the Global Poverty Project called on a movement to support our replenishment.

We, at the Global Partnership for Education, are truly grateful to all of our partners for their tremendous support to us and to the cause of children’s education. So, this is a heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported us - not just this week, but all along.

What happened to Washington?

And all of a sudden -- just like that-- education was trending on Twitter in Washington.

What a week for global education in Washington DC!

Financing

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