An event last Friday at the White House showed that education is back on the global agenda, and that the US is helping to drive results for children.
Just a day after The Learning for All Ministerial was convened by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown, President Obama’s White House and USAID staff came out in force to show their commitment to basic education in developing countries, and highlighted their work in three countries which also attended the ministerial the previous day, including South Sudan, Nigeria and DRC Congo.
Alice Albright, the Global Partnership for Education’s CEO, was at the table, along with: Gordon Brown; USAID Administrator Raj Shah; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, National Security Council, Gayle Smith; Assistant to the President and Director of the National Economic Council, Gene Sperling; US Department of State, Secretary of State for International Organizations, Esther Brimmer; USAID, Senior Advisor International Education, Christie Vilsack; and Congresswoman Nita Lowey who is the champion of international education on Capitol Hill and the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. The senior U.S. showing was testament to President Obama’s commitment to international education, according to Gayle Smith.
GPE CEO Alice Albright praised the work of the Ministers at the meeting and pledged GPE’s ongoing support. She noted Gene Sperling’s long association with global education in general and GPE in particular, and thanked Gene and Congresswoman Lowey for their many years of commitment to children in developing nations. She urged a “pragmatic approach” in which “all come together to figure out the best set of solutions” to the huge challenges in education, in particular the 61 million primary school-age children who are out of school.
Please take a look at USAID’s press release about the event.
Today's meeting w/ @rajshah @unicef @unesco @gpforeducation @worldbank @ausaid @sarahbrownuk @nitalowey twitter.com/USAIDEducation… — USAID Education (@USAIDEducation) April 19, 2013
We hope you’ll get involved in helping children learn and grow, and join our conversation on Facebook and Twitter.