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Annual Report 2021
June 07, 2022
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Annual Report 2021

  • 2021 in review
  • Transforming education
  • Gender equality
  • Working together
  • Raise Your Hand
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2021 was dominated by the ongoing pandemic and its devastating impacts on education and learning for millions of children around the world. To support partner country education systems under enormous duress, in 2021 GPE provided more than $740 million in education grants.

Leaning on the breadth of the partnership, GPE provided technical and financial support to sustain country-led efforts to strengthen education systems, bolster national responses to the COVID-19 crisis and help governments cope with conflicts, displacement and disasters. As a result, millions of girls and boys were able to continue learning despite challenging circumstances.

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2021 in review

The Raise Your Hand financing campaign culminated in the Global Education Summit online and live in London in July, hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, and raising $4 billion for GPE 2025.
The GPE Board of Directors approved a new Board committee structure as well as a new evaluation policy and results framework to support the delivery of GPE 2025.
GPE launched a new approach to transforming education systems in six partner countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Kenya, Nepal Tajikistan and Uganda. The second round of countries included: Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, the Comoros, Fiji, The Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Zimbabwe.
His Excellency Jakaya Kikwete became the new Chair of the GPE Board of Directors and Dr. Susan Liautaud joined as Vice‑Chair.
Estonia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the LEGO Foundation joined the partnership.
19 heads of state endorsed the Call to Action on Education Finance, demonstrating partner countries' strong commitment to funding education.
The GPE Knowledge and Innovation Exchange funded action-research initiatives in 32 countries and brought together more than 14,000 people through learning events.
Two new innovative financing instruments were launched: the GPE Match and the Smart Education Financing Initiative (the latter in partnership with the Arab Coordination Group).
Education Out Loud, GPE’s fund for civil society advocacy, approved 19 grants for activities across 56 countries. Grantees were instrumental in influencing 22 national policy changes in 18 countries to better embrace education as a fundamental human right.
$467 million in COVID-19 accelerated financing supported 66 countries through the second year of the pandemic.
New guidance was published on strengthening the effectiveness of local education groups and joint sector monitoring in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GPE approved new grants totaling $740 million.
Development banks, foundations, businesses as well as bilateral and multilateral agencies mobilized more than $1.5 billion in catalytic cofinancing to the GPE Multiplier and the Girls' Education Accelerator.
The 2021 Results Report, the last in the series reporting against the GPE 2020 results framework, showcased how GPE contributed to better education outcomes in partner countries.
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Punkaj Kumar Das with his school books outside Shree Ram Narayan Ayodhaya School in Pipra, Mahottari District, Nepal. Credit GPE/Kelley Lynch
Punkaj Kumar Das with his school books outside Shree Ram Narayan Ayodhaya School in Pipra, Mahottari District, Nepal.
GPE/Kelley Lynch

Transforming education

In 2021, the ongoing health crisis continued to cause unprecedented disruptions to education in GPE partner countries, where girls, students with disabilities, displaced children and other marginalized children bear the greatest risk of never returning to education.

Governments responded with innovative and comprehensive efforts to keep children learning and safely reopen schools, supported by more than $500 million in COVID‑19 emergency grants from GPE.

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GPE’s COVID-19 response

To better respond to countries’ needs, GPE launched a sharpened approach building on lessons from the past five years. The new approach places a greater focus on leveraging the full power of the partnership by convening a diverse range of actors to identify priority reforms – those with the greatest potential for catalyzing transformational change in education systems – and aligning partners, resources and expertise behind nationally-led efforts to deliver these shifts at scale. To help catalyze change, GPE also offers countries a more flexible array of funding options tailored to their needs and priorities.

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GPE supports system transformation

GPE 2025 identifies support to countries affected by fragility and conflict as a key priority, because children in these countries are more likely to be out of school and more vulnerable to learning loss. During conflicts and disasters, schools are often destroyed or become unsafe and children and teachers may become forcibly displaced. Crises exacerbate disadvantages for girls. In Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mali and Yemen, GPE is working closely with partners to sustain support, and plan response and recovery by promoting alignment, strengthening capacity, and building back better education systems.

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GPE support to education in crisis situations
Ghana: Ensuring education for all children in times of COVID-19
Read how GPE helped the government of Ghana to make sure the education of children wasn’t interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tajikistan’s strengthened commitment to improve the quality of learning
Read how Tajikistan is using GPE 2025 to implement priority reforms that will lead to quality and inclusive education and drive transformation at scale.
Vanuatu: Tackling the impact of natural disasters by building a resilient education system
Vanuatu is considered the world’s most at-risk country for natural disasters. GPE is supporting the country to build a resilient education system and ensure learning continues for all children after natural disasters and the pandemic.
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Gender equality

Girls and boys experience different opportunities and face different barriers to going to school and learning. To achieve education transformation at scale, strategies must be designed that consider gendered experiences and meet the specific needs of girls and boys to help overcome obstacles ranging from distance to schools, cultural norms and practices, school hygiene, gender-based violence, child labor and early marriage.

Gender equality in education is “hardwired” into every aspect of GPE’s operations, leadership and advocacy.

In 2021, GPE launched the $250 million Girls’ Education Accelerator, a funding window that provides additional support to countries that have committed to gender equality and girls’ education as a focus for system transformation through their partnership compacts.

Learn more on GPE and gender equality Learn more on the Girls’ Education Accelerator
A girl in school in Tajikistan. GPE/Carine Durand
A girl in school in Tajikistan.
GPE/Carine Durand
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Working together to
drive change

Throughout 2021, GPE forged new alliances and secured commitments to broaden support to partner countries:

  • The Asian Development Bank joined the Islamic Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank in becoming a GPE partner, immediately pledging to double its support to education programs to 10 percent of total commitments by 2024.
  • At the RewirEd summit, GPE and the Arab Coordination Group launched the Smart Education Financing initiative, generating half a billion dollars in innovative financing for education for 37 countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, where 28 million children have been left out of school.
  • GPE worked with philanthropic foundations -- Comic Relief, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, LEGO Foundation, Dubai Cares, the Rockefeller Foundation -- to find innovative ways to strengthen education sectors in partner countries, involving them in national and global education policy efforts and broadening their experience in areas including advocacy, technical support, assessment, planning and financing.
  • GPE created the GPE Match grant to double qualifying philanthropic investments by businesses or foundations in partner countries.
  • GPE launched the Girls' Education Awareness Program to harness the expertise of national and international companies in communications, marketing and advocacy and complement government-led gender equality initiatives in Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
  • Through the Education Data Leadership Program, business community partners are lending their expertise in data competency to ministries of education.
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Raise Your Hand campaign and Global Education Summit
Raise Your Hand campaign and Global Education Summit

Raise Your Hand campaign and
Global Education Summit

The Raise Your Hand campaign aimed to mobilize support from an increasingly diverse range of partners, centering education as an urgent priority on the global agenda at a time when the pandemic, economic uncertainty, conflict and climate change are demanding the world's attention.

The campaign culminated in the Global Education Summit in July 2021. Cohosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the two-day hybrid event brought together leaders from governments, businesses, private foundations and development banks to commit funding and support to children's education in the world's lowest-income countries.

Raise Your Hand & Support Her Education bring UN Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai, GPE Chair Julia Gillard and others together to discuss the power of girls' education to shape our collective future.
Raise Your Hand & Support Her Education bring UN Messenger of Peace Malala Yousafzai, GPE Chair Julia Gillard and others together to discuss the power of girls' education to shape our collective future.
Celebrities, leaders and activists know the importance of ensuring that all girls and boys around the world get a quality education, giving them the chance to thrive and create a more sustainable future for all, including international football star Didier Drogba and singer Youssou N'dour.
Celebrities, leaders and activists know the importance of ensuring that all girls and boys around the world get a quality education, giving them the chance to thrive and create a more sustainable future for all, including international football star Didier Drogba and singer Youssou N'dour.
G7 leaders in Cornwall called for a fully funded GPE and announced a pledge of $2.75 billion.
G7 leaders in Cornwall called for a fully funded GPE and announced a pledge of $2.75 billion.
The Global Education Summit in London raises $4 billion.
The Global Education Summit in London raises $4 billion.
35 youth leaders, aged 18-29, are instrumental in raising the profile of GPE's campaign throughout 2021, sharing their views via social and traditional media outlets and participating in more than 80 education-focused events worldwide.
35 youth leaders, aged 18-29, are instrumental in raising the profile of GPE's campaign throughout 2021, sharing their views via social and traditional media outlets and participating in more than 80 education-focused events worldwide.
19 heads of state endorse the Call to Action on Education Finance to protect education spending at pre-COVID levels and to commit 20% of public spending to education.
19 heads of state endorse the Call to Action on Education Finance to protect education spending at pre-COVID levels and to commit 20% of public spending to education.
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Download PDF: English (4.18 MB) | Français (3.99 Mo)
Focus areas: Governance
Document type: Progress reports
Language: English
Year: 2022
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