Case for investment

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform education and unlock the future we want. GPE will need at least US $5 billion for 2021–2025 to support lower-income countries to do exactly that.

At least $5 billion for catalytic change

$5+ billion for catalytic change

GPE’S RIPPLE EFFECT
An investment in GPE ripples out across sectors, generating impact for generations. Strong education systems accelerate progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals by boosting economies; driving gender equality and helping build more inclusive societies; promoting health, nutrition and well-being; and building resilience against shocks from climate change and conflict.

With funding of at least $5 billion over five years, leveraging resources and targeting them where they will have the most transformative impact, GPE can catalyze real change. A fully funded GPE will deliver a disproportionate impact that goes far beyond our direct investments

GPE leverages the power of our partnership and uses funds as catalytic capital to mobilize even more education financing through proven innovative mechanisms like the GPE Multiplier while also ensuring a focus on improving the volume, equity and efficiency of domestic financing.

Read a message by young people to world leaders

The ripple effects of investing in GPE will get more children learning, boost economies, contribute to gender equality and, in the long run, help create more sustainable, peaceful and resilient societies.

Funded to at least $5 billion over five years, GPE would boost discretionary finance available to education ministries in low-income partner countries by nearly a third, enabling them to drive transformation to deliver learning for the furthest behind and build more resilient systems for the future.

View the methodology for the Case for Investment indicators

GPE’s edge

Doing the right thing
Doing the right thing
We work to transform education systems so that every girl and boy can get 12 years of quality education plus one year of preschool.
In the right places
In the right places
We channel most of our support to the lowestincome and crisis-affected countries.
At the right time
At the right time
We help keep education systems running through conflict, disasters and health emergencies.
And at scale
At scale
We use our funds as catalytic capital to leverage billions of additional dollars in domestic and international financing for education.

Domestic financing

More than two-thirds of resources for education in low and lower-middle income countries come from domestic public expenditure, representing the greatest volume of financing for education

GPE focuses on improving the volume, equity and efficiency of domestic resources - an approach core to our model, and foundational to GPE 2025 and our financing campaign.

For maximum impact, this approach is context-driven and creates incentives for greater investments to transform education systems.

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Eligible countries

90 countries and territories eligible for GPE support in 2021-2025 are home to more than 80% of the world’s out-of-school children

Eligible countries

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Girls’ education: The path to progress

Barsha Kumari Pashawal, 12 (left) and her best friend (and neighbor) Chandni, 11. Credit: GPe Kelley Lynch

Read Barsha's story

Investments in school age girls have the highest returns in tackling future gender inequalities. GPE is uniquely positioned to be a government’s strongest ally in striving for education that leaves no girl behind.

Since 2002, GPE has helped partner countries enroll an additional 82 million girls in school.

Our tailored approach helps countries apply solutions that will drive change at scale:

  • Democratic Republic of the Congo: GPE helped implement a dedicated girls’ education strategy to tackle harmful sociocultural norms and practices against girls.
  • Pakistan: In Sindh province, GPE helped ensure that schools have toilet and sanitation facilities that meet girls’ needs and help keep them safe.
  • Burundi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Senegal: GPE’s targeted COVID-19 support is helping prevent gender-based violence against girls during the crisis.

Universal girls’ education would practically end child marriage, more than halve infant mortality and drastically reduce early childbearing, overcoming some of the main drivers of gender inequality. Greater gender equality in education, and beyond, can be the foundation for more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable societies.

A fully funded GPE would help ensure an additional 46 million girls enroll in school on the path to a full 12 years of quality education in the next five years.

Achievements in partner countries

Since 2002, GPE has been mobilizing funds and partnerships to support governments in lower-income countries to achieve lasting results.

160 million more children are in school in GPE partner countries.
160 million
more children are in school in GPE partner countries
2X the number of girls are on the path to equality.
2X
the number of girls are on the path to equality
$6 billion saved through efficiencies in education spending.
$6 billion
saved through efficiencies in education spending
Over $500 million for COVID-19 global education response.
Over $500 million
for COVID-19 global education response

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The GPE partnership

The power of the partnership is in all stakeholders coming together behind partner country leadership.

Globally, the GPE Board sets strategy, debates policy and allocates funds.

At the country level, GPE supports government-led education sector coordination and brings partners together in local education groups to drive transformation and ensure the voices of the most marginalized are represented in decision-making. GPE coordinates, convenes and collaborates with actors across the whole global education sector to ensure optimal outcomes for the furthest behind children.

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GPE 2025

GPE’s most ambitious strategy to date will accelerate efforts to reach Sustainable Development Goal 4 through transformed education systems. We will help optimize education systems so that all children can learn, including those marginalized by poverty, ethnicity, disability and displacement, and put gender equality at the heart of what we do and how we operate.

To ensure all girls and boys can learn equally, learn early and learn well, GPE will focus on the following:

  • Narrowing in on the most stubborn barriers to get every child learning
  • Getting money to where it matters most
  • Using smart funding requirements and incentives to drive change
  • Helping education ministries influence budget allocations
  • Using innovative finance to support national priorities.

EFFECTING CHANGE THROUGH COUNTRY GRANTS
A fully funded GPE will help partner countries build 78,000 classrooms, buy 512 million textbooks and train 2.2 million teachers, but this is only the beginning. We leverage our strength as a partnership to ensure that GPE funds create transformational change, delivering added value for every dollar we invest.

COVID-19

GPE mobilized our most rapid and largest ever emergency response to help prevent a deepening loss of learning and potential.

By quickly focusing on the right things in the right places, GPE’s COVID-19 fund is helping governments sustain learning for up to 355 million children in lower-income countries, with a sharp focus on those hardest hit by school closures: girls, children with disabilities and children from the poorest families.

By acting at the right time and at scale, GPE provided dedicated funding of over half a billion U.S. dollars to partner countries, making us the single-largest source of grants to education as part of the worldwide response.

Education ministries and their partners are using GPE funds to keep learning going, support the safe reopening of schools and strengthen the resilience of their education systems to respond to future emergencies.

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Download the Case for investment