After over three years of extraordinary contribution to the Global Partnership for Education, Carol Bellamy has announced that she will step down as Board Chair on Friday July 19. GPE will be negotiating new hosting arrangements with the World Bank, choosing a new Chair, launching a critical replenishment campaign and further taking leadership within the education sector. Given the few months left in her tenure, Carol is reluctant to drive decisions that the GPE Board is about to make. Accordingly, after some serious reflection, she decided it best to make more room for these decisions and processes to be as productive as possible. Please see her full statement.

The Governance Working Group of the Board of Directors will continue to manage the previously announced search for a permanent Board Chair, with the appointment expected to be announced at the GPE Board of Directors Meeting in Addis Ababa on 18/19 November.

Carol Bellamy has overseen a remarkable transformation of the Global Partnership over a three and a half year period, including the establishment of a representative Board of Directors, a highly successful rebranding and replenishment campaign, the impressive development of a long-term strategic plan for the Partnership, and in February this year the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer of the GPE Secretariat to help drive the further expansion and evolution of the Partnership. Carol has made a real difference to the Global Partnership and to the lives of children all over the world.

She will be sorely missed by the staff in the GPE Secretariat as well as by GPE’s many partners globally.

All media and external enquiries should be directed to Charles Tapp at ctapp@globalpartnership.org