The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI) welcomes the report “Education for All: beating poverty, unlocking prosperity” by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, launched today in South Africa. It rightly sounds the alarm bell about the ‘education crisis’ in the world’s poorest countries; 67 million children still do not go to school and the learning levels of those who do, are often too low. Unfortunately, education has slipped off the international political agenda and Mr. Brown’s call for the G8 and G20 leaders for renewed political and financial engagement, is echoed by the EFA FTI.
Investing in education is smart economics. The report argues that higher learning levels in the 46 poorest countries of the world lead to average increased levels of skills and knowledge resulting to long-term economic growth of 2% per capita. It would also lift 104 million out of abject poverty.

“As the Brown Report notes, education is truly the best development investment,” says Carol Bellamy, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Education for All - Fast Track Initiative (EFA FTI). “When we spend money to educate children in developing countries, we save money on health and hunger initiatives and reduce the need for aid overall.”

"Economists agree that investments in education are good for the global economy", Ms. Bellamy continues. "No economy is ever more developed than its education system. The low levels of education in many developing countries represent lost opportunity both for those countries and potential external partners. The modest increases in international investments in education that this report calls for will pay off many times over. Now, more than ever, it makes strong economic sense to scale up international support for education. I am therefore also pleased with Mr. Brown's call for a solid replenishment of FTI's fund in October this year.”