The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) welcomes the G7 Charlevoix Declaration on Quality Education for Girls, Adolescent Girls and Women in Developing Countries and applauds the priority focus at this year's summit on the need for quality education, especially during times of conflict and crisis. We also welcome the recognition of GPE as a partner in the G7’s efforts to increase equal access to quality education for girls and women.

This follows last year’s Taormina Progress Report: Investing in Education for Mutual Prosperity, Peace and Development in which the G7 reflected on the historic role it has played in education since it launched GPE in 2002 to help developing countries build strong and sustainable education systems. All G7 countries are GPE donors and several significantly increased their investment at the GPE Financing Conference which took place in Dakar, Senegal, from 1-2 February, 2018.

GPE fully supports the recommendations by the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council for “safe, healthy, educated, heard and empowered girls and women [to be] supported with the resources and opportunities they need to be agents of change in their own lives and for a better world.”

Gender equality both in and through education is at the core of GPE 2020, the partnership’s strategic plan 2016-2020. GPE is committed to building strong education systems that leave no one behind, including through investments in gender-responsive sector planning, gender disaggregated data collection, accelerated funding and transitional planning in emergencies as well as knowledge and innovation exchange.

GPE’s results include:

• 38 million additional girls enrolled in primary school across GPE partner countries between 2002 and 2015;
• 74% of girls finished primary school in 2015 in GPE partner countries compared to 57% in 2002;
• Over the same period, 48% of girls completed lower-secondary school in GPE partner countries compared to 35%.

See the 2017 statement by Julia Gillard on the G7’s commitment for education.