Statement by Alice Albright welcoming the G20 leaders’ declaration and focus on education
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The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) welcomes the G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration which reaffirms G20 commitment to invest in human capital and promote to inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

The G20 leaders’ commitment to education and the launch of the G20 Initiative on Human Capital Investment for Sustainable Development, Quality Education for Creating Inclusive, Resilient and Innovative Societies is another step towards ensuring that every child can go to school and learn, particularly the poorest and most marginalized.

The G20 initiative emphasizes the importance of education for building human capital and sustainable development. It supports concrete actions to invest in quality education, with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries focusing on inclusive growth, innovation, and education for a resilient and inclusive future – all of which are at the center of GPE’s work.

We further welcome the G20 support to invest in education systems, and to “support the Global Partnership for Education … in helping developing countries to overcome the learning crisis and to deliver on these concrete actions on improved education sector planning.”

Acknowledging the impact of girls’ education on human development, the G20 reaffirmed its commitment to “inclusive quality education for all girls and women as both recipients and active participants and decision-makers in the promotion, design, delivery and evaluation of education.” Putting gender at the center is core to GPE’s work and engagement with developing country governments and we are determined to further strengthen this focus in GPE’s next strategic plan.

We are also pleased to see the G20 emphasis on early childhood education to improve equity in education and on “building inclusive and adaptable education systems and services that include planning in anticipation of crisis, conflict, trauma and violence.”

We warmly welcome Japan’s announcement of additional funding for GPE in the lead up to the G20. This demonstrates Japan’s growing leadership in education for development crucial to achieve the ambition of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It also speaks to Japan’s valuable support to development cooperation in Africa, especially ahead of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VII), to be held in Yokohama this August as a premier forum for dialogue on African development. We hope to see education as a key component of TICAD’s agenda.

In Paris next week, gender equality and equitable education will be at the forefront of the G7 education and development ministers’ meetings. We look forward to high-level commitments leading to more tangible progress being made at the G7 leaders’ summit on August 26-28, 2019.

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