Brussels, June 14, 2018 --- The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Board of Directors met in Brussels, Belgium, June, 12-14, 2018.
I was honored to welcome Minister Serigne Mbaye Thiam, Senegal’s Minister of National Education, as the Board’s new Vice Chair. Minister Thiam’s appointment recognizes his remarkable achievements in improving the education system in Senegal, his global leadership in education advocacy as well as his extraordinary support to GPE over the past years.
The Board reflected on the success of the GPE Financing Conference, which took place in Dakar, Senegal, 1-2 February 2018. Board members expressed great appreciation to the hosts, President Sall of Senegal and President Macron of France and to the scores of leaders who participated and demonstrated their commitment to improving education outcomes for the world’s most vulnerable children.
The Board has already moved with the allocation of funds to new grants and the scale-up of the GPE Multiplier. Board members applauded the initial success of the Multiplier which has exceeded expectations: allocation of less than US$90 million will leverage more than US$360 million in additional finance to education. Twenty new implementation grant proposals are expected in 2018, almost twice the number of the previous two years combined.
The Board met at the midpoint of GPE 2020, the partnership’s 5-year strategic plan, and took the opportunity to reconsider the steps needed to keep improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the partnership in delivering on the collective commitment to improving equity and learning outcomes through stronger education systems.
These discussions were guided by a review of the partnership’s country-level operations and the Results Report 2018 – an annual measurement of progress against the results framework of GPE 2020. Twenty-two of 28 milestones were met and, importantly there is clear progress in areas that are fundamental to better learning outcomes, including improvements in education sector planning and increased domestic finance.
The Board approved a workplan for fiscal year 2019 and a budget that includes particular attention to those areas where progress is not on track. The Board agreed that further action by each of the partners is critical.
In looking to the future, the Board made decisions on considering its institutional arrangements, strengthening risk management and streamlining grant processes.
We warmly thank the host of the meeting, the European Commission, for their hospitality and guidance.