G20 leaders prioritise early education and nutrition
At the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders highlighted the urgent need to address poverty, hunger, and education inequalities.
Meeting at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders highlighted the urgent need to address poverty, hunger, and education inequalities. The new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, unveiled at the G20 summit in Brazil, signals a renewed commitment to improving education and nutrition outcomes for children worldwide.
The mission of the Global Alliance is to support and accelerate efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty, SDGs 1 and 2.
School Meals included in Alliance’s policy basket
One of the key breakthroughs from the summit was the inclusion of school meals in the Alliance’s ‘Policy Basket’.
The policy basket provides a menu of rigorously evaluated policy instruments and programs, which can be adapted to specific national or subnational contexts.
The fact that school meals have been included means that countries who committed to the Financial Support and Knowledge Pillars may support the implementation of the programs and policy instruments available in the Policy Basket.
School meal programmes are game changing interventions that offer unrivalled returns on investment with results in human capital development, social protection, agriculture, climate, gender equity and social cohesion.
At IPNEd, we are working to support parliamentarians to make the case for school meals, pass legislation to scale and improve school meals and ensure government implement their on school meals.
The new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, unveiled at the G20 summit in Brazil, signals a renewed commitment to improving education and nutrition outcomes for children worldwide.
Focus on Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Acknowledging the importance of the early years in shaping lifelong learning and well-being, the Alliance also announced efforts to promote early childhood care and development (ECCD).
Studies demonstrate that investments in ECCD yield substantial benefits, such as better educational outcomes and stronger economic growth. The G20’s focus on early childhood education reflects the growing political will for building strong foundations in the earliest years, which is essential to breaking cycles of poverty and inequality.
In support of the G20 commitments, two education focussed global funding mechanisms pledged to grow their support for early years services.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) committed to spending 10% of funds on early learning and the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFed) pledged to help lower and middle-income countries allocate 10% of their education budgets to early childhood education.
The dual focus on school meals and ECCD is a welcome approach to addressing the barriers that prevent children from reaching their full potential.
IPNEd will continue to advocate for stronger policies and increased investments in these areas, ensuring that commitments, like those made at the G20 Summit, translate into real change for children everywhere.
