IPNEd statement on the Global Education Summit
© Global Partnership for Education
On 28-29 July, at the Global Education Summit, co-hosted by the governments of the United Kingdom and Kenya, donor governments raised US$4 billion for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), falling short of GPE’s replenishment target of at least US$5 billion for the next five years.
At the Summit, 23 donors announced pledges to the GPE Fund. This included US$2.75 billion from the G7 and the largest single-donor pledge to GPE of EUR 700 million (US$830 million) from the European Union.
Responding to the outcome of GPE’s replenishment, Hon. Mike Lake MP, IPNEd Regional Representative for North America, who represented the Network at the Summit in London said:
“I welcome the US$4 billion raised to support GPE’s vital work to deliver quality education in lower-income countries.
GPE’s replenishment was a test of the international community’s preparedness to support the education of children living in the world’s poorest countries.
Despite the constraints facing donor governments in the wake of the pandemic, several countries stepped up and increased their support to GPE, or pledged for the first time, when this was needed most. The majority of donors however fall short, either flatlining or even reducing their support to GPE.
With 20 million more girls at risk of dropping out due to the pandemic, we needed much greater ambition and commitment from major economies, like Canada and the United States. In the coming months, donors will need to step up their support to deliver GPE’s objective of enrolling 88 million more children in school over the next five years”.
The Summit also mobilised unprecedented support from GPE partner countries for domestic education financing.
19 Heads of State endorsed the Kenyatta Declaration, which calls for countries to protect education budgets at pre-COVID-19 levels and increase spending to at least 20% of national government expenditure. Over the next five years, the countries endorsing this statement are committing up to US$196 billion in education financing.
In addition to those endorsing the Kenyatta Declaration, 25 countries submitted individual commitments to prioritize and protect the volume of education financing, and improve its efficiency and equity.
Responding to the commitments on domestic financing, MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz, IPNEd Regional Representative for Asia, commented:
“COVID-19 has created the biggest education emergency in our lifetime, risking all the progress that have been achieved in recent decades.
There has never been a more urgent case to invest in education than now. I am delighted that so many national governments made ambitious commitments to increase and improve national financing for education in London.
National financing is the cornerstone to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4. We now need to see universal endorsement of the Kenyatta Declaration across all GPE partner countries and countries following through with the pledges they made at the Summit.
The Summit succeeded in putting domestic financing at the top of the political agenda. We must now work to ensure that it stays there”.
IPNEd Regional Representative Hon. Mike Lake MP, meeting GPE Chair-elect Jakaya Kikwete at the Global Education Summit alongside IPNEd member parliamentarian Hon Florence Mutua MP of the National Assembly of Kenya and IPNEd Executive Director, Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly.
Reflecting on the Global Education Summit, Joseph Nhan-O'Reilly, IPNEd Executive Director, concluded:
“IPNEd member parliamentarians have been at the forefront of GPE’s financing campaign, playing a truly vital role in encouraging their governments to prioritise investment in education at home and abroad.
In coming together across political and geographical divides, their voice in favour of more and better education financing has been unprecedented.
Parliamentarians now hold the keys to ensuring that the commitments made by national governments at the Summit are not only fulfilled but leveraged to deliver a fully-funded GPE and supercharge the investment that is needed to ensure all children access a quality education.
I was delighted to meet with GPE Chair-elect Jakaya Kikwete at the Summit to pledge IPNEd’s continued support to delivering GPE’s vision of a quality education for every child, and discuss our ongoing work to protect and grow education financing as part of IPNEd’s mission to grow political leadership for education”.
To find out more about IPNEd’s work on GPE’s 2021-25 replenishment please visit https://www.ipned.org/global-partnership-for-education-replenishment
