Starting February 1st and 2nd, Dakar, Senegal will host government representatives from low and lower-middle income countries and donors, multilateral and civil society organizations, as well as private sector organizations and foundations, at the Global Partnership for Education Financing Conference. These representatives are coming together under a common goal: to mobilize the funding necessary to meet the objectives established under Sustainable Development Goal 4 by 2030 and thus guarantee the right to quality education for all.
To achieve this ambitious goal, governments from low and lower-middle income countries must (1) substantially increase the funds they currently allocate for education to reach between 15% and 20% of their national public budget; (2) progressively increase the tax base so that they allocate more funds for education; and (3) ensure educational investment becomes more efficient and equitable, thus allocating more funds to the most marginalized and vulnerable populations.
However, this would still be insufficient to guarantee quality early childhood, primary and secondary education for all children by 2030. According to estimates, the funding gap would still amount to $39 billion dollars USD.
This is where the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) comes into play, a multilateral mechanism that, since 2002, channels funds from donor countries to 65 recipient countries and which has managed to facilitate access to quality primary education for 72 million children, among other achievements. Thus, the GPE is an essential funding tool to make the right to education a reality, especially among the most vulnerable groups and contexts. That is why the next Summit in Dakar is such a crucial moment, as it will be when the governments of the donor countries commit funds to contribute to the financing of education where it is most needed.
All of the organizations and coalitions that make up the Global Campaign for Education are coordinating to ensure that governments are up to the essential challenge we will face in the next decade: guarantee the right to education for all people and thus build a more equitable and sustainable world.
Fe y Alegría, a global movement that is present in 11 member countries of the Global Partnership for Education–Bolivia, Chad, Spain, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic and the US–urges the governments of these countries to adopt the commitments proposed by the GPE.
We invite you to help us spread the Fund the Future Campaign through social networks, so that through all of our efforts, our common message reaches our public representatives: Education needs funding now. #FundTheFuture #EducationNow #TaxJustice
Looking for concrete ways to take action? Below are the links for the US Citizen actions that the Global Campaign for Education – US has created online:
Contact your Members of Congress and let them know that you believe that all children and youth around the world should have an education!
Please sign this US Government Petition and ask everyone in your networks to join you in this effort. The Global Campaign for Education-US will distribute this petitition to US Government leadership.
Share “Fund the Future” campaign resources through your social media networks.
