International leaders from around the world met last week (July 7-8) at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, a decisive political affair used to set priorities for the international agenda for the next few months.

In the weeks prior to this meeting, advocates of the right to education (chief among them, Global Campaign for Education) worked across the globe, pressuring leaders through political and communications measures, to ensure that education played a key role on the G20 agenda.

Apart from a petition signed by more than 145,000 individuals urging G-20 countries to take on measures that guarantee the right to education, coalitions led by the Global Campaign for Education, whose leaders were present at the summit, coordinated a joint letter to sent to each member country.  Said letter demanded an economic commitment that supports and funds the measures and policies necessary to guarantee the fulfillment of the SDG4 — “To ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning,” — through full financing of established mechanisms, among which includes the Global Partnership for Education.

In the end, the work of global education activists paid off, as the end the G20 final statement reflects the will of the international community to enact the 2030 agenda and finance the necessary funds to achieve SDG4 in these terms: “We take note of the proposal from the General Secretary of United Nations to establish a mechanism of international financing for education (International Finance Facility), always taking into account the mechanisms that already exist, like the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait. We will analyze the proposal in more detail… with the objective of offering recommendations”. At this time, we foresee the allocation of a financing plan through which 10 billion dollars will annually be assigned to pay for educational needs all over the world.

Friends of Fe y Alegría in the US embraces with satisfaction the political will shown by the leaders at the G-20 Summit in agreeing to finance education, as it poses an important achievement for the millions of activists that each day work to guarantee the right to education throughout the world. At the same time, there is still much to be done and we will work to ensure that this commitment becomes a reality.