Malala Yousafzai’s inspiring address at the United Nations earlier this year will not soon be forgotten. Dominating headlines around the world, Malala—the young Pakistani education activist who was shot by the Taliban last October—shone the spotlight on what has been labeled an “education emergency.” In doing so, Malala drew attention to the fact that 57 million children still go through life without a basic primary education.
Such a rallying cry could not have come at a more important time. With less than 1,000 days until the deadline for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, the world stands on the verge of breaking the promise we made to children everywhere at the dawn of the century—the promise of universal primary education for all children by 2015.
Don’t get me wrong; we have certainly made amazing progress toward achieving this goal. Globally, the number of children who do not go to school has been reduced by 48 million since 2000. Certain programs in particular highlight the dramatic improvements that are possible through collaboration and partnership. My friends at the Cotton On Foundation, for instance, tell me that student pass rates in Mannya Village—where the organization works in Uganda—have skyrocketed from 26 to 95 percent in just five years. Despite stories of such uplifting progress, the global community needs to rapidly accelerate its efforts if we are to see every child put into primary school by the 2015 deadline.
While development is undoubtedly a complex business, the international community could take two clear actions right now that would significantly boost efforts to provide basic education for millions of children. First, countries like the United States could increase funding for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the only multilateral global partnership devoted to getting all children into school for a quality education. The GPE provides much-needed coordination on the ground and grants to governments to expand schooling in the most marginalized and impoverished communities. So successful has this partnership been that it cannot keep pace with requests for support from countries.
The U.S. and other donors could greatly assist the GPE in meeting such rising levels of demand by significantly bolstering its funding at next year’s replenishment round. The GPE’s Summary of Partner Commitments (PDF) shows that in 2011, the U.S. pledged a mere $20 million in comparison to the UK’s more than $350 million and Australia’s more than $270 million. This time around, we will be asking the U.S. to make a much larger contribution over the next three years. It is a clear opportunity for the world leader in development aid to demonstrate its commitment to worldwide education.
As well as increasing investment in the GPE, donor governments could also commit to allocating at least 10 percent of their foreign aid budgets to basic education. Currently, wealthy countries commit, on average, less than three percent of aid to basic education, though education is core to the success of all other development efforts. The U.S. again falls short here, with the U.K., the European Union, and Australia out front and generally regarded as some of the largest external supporters of basic education in the world.
With these recommendations, I do not mean to suggest that a shortfall in funding is the only challenge to achieving universal primary education. It is not. Tens of millions of children are prevented from attending school, and attaining fundamental skills like reading and math, because they are either forced into early marriages or made to participate in dangerous work to feed their families. Nonetheless, as the UN Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown has made pains to remind wealthy nations, a huge mobilization of several billion dollars annually is required if we are to stand a chance of delivering, within the next few years, the gift of education to those girls and boys who currently go without.
If governments commit to sufficient levels of funding, we will be able to make inroads not only in alleviating the education crisis, but also in reducing extreme poverty itself. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, “Our internationally agreed development goals are a complex tapestry, and education is the indispensable thread.” It is simple. Education improves livelihoods. Educated people find better jobs. A good education gives children confidence to face the future. It offers them a chance for a better life. A chance to break the cycle of extreme poverty and lead a life as a human being with dignity. Indeed, the UN estimates that if all students in low-income countries had basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty. That’s equivalent to a 12 percent cut in global poverty.
Investing in universal education is a matter of common sense. Yet, if history is our guide, we know that our leaders often are only capable of reaching as high as we push them. That’s why in the lead up to this year’s Global Citizen Festival, we are asking Global Citizens to demand education for the world’s poor to give a clear mandate to world leaders to make good on their promises.
It is time the global community answered the call of parents everywhere for the schooling their children deserve. In doing so, we can lay the foundation for a world without extreme poverty. To echo Malala’s cry from the world stage, “One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.”
Michael Sheldrick has been advocating on issues of extreme poverty since high school. He previously worked on high impact campaigns in Australia with Make Poverty History and The Oaktree Foundation, helping to secure the largest ever increase in Australian aid. Michael currently serves as Global Policy and Advocacy Manager with the Global Poverty Project, where he coordinates a number of campaign initiatives including The End of Polio campaign, which has helped mobilize more than $800 million in support of polio eradication efforts. Working with the Global Poverty Project's New York crew, Michael is overseeing the policy direction of the 2013 Global Citizen Festival.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's September/October 2013 print edition.
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In Defense of the 57 Million
September 4, 2013
Malala Yousafzai’s inspiring address at the United Nations earlier this year will not soon be forgotten. Dominating headlines around the world, Malala—the young Pakistani education activist who was shot by the Taliban last October—shone the spotlight on what has been labeled an “education emergency.” In doing so, Malala drew attention to the fact that 57 million children still go through life without a basic primary education.
Such a rallying cry could not have come at a more important time. With less than 1,000 days until the deadline for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals, the world stands on the verge of breaking the promise we made to children everywhere at the dawn of the century—the promise of universal primary education for all children by 2015.
Don’t get me wrong; we have certainly made amazing progress toward achieving this goal. Globally, the number of children who do not go to school has been reduced by 48 million since 2000. Certain programs in particular highlight the dramatic improvements that are possible through collaboration and partnership. My friends at the Cotton On Foundation, for instance, tell me that student pass rates in Mannya Village—where the organization works in Uganda—have skyrocketed from 26 to 95 percent in just five years. Despite stories of such uplifting progress, the global community needs to rapidly accelerate its efforts if we are to see every child put into primary school by the 2015 deadline.
While development is undoubtedly a complex business, the international community could take two clear actions right now that would significantly boost efforts to provide basic education for millions of children. First, countries like the United States could increase funding for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the only multilateral global partnership devoted to getting all children into school for a quality education. The GPE provides much-needed coordination on the ground and grants to governments to expand schooling in the most marginalized and impoverished communities. So successful has this partnership been that it cannot keep pace with requests for support from countries.
The U.S. and other donors could greatly assist the GPE in meeting such rising levels of demand by significantly bolstering its funding at next year’s replenishment round. The GPE’s Summary of Partner Commitments (PDF) shows that in 2011, the U.S. pledged a mere $20 million in comparison to the UK’s more than $350 million and Australia’s more than $270 million. This time around, we will be asking the U.S. to make a much larger contribution over the next three years. It is a clear opportunity for the world leader in development aid to demonstrate its commitment to worldwide education.
As well as increasing investment in the GPE, donor governments could also commit to allocating at least 10 percent of their foreign aid budgets to basic education. Currently, wealthy countries commit, on average, less than three percent of aid to basic education, though education is core to the success of all other development efforts. The U.S. again falls short here, with the U.K., the European Union, and Australia out front and generally regarded as some of the largest external supporters of basic education in the world.
With these recommendations, I do not mean to suggest that a shortfall in funding is the only challenge to achieving universal primary education. It is not. Tens of millions of children are prevented from attending school, and attaining fundamental skills like reading and math, because they are either forced into early marriages or made to participate in dangerous work to feed their families. Nonetheless, as the UN Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown has made pains to remind wealthy nations, a huge mobilization of several billion dollars annually is required if we are to stand a chance of delivering, within the next few years, the gift of education to those girls and boys who currently go without.
If governments commit to sufficient levels of funding, we will be able to make inroads not only in alleviating the education crisis, but also in reducing extreme poverty itself. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, “Our internationally agreed development goals are a complex tapestry, and education is the indispensable thread.” It is simple. Education improves livelihoods. Educated people find better jobs. A good education gives children confidence to face the future. It offers them a chance for a better life. A chance to break the cycle of extreme poverty and lead a life as a human being with dignity. Indeed, the UN estimates that if all students in low-income countries had basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty. That’s equivalent to a 12 percent cut in global poverty.
Investing in universal education is a matter of common sense. Yet, if history is our guide, we know that our leaders often are only capable of reaching as high as we push them. That’s why in the lead up to this year’s Global Citizen Festival, we are asking Global Citizens to demand education for the world’s poor to give a clear mandate to world leaders to make good on their promises.
It is time the global community answered the call of parents everywhere for the schooling their children deserve. In doing so, we can lay the foundation for a world without extreme poverty. To echo Malala’s cry from the world stage, “One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.”
Michael Sheldrick has been advocating on issues of extreme poverty since high school. He previously worked on high impact campaigns in Australia with Make Poverty History and The Oaktree Foundation, helping to secure the largest ever increase in Australian aid. Michael currently serves as Global Policy and Advocacy Manager with the Global Poverty Project, where he coordinates a number of campaign initiatives including The End of Polio campaign, which has helped mobilize more than $800 million in support of polio eradication efforts. Working with the Global Poverty Project's New York crew, Michael is overseeing the policy direction of the 2013 Global Citizen Festival.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's September/October 2013 print edition.
