ONE reacts: Leaders set out to tackle the global education emergency

Leaders from Senegal, Malawi, France and Norway gathered at the UN today to set out the financing effort needed to seize an historic opportunity and tackle the global education emergency

ONE Campaign and partners call on governments globally to respond to the crisis of over 130 million girls out of school

NEW YORK (September 20, 2017) — Today, leaders from Senegal and France announced they will co-host a replenishment for the Global Partnership for Education in February 2018. Alongside leaders from Malawi and Norway, and education activists including Malala Yousafzai, Presidents Sall and Macron set out a new global agenda to deliver the financing needed to overturn the global education crisis and reach the sustainable development goal for education (SDG4).

The President and CEO of The ONE Campaign, Gayle Smith, said:

“Today must be the day that the world turns a corner and tackles the global education emergency. Over 130 million girls are out of school — that’s over 130 million potential engineers, entrepreneurs, and politicians whose leadership the world is missing out on. It’s a resource-waste of epic proportions, and a global crisis that perpetuates poverty.

“The latest data, from 2015, showed the number of girls missing out on school actually increased for the first time in over a decade.

“Senegal and France today set the ambition, now the world must exceed it. For donors, it starts with fully funding the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait. For other governments, it means committing to work towards delivering 20 percent of national budgets to education. For both, it means radical new partnerships with civil society and the private sector to deliver significantly better results for the funds spent.

“This is not just about getting more girls into school, it’s about the women they grow up to become: educated, empowered, and employed. ONE’s eight million members around the world will be hustling governments every step of the way to make sure it happens — over 130 million girls deserve nothing less than our best.”