ONE responds to UK GPE pledge

Today the UK will announce it’s pledge to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which it will co-host in July. The pledge itself (£430 million) is significant, however this is contrasted against the context of aid cuts, which involves significant cuts to other areas of education spending, and has lessened the UK’s diplomatic influence. 

Lis Wallace, Head of UK Advocacy at ONE, said: “This pledge will rewrite the future for many children. However it falls short of what’s expected of the summit co-host, so it must be the preface of the story, not the conclusion.

“Announcing this while G7 leaders are in Cornwall is a sign the UK seeks to leverage its diplomatic influence to encourage others. Yet cuts to the aid budget for girls’ education are undermining these efforts. 

“To achieve the target of $5 billion by the Global Education Summit in July, Boris Johnson must pull out all the stops, including topping up the UK contribution. The scale of the global learning crisis is staggering, and this silent emergency will not go away with half measures.”