EU announces significant new funding for education
27 Jun 2014 04:28 PM
New funding to support
education in developing countries over the next seven years, through the Global
Partnership for Education, (or GPE), has been announced by European Development
Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs.
Speaking at the EU-hosted Global
Partnership for Education’s Second Replenishment Pledging Conference, the
Commissioner underlined that the new €375 million (US$510 million) support
will contribute to providing basic education in the close to 60 countries where
the Global Partnership for Education currently works.
Announcing the commitment,
Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: ‘As a former teacher myself, I
have always been strongly committed to ensuring that all children receive a
quality education, no matter where they live. That’s why we are proud to
partner with the GPE on today’s event – it shows our firm ongoing
commitment to education, and I hope today’s event will also encourage
other donors to redouble their efforts; not only to get children into schools
but also to improve the standards of education they receive
there.’
This funding comes on top of the
EU’s ongoing commitment to education – in the Agenda for Change
(the EU’s policy to refocus its aid to support those sectors and
countries which need it most and where it can make the most difference) the
Commissioner pledged to spend at least 20% of its EU development aid on human
development and social inclusion, including education.
Total EU funding for education
in developing countries is expected to total some €4.5 billion between
2014 and 2020. This includes €2.8 billion for basic and vocational
education, the bulk of it through bilateral cooperation, and €1.68 billion
to the higher education programme. 51% of the countries supported are
‘fragile’ (countries currently affected by conflict and
post-conflict countries) – an increase of almost 10% up from
2013.
The replenishment conference
aims to mobilise domestic resources and external financing for education in GPE
countries for the 2015-2018 period, the latter both through the GPE Fund and
through bilateral support.
Developing partner countries are
expected to make significant pledges in terms of mobilisation of domestic
funding for education, which is critical for success as it caters for the
lion's share of those budgets. On the donor side, in addition to the
European Commission, other EU donors are expected to pledge significant amounts
to the GPE at the event.
Julia Gillard, former Prime
Minister of Australia and Chair of the Global Partnership’s Board of
Directors, will chaired the event, together with Commissioner Piebalgs;. Over
40 education ministers from developing countries will represent their
countries, as well as Augustin Ponyo, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid
and Crisis Response, ministers from across the EU, former Prime Minister of the
UK, and UN Special Envoy on Global Education, Gordon Brown and Ziauddin
Yousafzai, U.N. Special Adviser on Global Education, Honorary Chair at the
Malala Fund (and father of education activist, Malala Yousafzai), Irina Bokova,
Director General of UNESCO and Anthony Lake, Executive Director of
UNICEF.
The European Union and its
member states are the biggest donor to the Global Partnership for Education,
having contributed more 75 % of US$ 3.7 billion awarded from the GPE Fund in
2004-2013. Since 2004, support from the Global Partnership for Education
contributed to the following results:
22 million more children go to
school, including 10 million more girls
28 developing country partners
have achieved gender parity in primary school completion
300,000 teachers have been
trained
Close to 53,000 classrooms been
built, rehabilitated and equipped
Background
The Global
Partnership for Education is made up of nearly 60 developing
country governments, as well as donor governments, civil
society/non-governmental organizations, teacher organisations, international
organisations, and the private sector and foundations, whose joint mission it
is to galvanize and coordinate a global effort to provide a good quality
education to children, prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable. It has
allocated US$3.7 billion over the past decade to support education reforms in
developing countries.
Between 2004 and 2012, thanks to
EU support:
7.7 million people received
technical and vocational education and training
1.2 million primary teachers
were trained
37,000 schools were built or
renovated
13.7 million pupils were
enrolled in primary education
For more
information
Opening speech of Commissioner
for Development Andris Piebalgs at the Brussels Global Partnership for
Education Pledging Conference:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-14-502_en.htm
Feature "Hands up who has a
textbook?"
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/education/documents/feature_education_
corr.pdf
Case study: Myanmar - Greater
access to a basic education
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/asia/documents/case-study-myanmar_en.
pdf
Website of President of the
Commission José Manuel Barroso
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/
Website of the European
Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/piebalgs/index_en.htm
Website of EuropeAid Development
and Cooperation DG:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm
For more on the Global
Partnership for Education:
www.globalpartnership.org