Brussels, 26/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 June, European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs announced a new contribution of €375 million (US$510 million) support for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) over the next seven years. The announcement was made at the Second Replenishment Pledging Conference, in Brussels (see EUROPE 11096).
The GPE will seek to leverage around $3.5 billion (€2.57 billion over the next four years 2015-2018) to deliver good quality basic education in almost 60 countries in which it is currently working.
The Commissioner said that “the European Union is pledging to more than double its contribution to the GPE Fund to €375 million … Alongside this we will be allocating over €1 billion from our bilateral programmes to education in partner countries where the GPE is also operating”. He also said that he hoped that the conference “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 is a substantial challenge because 57 million children of primary school age around the world do not receive an education; half are in sub-Saharan Africa.
This funding commitment 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 Commission has 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% from 2013.
Today's 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. (AN)