Sometimes I wonder what life would’ve been like if I’d never gone to Africa. I would have probably existed in a world that was simpler, where my thoughts didn’t reach beyond the boundaries of my university, where things were the way they were just because that was the way things were. We have all seen the sad ads with fly-bitten children’s faces flickering across the television screen. In those portrayals of Africa, it made the continent seem like a dark and curiously lost place, hopeless and wild.

I began my work in Africa at 19, as a volunteer teacher for two months in Ghana. I came across Happy Kids Orphanage, a beautiful but struggling place where the children slept on urine-covered cement floors and never experienced the luxury of a full meal. I saw it as a place that could be receptive to change, and in the years since, we’ve been able to build a dormitory, two classrooms and start a nutritional food program. In my favorite project, I partnered with a fair-trade company, Della, to start the Happy Kids Sewing Program.

On the first day, an eight-year-old named Moda bent down and sewed the hole in her dress. On the third day, the children folded scraps of fabric into bags on their own. I watched their eyes light up when they learned how to push the hand crank on a sewing machine. I watched their trajectories changing. All they needed was a needle and thread.

The more time I spend there, the more what I think I know becomes entirely wrong. I watch my misconceptions shatter as the African policeman with an AK-47 over his shoulder approaches me. Fear and nervousness floods through me until I realize all he wants to do is smile and say welcome to his country. I’m in a constant state of being uncomfortable, with blistering heat and cramped spaces, buses that break down and pot-holed roads that throw your head into the ceiling. Falling asleep to symphonies of crickets and waking up to roosters, you find that there are no tones of doom and despair like so many imagine — there is only hope.

Though I know I don’t know much, I can learn. Even as I stumble, my efforts are better than nothing. I don’t know why, but I am one of the lucky ones; I get to witness change spark and multiply. This change comes not because I’m there, but rather because of the unyielding optimism and tenacity sewn into the very fabric of who they are. I know I’m fortunate to be taught at my college, but that the lessons afforded to me by those I know in Africa are worth more. I’ve been told before that there is “less value for human life” in Africa. I’ve never heard anything more wrong. They strive to succeed, but their lives do not revolve around the accumulation of material goods. They do not understand Western depression; they find it legitimately insane that you would be unhappy with any life other than the one you’ve been granted. I think if anything, Africans retain more value for human life, which many of us have lost amid our wealth and time pressed lives. It becomes obvious that happiness is a choice based on disposition, not circumstance. And however happy or hopeful, many still need help, and we are not as powerless as once assumed.

Kelsey Finnegan is the director of Happy Kids NGO, a small organization that implements sustainable projects in Hohoe, Ghana. She is also a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Moved by Abigail’s story? Vote for More Than Me in the Chase Community Giving contest –- voting ends tomorrow and Katie really needs our support to put 100 more girls like Abigail in school for seven years. For these girls, an education is the key to a real childhood and a better life.

Katie has been busy this weekend –- organizing a flash mob and riding the NYC subway in her school uniform, handing out voting cards drumming up support for More Than Me. She’s was featured in the Huffington Post, and tonight, if you’re in the NYC area, you can catch her at 7 p.m. on NBC in a live interview with Chuck Scarborough.

ONE has big asks ahead of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-IV) in Busan, South Korea, starting on November 29th. Making donors accountable for where their development assistance goes through increased transparency will improve the effectiveness of aid across the board, or in this case –- across the chalkboard. In February 2011, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a new education strategy, called “Opportunity Through Learning.” The strategy contains some great examples of how donor agencies can translate aid effectiveness principles, which can often seem abstract and obtuse, into effective development strategies.

The education strategy implements concepts from USAID’s Forward Initiative, launched in 2010. The Forward Initiative outlines key reforms that allow USAID to better incorporate aid effectiveness principles into their work. USAID’s main goal in the new education strategy — and a key priority for ONE at Busan — is that development programs should be focused on real, measurable results. This principle is the backbone of the education strategy. Goal No. 1: Improve the reading skills of 100 million primary school children by 2015. In its efforts on Goal No. 1 alone, USAID emphasizes the importance of country-ownership, sustainability, the need for gender-sensitive approaches, the importance of measurable results and the use of innovative technologies and practices.

The education strategy also supports the aid effectiveness principle of country ownership. USAID will, wherever possible, rely on a developing country’s education plan and their implementation systems, in addition to supporting projects to strengthen education systems.

The Forward Initiative also promises that USAID will focus on building capacity in developing countries, which is necessary to maintain sustainable development. The education strategy is centered on building capacity in the public sector, on both national and community levels, to provide basic services. In most countries, USAID will help promote economic growth, working toward the goal that every country is able to fully finance quality education using domestic revenue. The capacity agenda also includes strengthening the public education system broadly — curriculum, employment, professionalization, and financing — as well as investing in infrastructure, training and planning.

It is great to see that USAID has already incorporated these key aid effectiveness principles into their education strategy and agency reform more broadly. It is our hope that the outcomes of HLF-IV in Busan, lead to similar principles being instituted across all foreign assistance strategies and becoming operational in the strategies of donor governments around the world. Learn more about how we can get to better aid, and keep up the pressure on governments to make key commitments around transparency, accountability, and results.

Take action now. Write a message to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and tell her that Americans want more effective aid. We’ll deliver your messages personally to Sec. Clinton in Busan, South Korea.

It’s about Elizabeth, who was able to go to pre-K, kindergarten and now first grade because of Katie. Elizabeth now wants to be a doctor. In post-conflict Liberia, where the official employment rate is 15 percent, most people subsist by selling things. Some people get by on selling fruit or firewood from a cart or under a big umbrella, but even that requires some investment. For girls in Monrovia’s West Point slum, when you have nothing, you sell yourself. More Than Me helps girls, some of whom were child prostitutes, paying their school fees and providing day care, meals and health care.

For the next week, thousands of charities will compete for a share of $3 million in the Chase Community Giving contest. The Facebook-based voting contest will award one grand prize of $250,000 –- money that would allow More Than Me to put 100 girls in school for seven years. The four charities that come in second to fifth place get $100,000, and the rest through the top 25 get $25,000. This contest is a huge opportunity for Katie, who has been effectively homeless for two years, relying on a network of friends for a couch to sleep on when she’s stateside. More Than Me has been holding solid at #11 but there is some stiff competition out there and votes are flooding in — so vote for More Than Me, then share Katie’s amazing story with your Facebook friends!

To vote, first “Like” Chase Community Giving, then vote for More Than Me!

Can’t get enough of Katie? Send her a tweet at @KatieMeyler and watch her last video for ONE here.

In just three days, we received 130 awesome messages from our ONE members. We sent those messages to Administrator Shah on Monday afternoon in this tweet:

To which Administrator Shah responded,

And we are happy to say that your actions had an impact on ensuring that over the next three years, 25 million children in developing countries will have the opportunity to complete primary school. With the help of your messages of encouragement behind USAID, the US made their first-ever pledge to the Global Partnership, promising to contribute $20 million in 2012 and to continue to work toward increasing access to education for all.

Thank you so much to everyone who took action last weekend. Your participation truly made a difference! Check out this PDF of all the messages we sent to Raj Shah, and find more info on what the Global Partnership for Education replenishment means here.

Yesterday, the United States made its first-ever pledge to the Global Partnership, promising to contribute $20 million in 2012. In total, 57 pledges were made, constituting an initial commitment totaling $1.5 billion. It’s crucial to maintain this spotlight on education in advance of the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) deadline. The Partnership will continue their efforts during this replenishment period, raising an additional $1 billion before 2014 in order to send 25 million children to school (along with a bunch of other important goals).

In addition to pledges from new donors like the US, a dozen donors committed to predictable, multi-year contributions, ensuring the Global Partnership will provide stable assistance to partner developing countries. This pledging conference was about increasing funds for education across bilateral, multilateral and private channels. Five leading donors -– France, European Commission, Germany, Australia and United Kingdom –- committed to significant increases in bilateral support to education, ensuring their leadership in education assistance.

True to the Partnership’s name, this pledging conference was not just about traditional developed country donors. Developing countries, civil society organizations and private sector companies were also represented. Twenty-eight education ministers from developing countries attended the event, coming with pledges of their own. Thirty developing country partners pledged to increase domestic expenditure for basic education by at least $2.2 billion during the pledging period (2011 to 2014). In addition to increasing domestic spending, developing country partners have committed to tackling barriers that prevent children from accessing a quality basic education, increasing school infrastructure, and increasing interventions that specifically target barriers to girls. Finally, developing country partners have pledged to recruit, train and deploy hundreds of thousands of teachers.

Civil society, the teaching profession, the private sector and foundations also pledged to invest almost $2 billion of their own organizational resources to expand activities in universal quality basic education programs over the replenishment period. Just one of these pledges, from Education International, commits to provide technical and financial support for the development and implementation of competence profiles to ensure teachers are meeting quality guidelines, as well as to recruit and train 1.8 million teachers in Global Partnership for Education countries.

Congratulations to The Global Partnership for Education on a successful first replenishment event. These initial pledges will provide millions of children with a quality primary education. We look forward to donor and partner efforts to leverage this momentum around education into more ambitious commitments in the pursuit of quality primary education for all.

Carol Bellamy inside a classroom in Rwanda

You’ve been an education advocate throughout your career. You’ve worked at UNICEF, World Learning, and now you’re leading the Global Partnership for Education. What was it that drew you to education?
Simply put, nothing has greater impact on reducing poverty than education — and especially girls’ education. Education saves lives as surely as vaccinations and clean water do. Children who receive an education earn more as adults and are able to provide a higher quality of life for their families and communities; the GDP of a developing country increases steadily when all children are educated. And children in fragile states are less likely to engage in violent conflict if they receive an education. The facts are very clear –- we cannot break the cycle of poverty without education.

The Global Partnership has some lofty goals following its replenishment. Why makes the Partnership so effective?
Global Partnership for Education brings together donors, developing countries, civil society and the private sector to support a country-owned education plan. This is a truly sustainable approach that has helped us put 19 million children in school so far.

How much easier is it to improve education, working in countries that have committed to national education plans?
Working in support of country-driven interests has proven to work much better than parachuting in from the West with our own plans. At the Replenishment Conference in Copenhagen on November 8, we will see developing countries coming to the table with pledges to dramatically increase their domestic spending on education. It is clear that education is their priority and that commitment needs to be matched by donors.

This was a big year for the Global Partnership (formerly known as the Fast-Track Initiative). What are you most excited for in the years ahead?
With our first ever pledging event in Copenhagen, Global Partnership is stepping out of the shadows and going bold! We have proven that we can help make access to education a reality for all children around the world. I am excited for us to take on the challenge of helping children in fragile states, as well as looking ahead to greater advances in secondary education.

With so many important issues on development agendas, what do you think is the most effective argument for continued focus on education?
Education is a poverty-buster! We know for sure that education multiplies the effects of other development efforts. In fact, we can’t see the full impacts of other development investments without education.

The Global Partnership’s three themes over the next few years are: fragile- and conflict-affected states, education quality and girls’ education. Why is it important that we focus on these three things?
Forty percent of kids out of school live in fragile states, so we won’t reach access to education for all children without addressing these needs. The task is certainly harder in these countries, but the payoff is great. Each year of schooling reduces a boy’s chance of engaging in violent conflict by 20 percent.

Nothing that I have seen has greater impact on reducing poverty than girls’ education, especially when girls reach secondary education. An estimated 1.8 million children’s lives in sub-Saharan Africa could be saved this year if their mothers had at least a secondary education.

Finally, many children who are in school today are not receiving the quality of education that can truly change their lives. Class sizes are too big and some teachers do not have the training they need to be effective. We must close the gaps for kids who are in school but not learning all they should.

A lot of our members draw on personal stories to stay motivated to fight poverty around the world. Who/what is your inspiration?
My inspiration is a little girl I met in a displaced persons camp. She was sitting in makeshift “school” under a tree. In the midst of terrible conditions, she was enthusiastically raising her hand to respond to questions from the teacher. I knew she would not only survive but prevail! And we must do our part to support her and all
the children like her.

Global Partnership for Education’s Replenishment Conference is the next step in getting all kids into school. We’re hoping for a transformative outcome in Copenhagen.

Help Carol and the Global Partnership for Education get the funding they need by sending a message to USAID Administrator Raj Shah now.

Action: 19. Time: 5 minutes. Level of difficulty: Easy. For the results of last week’s action, click here.

Right now, we have the opportunity to make a real impact on quality education for the world’s poorest children, but we need your help. The Global Partnership for Education, an organization that helps fund effective educational programs in developing countries, is up for a replenishment next week in Copenhagen.

From now until then, we need to push the US government hard to support this important organization, because we know they have the capacity to do amazing things. Between 2002 and 2009, the Partnership’s developing country partners sent 19 million more kids to school and increased primary school completion to 68 percent. And if donors fully fund the Global Partnership for the next three years, they could help send 25 million more children to primary school.

Using the form below, please write a message to USAID Administrator Raj Shah. Tell him, along with your personal message, that the US should go to Copenhagen with a pledge of $375 million over the next three years for the Global Partnership for Education.

Here are some resources in case you need help with what to say:

- Blog post “A good investment to education”
- Blog post “New name, new start: The Global Partnership for Education”
- Hot Topic: Raise a Hand for Education

We’ll send your messages to Administrator Shah via Twitter at 5PM on Monday, November 7 so he can read them in time for the replenishment. Next Friday, we’ll share some of your messages right here on the ONE Blog, so stay tuned.

ONE Act a Week is a weekly anti-poverty action to get you thinking, talking, sharing and learning about our issues. If we all just donated a few moments of our time each week, we can make some serious magic happen.

Students in Mali. Photo credit: All West Africa

Mali is not the first country that comes up when people describe educational progress sub-Saharan Africa. Ranked as one of the top 25 poorest nations on earth, improvements do not come easily. Yet despite financial issues, Mali has made promising strides in education in the last 10 years. The government of Mali is working with partners to improve the quality of basic and secondary education by training teachers, providing textbooks and other learning materials, installing dedicated reading areas inside classrooms, and transferring direct funds to school to acquire materials locally.

Thanks to the Second Education Sector Investment Program of 2007, a program supported by the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education, 1,200 classrooms and two teacher-training institutes were constructed, which allowed for the training of more than 1,800 teachers and the in-service training of more than 4,000 teachers. More than 2 million textbooks have been distributed and reading areas have been established in 3,500 classrooms. The program has also supported 1,400,000 students in primary school. Mali’s educational system has been faced with some enormous hurdles. In 1999 only 44 percent of Mali’s children were enrolled in primary school. A decade later, 73 percent of children are enrolled in school.

Since 1999, the number of kids in school in Mali has doubled, illustrating the scale necessary to improve education in a large country working from low educational achievement. Although the number of children out of school has been reduced since 1999, 65 percent of children out of school in Mali are girls, representing a large gender gap that needs to be filled. The Global Partnership for Education’s focus areas over the next three years are education quality, girls’ education, and fragile and conflict countries. Investments in the future will help Mali reach its education goals.

Participation in secondary education in Mali has increased dramatically. Since 1999, the number of students going on to secondary school increased three-fold by 2009. In the same time period, enrollment in secondary education has grown from just 15 percent to 38 percent. Mali is a big country with tall hurdles to overcome in education. Their country education strategy, partnerships and progress putting children in school and training teachers has proven they are committed to achieving quality primary education for all.

Education is an investment, and the long-term benefits of an education far outweigh the costs. Making sure that Malian children all get a quality education will create a more productive and dynamic society. Thanks to organizations like the Global Partnership for Education putting that initial investment into education in Mali, they will help these children live more positive, productive lives.

Read more about the Global Partnership for Education here and keep an eye on the ONE Blog to find out how you can help the Partnership reach its replenishment goal.

The Global Partnership for Education works with 46 developing country partners by supporting the countries’ own education sector plans after the countries have committed domestic resources to implement them. The Global Partnership is effective is because it works through existing country systems. Between 2002 and 2009, the Partnership’s developing country partners sent 19 million more kids to school and increased primary school completion to 68 percent. During the replenishment, the Global Partnership for Education will not only be accepting contributions to their fund; they will also be asking developing country partners to make commitments to increase domestic financing for basic education.

If donors step up to fully fund the Global Partnership with $2.5 billion for the next three years, the Global Partnership will achieve impressive results in partner countries. The Partnership will send 25 million more children to primary school, increase primary school completion rates by 7 percent, and halve both the number of kids out of school and the number of third graders who cannot read. In addition, the Global Partnership will train 600,000 new teachers and put 50 million new textbooks in classrooms. A fully-funded Global Partnership for Education will accelerate progress toward a quality education for all children in partner developing countries.

During the replenishment period, the Global Partnership will focus on fragile and conflict-affected states, education quality and girls. Despite being home to more than half of the world’s out-of-school children, fragile and conflict-affected countries receive more than 25 percent of all assistance to basic education. With more of these countries seeking to become partners with the Global Partnership, demand for education financing will remain high. Because of the link between educating girls and decreases in maternal and child mortality, the Global Partnership’s focus on girls’ education will produce long-term impacts, saving the lives of an estimated 14,000 mothers and 350,000 children every year.

Recent reforms to the Global Partnership (aside from its new name) include a new results framework, accountability measures, and stronger secretariat. Although the United States advised the reform process and currently holds a seat on the Global Partnership’s Board, it has not contributed to the Global Partnership’s fund. The Global Partnership is asking the United States for $375 million over three years, or 15 percent of the total replenishment amount. The United States is a global leader in education, contributing 17 percent of the $4.7 billion spent globally on education in 2008, so it makes sense that the United States should contribute to the future of the Partnership that they have expressed support and helped reform.

We look forward to hearing good news from donor and developing countries in the lead up to the replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education in November. Keep an eye out for more Global Partnership success stories, and follow the conversation on Twitter: @GPforEducation #FundGPEsummit.