Here’s a partner post from our friends at the Global Campaign for Education.
What an amazing week. From London to Paris, from Johannesburg to Washington, D.C., education advocates around the world mobilized during Global Action Week in support of Education for All.
Sponsored by the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), Global Action Week brings together teachers, students, elected officials, civil society, NGOs and celebrity spokespeople to work together and help secure basic education for all children in developing nations.
In the US, we did ourselves proud. The US Chapter of GCE co-hosted a standing-room-only Capitol Hill event on Wednesday with Congresswoman Nita Lowey and speakers from the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Congresswoman Lowey unveiled the Education for All Act of 2010, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Congressman Dave Reichert. For the first time, we now have legislation that provides a roadmap to a Global Fund for Education.
At the event, we were also joined by actress Jessica Alba, who launched the 1GOAL: Education for All campaign. 1GOAL is a massive public awareness campaign that seeks to make Education for All the legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. In front of a packed crowd, and surrounded by more than 30 children from the Rock Creek Valley Elementary School (all in 1GOAL shirts) and D.C. United’s Bryan Namoff, Ms. Alba energized the crowd by sharing stories of her recent trip to Africa and rallied the room in support of 1GOAL.
We know the facts. Today, more than 72 million children currently lack access to primary school around the world. More than half of those children are girls. US leadership is essential if we are to achieve universal quality basic education.
As guests were leaving the Wednesday event, I gave a shout out to the students with Jessica Alba (who had spent the prior day learning about Education for All). “Rock Creek Valley Elementary School rocks,” I said.
“No,” responded one young student. “Education for All rocks.”
Right you are my friend, right you are.
-Joanna Kuebler, US Director of the Global Campaign for Education
PS– Here’s video from an interview on MSNBC with Jessica Alba and Rep. Nita Lowey:
Remember- this Thursday (December 10th) is Human Rights Day and the Global Campaign for Education’s (GCE) National Day of Action. ONE has joined GCE partners to demonstrate support for universal quality education in honor of the nearly 75 million children across the globe who are unable to attend primary school this year.
Please join us by signing a petition that lets President Obama know that you support his call for a fully endowed Global Fund for Education. If you have a few minutes to spare, also consider making a phone call and leaving a message with the White House. And ask your friends and family to do the same.
You can find more information about the December 10th Day of Action here.
Check out this great post from Mary Njoroge, the former Director of Basic Education in Kenya:
Last month, I had a whirlwind tour of the United States to speak about the importance of getting every child in school and how we can achieve universal primary education by creating a Global Fund for Education. I traveled to 5 states, met with over a dozen members of Congress’s offices, and even kicked a soccer ball around with Jessica Alba in Washington, DC – all in order to tout the importance of providing a free basic education for all children. As a former school teacher, eventually the Director of Basic Education in Kenya, and now that I am retired I work full-time to bring educational opportunities to the poorest children in Nairobi – I know the need first-hand.
Part of my story starts in 2003, when Kenya’s newly elected government was able to abolish school fees – approximately $50 a year was the main barrier preventing children from being in school. Within a week, a million children and even some adult learners showed up to enter the classrooms, eager to have the education that they couldn’t previously afford. By the end of the year, 2 million children who had not been able to go to school turned up in the classrooms ready to learn. Kenya now has 91 percent of its children in classrooms, but we are still unable to reach the hardest to reach – that last nine percent. Barriers like orphan-headed households, lack of infrastructure in slums, and lack of clean water and sanitation for girls to be able to attend schools still prohibit reaching all of the children.
Kenya is a success story in many ways – overnight we made primary school free, and with the help of the international community we were able to train and deploy teachers, strengthen school accounting systems and guarantee the right to an education. This story could be duplicated in many countries, if we knew that our international partners like the United States would join our struggle to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of ensuring that children everywhere are able to go to school by 2015. The deadline for this goal is quickly approaching but the United States is in a unique position to lead on this issue: it has the money, the will, and the power to achieve this objective. Kenya’s grandson, President Obama, has promised to create a Global Fund for Education which will fill the education deficit. Ignorance is in fact the greatest expense – because universal education saves lives, it reduces the risk of civil war, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS, and it is well-known that literacy is a prerequisite for economic growth.
But it is up to you, America, to build the political will of your elected officials to bring the gift of knowledge and empowerment to the poorest children of the world. A great way to get involved is to take part in events like the National Day of Action on December 10th. Organizations like the Global Campaign for Education, 1 GOAL, RESULTS, ONE and many other coalition partners are doing everything they can to mobilize citizens across the country to call on their leaders to do their part. This day provides a great opportunity to spread the message that through universal education, we can reduce poverty, save lives, and promote a more stable, secure world. During the Day of Action, thousands of people across the country will call and write to President Obama urging him to provide $2 billion in the 2011 budget to create a Global Fund for Education . Through phone calls, petitions, and media outreach, Americans can send a message to the world that building sustainable solutions to the greatest development challenges of our day is possible through global education. To get involved, go to www.campaignforeducationusa.org.
Today’s children will be tomorrow’s leaders, doctors, scientists, lawyers and innovators and we can’t afford to deny them of their destiny. I am proud to be partnering with the ONE Campaign and the US Chapter of the Global Campaign for Education in their mission to give the more than 75 million children worldwide the opportunities and tool they need to succeed in today’s global environment by sending them to school and I hope you will join me.
I’m happy to announce the December 10th National Day of Action when we are calling on those who understand the important role that education plays in the health, safety and economic security of the world’s children to take action and let President Obama know we support his call for a fully endowed Global Fund for Education.
There are nearly 75 million children across the globe unable to attend primary school this year. Children are blocked out of classroom doors by high schooling fees, long distances to travel to the nearest school, and an insufficient number of teachers, to name a few.
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” This statement is especially powerful when one explores the impact that education plays in helping solve so many of the world’s problems. Simply put: Education Saves Lives, Reduces Poverty and Makes a Safer World.
You don’t have to wait until December 10th:
You can sign a petition right now urging President Obama to support a Global Fund for Education to ensure a quality education for all the world’s children.
Did you know:
In Africa, 5 million children each year die before their 5th birthday, yet children of mothers with just a few years of primary education are 40% more likely to survive into adulthood
Providing mothers with basic education is more effective than food aid in ending childhood malnutrition
An estimated 700,000 cases of HIV/AIDS could be prevented each year in Africa alone, if all children received a primary education
Education is by far the best predictor of democratic attitudes in a country; more education corresponds directly to more democratic attitudes
There is an answer: In September 2008, then candidate Barack Obama pledged to lead the world in creating and endowing a Global Fund for Education. A Global Fund could ensure that the global education deficit is tackled with sufficient resources and political resolve to put in every child in school. Just as the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria has worked together to raise billions of dollars and saved over 3.5 million lives, a Global Fund for Education would provide enough resources so the lives of the poor can be better lived – in health, security, hope and prosperity.
Let President Obama know right now that you support a fully endowed Global Fund for Education. Together, we can lead the way in providing a healthier global society, a safer planet, and a world in which living on less than a dollar a day is no longer a reality for anyone. Thank you!
Hello, I’m Christina Holder, a ONE member from Augusta, Georgia, currently working as a Uriel and Caroline Bauer Human Rights Law Fellow in Lusaka, Zambia, where I promote human rights-based approaches to development. My education has enabled me to understand and transform some of the root causes of social injustice. I believe every individual deserves the opportunities education creates.
That’s why I sent my personal story to The Big Read, a movement to secure $2 billion for a Global Fund for Education. I would be honored if your name, and the names of tens of thousands of ONE members, would accompany my story when ONE and the Global Campaign for Education deliver it to President Obama in June.
With the book and our signatures, ONE will include this inscription:
Please ensure all children have access to quality basic education by making a U.S. contribution of $2 billion to a Global Fund for Education.
To add your name to the book, please click this link:
I’ve spent eight months in Zambia, and have realized that quality education is the key to lifting individuals, and the nation, out of poverty. After learning how to read themselves, women I work with from Lusaka’s Garden Compound pooled their resources to open a “community school” so their children could learn to read and write, too. At Mother Teresa Hospice and Community School, where I volunteer each Friday afternoon, some of the adult residents volunteer to teach children reading and math.
Without the opportunity to attend school, these children risk becoming child laborers in local industries such as stone-crushing — pounding big rocks into gravel for sale to builders. But slowly, regular Zambians are laying the foundation for every child to enjoy the right to quality education, a prerequisite for ending poverty.
By adding your name to The Big Read and encouraging our government to support a Global Fund for Education, we can help Zambia and other countries finance high-quality education for even the most impoverished students.
Please sign The Big Read now, for all those who can’t:
On Monday, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) launched its annual Global Action Week, seven days of advocacy to raise awareness around education and encourage governments to follow through on their commitments to put 75 million children in school by 2015.
Here in Washington, GCE kicked off the week with a roundtable discussion on the state of global education and the potential for a new U.S. investment. The guest of honor was Queen Rania of Jordan, a longtime advocate for education in her home country and around the world. Queen Rania began the conversation with a timely topic: economic growth. Education, she pointed out, is central to fueling national economies and raising incomes at the family level. And as a critical input into health, gender empowerment and democracy, education is one of the highest-yield investments we can make into families and communities, especially in the world’s poorest countries. With the global financial crisis in full swing and threatening to hit poorest countries the hardest, the time is riper than ever for a bold new initiative to get every child in school.
Queen Rania was backed up by three powerful education advocates here in the U.S.: Congressional champion Representative Nita Lowey and two experts who are now serving in the Administration – Gene Sperling (who is Council to the Secretary of the Treasury) and Gayle Smith (Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization and Development and Senior Advisor to the President on the National Security Council).
Rep. Lowey spoke first, saying that the “stars are aligned” for achieving the education for all. She noted that U.S. funding for basic education has increased seven-fold since 2001 (thanks largely to her leadership on the House Appropriations Committee), an impressive scale-up but still a far cry from the U.S.’s fair share of the $11 billion price tag for meeting the Education for All goals. Rep. Lowey pointed out that strong congressional leadership is now paired with clear support from the Administration, a reference to President Obama’s commitment to contribute $2 billion to a Global Education Fund. As a result, she said, the constituency for global education has never been stronger. Gayle Smith also spoke on President Obama’s commitment to education, saying that the President remains committed to his campaign promise and that she was hopeful that “in the not-too-distant future,” he will make an announcement on the establishment of a robust, sustainable Global Fund for Education.
This discussion couldn’t have been more timely- details on President’s Obama’s budget request will be coming out in the next couple weeks. ONE and other advocates are hoping that they contain a strong boost for global education spending to indicate the Administration’s intent to fulfill its commitment to a Global Fund for Education. An investment in education by the U.S. in FY10 will ensure that any initiative in the “not-too-distant future” will have the resources it needs to be successful.
Gene Sperling (former head of the Center for Universal Education) ended the panel by outlining a few trade-offs that global policy makers cannot afford to make when it comes to education- access vs. quality, donor funding through bilateral vs. multilateral channels, and a focus on primary education (5 years) vs. eight years of basic education. He also said it was time for global leaders to step up their efforts to supporting education in countries in conflict and transition, noting that just as a dollar invested in girls’ education is one of the best-spent dollars in the world, so is a dollar invested in education for children of conflict.
To drive this point home, Sperling quoted a passage from What is the What by Dave Eggers, one of my favorite books. The scene takes place in a school in a refugee camp in the midst of the Sudanese civil war. A group of boys are writing lessons in the dirt. Their teacher looks over their work and attempts to convey to them the magnitude of what they’re doing, saying:
Many of you no longer have mothers. You have lost your fathers. Here, if you are smart enough to accept it, you will be educated. Education will be your mother. Education will be your father. While your older brothers fight this war with guns, when the bullets stop, you will fight the next war with your pens.
Stay tuned here on the ONE blog for other things going on around the Global Action Week and how you can get involved.
It’s Global Education week – and ONE is partnering with the Global Campaign for Education to push for action on the Education for All Act – legislation that would extend access to education to the 72 million children with no access to even basic education around the world.
Right now, the legislation has 66 co-sponsors in the House, but we need many more if we want to ensure that it’ll pass when it comes up for a vote later this year.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
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Last month, I had a whirlwind tour of the United States to speak about the importance of getting every child in school and how we can achieve universal primary education by creating a Global Fund for Education. I traveled to 5 states, met with over a dozen members of Congress’s offices, and even kicked a soccer ball around 
Gene Sperling (former head of the Center for Universal Education) ended the panel by outlining a few trade-offs that global policy makers cannot afford to make when it comes to education- access vs. quality, donor funding through bilateral vs. multilateral channels, and a focus on primary education (5 years) vs. eight years of basic education. He also said it was time for global leaders to step up their efforts to supporting education in countries in conflict and transition, noting that just as a dollar invested in girls’ education is one of the best-spent dollars in the world, so is a dollar invested in education for children of conflict.
