Fund quality education for all

Fe y Alegría, one of the largest Jesuit educational networks worldwide, is promoting the “Fund the Future” campaign, together with other civil society organizations, asking that governments and donors follow through on their commitments to fully fund SDG4. In the days leading up to the Dakar Global Partnership for Education Conference, we invite all Jesuit institutions and networks to join the call and do the same. 

Starting February 1st and 2nd, Dakar, Senegal will host government representatives from low and lower-middle income countries and donors, multilateral and civil society organizations, as well as the private sector and foundations, at the Global Partnership for Education Financing Conference. These representatives are coming together under a common goal: to mobilize the necessary funding to meet the goals established under SDG4 in 2030 and thus guarantee the right to quality education for all.
To do so, it is necessary that the governments from low and lower-middle income countries substantially increase the funds they allocate for education to reach between 15% and 20% of their national public budget; that they increase the tax base progressively so that they can allocate more funds for education and that educational investment becomes more efficient and equitable, thus allocating more funds to populations that need it the most.

However, this would still be insufficient to guarantee quality early childhood, primary and secondary education for all children by 2030. According to estimates, the funding gap would still amount to 39 billion dollars.

This is where the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) comes into play, a multilateral mechanism that, since 2002, channels funds from donor countries to 65 recipient countries and which has managed to facilitate access to quality primary education for 72 million children, among other achievements. Thus, the GPE is an essential funding tool to make the right to education a reality, especially among the most vulnerable groups and contexts. That is why the next Summit in Dakar is such a crucial moment, as it will be when the governments of the donor countries commit funds to contribute to the financing of education where it is most needed.

All of the organizations and coalitions that make up the Global Campaign for Education are coordinating to ensure that governments are up to the essential challenge we will face in the next decade: guarantee the right to education for all people and thus build and more equitable and sustainable world.
Fe y Alegría, a global movement that is present in 11 member countries of the Global Partnership for Education – Bolivia, Chad, Spain, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic and the US – urges the governments of these countries to adopt commitments in this sense.

We invite you to help us spread the Fund the Future Campaign through social networks, so that through all of our efforts, we are able to get the message to our public representatives: Education needs funding now. #FundTheFuture #EducationNow #TaxJustice