Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

http://www.aworldatschool.org/about-us Who we are

We are a global campaign working to get all children into school.

There are 124 million children and youth around the world who do not go to school. We must ensure every child's basic right to go to school is realised.

With the number of out-of-school children on the rise, A World at School is magnifying the efforts of all organisations working to get all children into school and learning.

We are here to make education the number one priority.

We are an international campaign with a diverse team from several countries. We have offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

Launched in 2013, we are now a movement of hundreds of thousands of people from more than 250 civil society, teacher, faiths, youth, business, international and non-governmental organisations. We have 500 Global Youth Ambassadors campaigning in 85 countries across the globe.

We believe education is the key to opportunity and the right of every child.

What we do

We make noise and champion work to accelerate progress in education.

• We share stories, highlight challenges and make the call for education an undeniable voice on the world stage.

• We find ways to get things done. By identifying ways in which we can help more children go to school, we turn to our network to mobilise support.

• We engage with governments. By ensuring the most recent data and policy recommendations are front and centre - and ready for action.

• We champion progress, by keeping our network informed about the good news on the ground.

• We form a relentless campaign that will not stop until every child is in school and learning.

How we do it

• We partner with youths and adults, bringing together changemakers.

• We work with all sectors, including business leaders, faiths organisations, NGOs and social justice campaigns.

• We co-ordinate campaigns and forge collaborations where we see an opportunity to make progress for children. And we work with organisations focused on health, human rights, gender rights, child labour and more.

• We showcase stories from our partners to give you the full picture about what is happening across the globe.

• We target countries with most children out of school to make sure that education is a priority for the governments and that the voices of civil society are heard.

• We use latest data and research to make sure our recommendations are the best way to ensure children are able to go to school and learn.

• We turn up the pressure by holding everyone accountable to the global timeline. The international community set the goal of the end of 2015 and our #EducationCountdown campaign holds the global community accountable.

We have a worldwide network of youth advocates

The A World at School Global Youth Ambassador programme is a global network of young people campaigning in their schools, communities and countries for action to get every child into school and learning. These young leaders - aged 14 to 29 - have the interest, passion and dedication to be part of the global education solution. We have 500 GYAs working in 85 countries.

Read inspiring blogs by our Global Youth Ambassadors

We harness the power of faith-based groups

The Global Faiths Coalition for Education unifies a diverse range of faiths-based organisations to support the universal right to education. It endeavours to work collaboratively with the faiths community, governments and NGOs to support efforts to end injustices against children, including forced marriage, discrimination and child labour.

Get news about the Global Faiths Coalition

We have a wide range of supporting organisations

Hundreds of organisations - large and small - across the world have supported A World at School's campaigns, including the #UpForSchool petition and our call for the Education Cannot Wait fund to be launched.

As a coalition and movement, A World at School works with many organisations - but we do not endorse or reflect the views of our individual members as our own.

Learn more about the movement

Our strategic partners

We are hugely grateful to the following organisations who have financially supported A World at School.

Dubai Cares logo Dangote Foundation logo

Good Planet Foundation logo The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown logo

A World at School is an initiative from Theirworld, a UK charity founded in 2002 by Sarah Brown to make a difference to the lives of some of the UK's most vulnerable babies, children and young people. Theirworld launched A World at School in 2013 to ensure that every single child has the opportunity to thrive and learn.

Since its founding, A World at School helped to convene the first ever youth takeover of the United Nations on 'Malala Day' (July 12, 2013), and is partnering with international children's and teachers' organisations and NGOs to better mobilise education campaigns around the world and to ensure that the world's leaders - who can make the biggest difference - hear our voices together.

Theirworld will continue to support its other children's projects including the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory in the UK.