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Education takes center stage during Global Goals Week ... Education takes center stage during Global Goals Week ... Commissioners Convene in New York City

Burgess COMMENTARY
Many ... if not most people, agree with the premise that education is important. They disagree on how education should be funded. Some truly constructive thinking about finance is needed and radical reform of the conventional structures in the economic system and especially around money, banking and finance. When the banking sector was at risk of catastrophic failure some $4 trillion of 'money' was created (by Central Banks) in order to make the survival of the sector possible. About a decade later there are massive social issues (like education) and massive environmental issues (like climate change and urban resilience) but using conventional rules there is no money / credit to pay for what is needed. I argue that trillions of dollars worth of new money should be created to fund everything that is needed and possible to make the world a better place, with the amount limited only by the potential of people (and associated investment) to deliver progress. The amount should be strictly limited to funding expenditures that release potential. All of this is now possible using the emerging blockchain technology. This is a potential solution for big emerging issues associated with society and with the environment. There are huge needs like education and infrastructure that need to be paid for, and there is no reason why everyone cannot have something constructive to do. Conventional constraints are based on the idea that it is only money that matters, when the reality is that society and the environment are much more important than money!
Peter Burgess

Education takes center stage during Global Goals Week



Education takes center stage during Global Goals Week Tagged:Leadership & Accountability, Sustainable Development Goals Commissioners Convene in New York City

One year after the Learning Generation report launch, Commission leadership met in New York to review how recommendations have become action and discuss how to best accelerate progress across the four transformations called for in the report. There are important milestones to be celebrated, such as new funding for education in emergencies alongside a renewed sense of urgency to secure more and better funds for education globally.

Under the performance transformation, Commissioners discussed the “delivery approach,” an intervention characterized by a focus on ruthless prioritization: “It’s 10% planning, 90% implementation,” remarked Commission Director Liesbet Steer. Plans are underway to commence delivery labs in select African countries that have participated in the Pioneer Country initiative. These labs will enable countries to emerge with a detailed plan to achieve desired education transformations, and the concrete steps to get there. After the first wave of labs, lessons learned will be applied to the next group of participating countries.

Further to a recommended innovation transformation, Commissioners also discussed education workforce reforms. The Commission is responding to this challenge with its new Education Workforce Initiative, designed to bring fresh thinking into how to grow and diversify the workforce of educators so as to ensure young people are learning. As stressed by the initiative, it is essential that teachers are supported by a diversified education workforce.

Commissioners reviewed the latest advances driving the International Finance Facility for Education’s design which is being developed in consultation with stakeholders worldwide and backstopped by a groundbreaking acknowledgment by the 2017 Group of 20. Following a discussion on this proposed transformation in finance, Commission Director Justin W. van Fleet provided an update on the broader international finance architecture for education and the funds needed to close the education financing gap to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Commissioners also stressed the need to measure learning for the most marginalized populations, as per the inclusion recommendations set out in the Learning Generation report, and signaled the significant benefits that could be obtained through a Global Learning Indicator.



Education Commission ✔@educommission

Our Commissioners discuss what we need to achieve the #LearningGeneration: more & better finance, results, innovations and inclusion. #UNGA 2:59 PM - Sep 19, 2017 Replies 25 25 Retweets 54 54 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy Financing the Future event discusses progress towards SDG4

Several members of the Commission participated in “Financing the Future: Education 2030,” an event that took place at the UN Economic and Social Council, sponsored by the governments of Norway, France, Malawi and Senegal and jointly organized by UNICEF, UNESCO, the Global Partnership for Education, the Malala Fund, the ONE Campaign and the Education Commission. During the gathering, Commissioners present – which included Julia Gillard, Amel Karboul, Jakaya Kikwete, Ju-Ho Lee and Theo Sowa – made the case for more and better finance for education, as well as the central role civil of society and the need to shift the focus from schooling to learning.

With the Commission’s 2017 Progress Report on participants’ desks, and the Learning Generation video opening the event, attendees were brought into contact with the Commission’s agenda for action. One of the Commission’s recommendations has long been a successful, and expanded, Global Partnership for Education replenishment, which was a call for action guiding the event. Commission Co-convener Erna Solberg stressed that “quality education is the best investment we can make for the future.” And Commission Chair Brown added “Let’s be the first generation that can say every single child can go to school.”



Education Commission ✔@educommission Educating refugee youth, like @Muzoonrakan1, should be an immediate priority. We cannot afford to leave them behind. #FundEducation ##UNGA 11:40 AM - Sep 20, 2017 Replies 16 16 Retweets 63 63 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy But wait – there’s more

The Commission used Global Goals Week as a moment to advance multiple strategic initiatives, among them the Pioneer Country Initiative. In a special session convened by Chair Brown and Commissioner Kikwete, and attended by the Vice President of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi, the Ugandan First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni, and a representative from the Tanzanian Mission, participants discussed advancing the delivery labs in their respective countries. All parties were enthusiastic about the proposals, and having received delegation visits months earlier, were ready to proceed with initiatives to accelerate educational momentum already underway.



Education Commission ✔@educommission African leaders are focused on #SDG4 and innovating to ensure children are learning. See how we’re supporting: http://bit.ly/2tp1DhS #UNGA 11:14 AM - Sep 21, 2017 1 1 Reply 9 9 Retweets 43 43 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy

The Commission carried Learning Generation report recommendations and our agenda for action to a number of parallel education events taking place throughout the week. At the Global Business Coalition for Education breakfast, Commissioner Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala asked “How do we teach our children how to learn, so they can thrive in the future?” And Commissioner Amel Karboul noted that to achieve a true education transformation, “we need people from across sectors working together.”

Whether at a Brookings event on innovation, or an Asia Society gathering, the Education Commission had the privilege of working together with many of our partners during Global Goals Week to showcase progress made and how an inclusive and quality education for all can be delivered.