The Khana Group Attends the Global Business Coalition for Education Conference
On April 15th, 2015, the Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Education) held a #scalingresults conference to bring attention to the 58 million children across the world that are out of school. The panel was hosted by GBC- Education Executive Chair, Sarah Brown and featured Elias Saab, Minister of Education Lebanon, Claudia Costin, Director of Global Practice- Education at The World Bank, Patrick Gaston, President of The Western Union Foundation, and two guest speakers: Global Youth Ambassadors Cedrick Nwafor from Cameroon and Selamawit Bekele from Ethiopia.
The diverse panel was able to give a dynamic overview of key findings and obstacles to the mission of educating school-aged childrenaround the world. They also provided essential insights to the issues of handling such a wide-scale international problem. While it is considered the responsibility of the state, it has been made clear in the current context that sustainable solutions will only occur if everyone shares ownership. At TKG, we realize first hand the importance of collaborating with public and private sectors in order to expand access, resources and scalability, and also increase the longevity of projects especially in the gender and education sectors, hence the importance of attending this conference.
The overarching theme was to bring attention to leading initiatives focused on school enrollment on a global level, specifically, A World At School Partnership. This partnership boasts a membership of over 250; including civil society, teachers, faiths, youth, businesses, international and non-governmental organizations, and a network of 500 Global Youth Ambassadors campaigning in 85 countries across the globe, such as the guest speakers, Cedrick and Selamawit. Launched in 2013 by GBC Education Executive Chair and Theirworld founder Sarah Brown, A World At School is an international campaign whose sole purpose is to collaborate with others in order to advocate for children’s education.
The organization is currently running a stand #Upforschool petition to remind governments across the globe of the UN Millennium Development Goal, stating that all children will be ensured a complete primary education by the end of 2015. Currently at 4.9 million, the petition is only 65,000 short of meeting their goal of 5 million signatures. You can find the petition here http://www.aworldatschool.org/upforschool to add your voice to the protest. Please join TKG in supporting this initiative.