So many people around the world are coping with severe crises today, so it may seem jarring to reflect on last year’s accomplishments. But, as GPE publishes its 2021 annual report, it is crucial to recognize what partner countries have achieved – against enormous odds – and how we at GPE are striving and learning to give them the greatest possible support.

The 2021 annual report recounts how all GPE partners – from governments to philanthropies and teachers’ organizations to multilateral institutions – deepened their commitments to delivering a quality education for every girl and boy.

Together, their efforts and GPE’s support meant millions of children could continue their education or resume learning despite the hardships posed not only by the gravest health emergency in a hundred years but also by other crises, such as natural disasters, climate change and conflict.

The report shows that GPE recognizes that the challenge we face goes beyond trying to respond to each crisis as it unfolds—it means strengthening education systems to build in greater resilience and capacity, right now. It also demands that the international community really steps up to underwrite the success of future generations.

Keeping education going during the pandemic

In Nigeria, GPE supported a government drive to get more children, particularly girls, into school by easing the financial burden on parents. More than 417,000 girls received scholarships through this effort last year, while intensified teacher training also aimed to boost the quality of learning for all.

In a potentially positive legacy of COVID-19, the pandemic has intensified the focus on remote learning, holding out the promise of more robust education systems that are also more inclusive of children who are unable to set foot inside a classroom.

Vanuatu drew on GPE support in 2021 to adapt a range of learning materials for remote use in an initiative that served the dual needs of responding to the COVID-19 emergency and disaster-proofing education in the wake of cyclone Harold in April 2020.

These are just two examples among many that highlight how, throughout 2021, partner countries used GPE’s technical assistance and financial support flexibly to confront multiple challenges.

Matching GPE support to countries’ needs

In all, GPE provided more than $740 million in grants in direct support of national education budgets over 2021, shoring up education spending at a time when partner countries were responding to the pandemic’s ongoing, wide-ranging impacts.

Even before COVID-19, however, GPE recognized that many countries wanted support that was not only more ambitious in scale but also more predictable and easily accessible. In response, GPE’s Raise Your Hand replenishment campaign not only secured $4 billion in donor commitments, but it also served to put education at the forefront of the global agenda and unite a growing base of allies.

The 2021 annual report shows that more regional banks engaged with GPE’s efforts throughout the year and it also highlights how the business and philanthropic communities are becoming more engaged in the cause of education through direct financial or in-kind support, leveraged through GPE grants and initiatives.

This was also the first year of GPE 2025, our five-year strategy that sets out a more flexible, context-sensitive approach to working with all partners to transform education systems. The annual report explains how this approach is being put into action, thanks to the six countries that stepped up to pilot the refinements to planning, funding and learning processes.

Ultimately, the 2021 annual report is not so much a reflection of GPE’s past year as much as a map to how a smarter, stronger and more agile GPE will support partner countries in getting more girls and boys learning, no matter what comes.