“How can we help, Mohamed?” is the question I am often asked when I speak about the harrows of my childhood in Sierra Leone and the importance of education in rebuilding.

There is urgency in the voices of those who have heard me speak about my past, my present and my vision of the future. These are people with the power and influence to effect real change and they want to help and contribute to this next phase of my life.

I always ask for the same thing: I need them to approach the fight in providing access to quality education to every girl or boy with that same level of urgency. Because the girls and boys that I represent are as real as I am.

Partnership the first step to winning the quality education battle

When I arrived to give the opening keynote at the Varkey Foundation annual Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) in Dubai, needless to say, I was expecting the same questions from global leaders and stakeholders of education.

To my surprise, however, what I saw was a shift in the approach of those who are trying to help. They did not ask what they could do to help but rather: “How can we work together in preventing what happened to you from happening again?”

I always attend these conferences with a degree of skepticism, derived from unfulfilled promises made to me as well as the fact that the voices of countless children are usually not in that room or on that stage.

Maybe, the Varkey Foundation has somehow managed to gather 2,000 people who are not only asking the right questions but are doing the right things. Or maybe, the world has finally realized that by not providing access to quality education to every child, we are now on the precipice of danger. Or maybe, just maybe, it is finally sinking in that borders and soldiers are nothing but a temporary solution to a catastrophic problem, and that our only real solution is to spread knowledge and opportunity by providing access to quality education for every girl and boy.

Although GESF pushed the boundaries on how educational conferences should be run in terms of content discussed, recommendations made and engagement between stakeholders and young people, it fell short in one important category: the involvement of ministers of finance.

Financing education is the key issue

With everyone in attendance sharing the same sentiment of why it’s imperative to fund education, I was made to wonder why this one group in particular was missing. I get it, GESF may not be in the business of directly raising funds for education or asking governments to increase funding for education, but they are in the business of training, producing and highlighting quality teachers. Financing education and having quality teachers are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, they should be interested in the financing of education.

My recommendation will be that at the next conference, GESF should include ministers of finance from both donor and recipient countries. Seeing what the Varkey Foundation  has accomplished in such a short amount of time, this is one thing that I know Vikas and his team can accomplish.

I understand that the decision of ministers of finance to attend events such as the GESF is not the sole responsibility of the organizers. Therefore, in accordance with the Addis Ababa Agenda for Action on Financing for Development, I will make a general recommendation: calling for more dialogue at the global and regional level of both ministers of finance and ministers of Education, convened together to address the state of education, promote more and better financing to the sector and revitalize investments.

Live debaters all agree on the primacy of education

With regards to content and innovation, one thing worth mentioning in particular was the GESF live event; a first-of-its-kind live talk show that brought together the biggest names in politics, sport, media and entertainment to discuss the state of education in 2030.

Suits star Sarah Rafferty spoke of the role of teachers in childhood development as the daughter of a teacher. She attributed her success to her education, a sentiment that was echoed by her co-star Gina Torres. The underlining conclusion from all speakers (Gina Torres, Sarah Rafferty, famed cricketer hall of famer Brian Lara, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former England footballer Jermaine Jones and me) was that education is the single greatest investment countries and individuals can make.

Young people are part of the solution

Plan international’s high-level G7 roundtable highlighted some of the challenges often faced at these events; an agreement on what the best approach should be for financing education. The term innovative financing was thrown around a lot with some people for and some against.

However, there was no debate when it came to one recommendation in particular: asking recipient countries to increase their tax base through innovative tax systems. I am still unclear on what those innovative tax systems should be. However, another concrete recommendation made by members of the G7 roundtable is for civil society and steering committees to push for girls’ education in emergencies to be the focal point of Canada’s G7 Presidency – a recommendation that I believe to be attainable.

As a youth participant at that roundtable with my fellow youth delegate Vivian, we felt that there was space and inclusion of young people in multiple conversations throughout that event. More importantly, we felt like we were being heard. It was as if a light bulb went off; young people are part of the solution, and without our inputs, the 2030 sustainable development goals will be a pipedream with dire consequences.

The Global Partnership for Education Financing Conference came and went, the Global Education and Skills Forum has come and gone, and next up is the G7 summit. Although the goals are simple, the stakes have never been higher.

We as youth and activists must use every platform available to us and demand that Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada makes access to quality education for girls and boys the focus of his G7 presidency.