Today, global education leaders and more than 40 ministers gather in Brussels to pledge their commitments to give every child an education.  It is an important moment for every parent who wants the chance for their son or daughter to go to a school where they will be safe and learn. It is an important moment for every child who has a desire to study and to learn. That’s why world leaders won’t be the only participants at the second replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education today.

Youth are here too. Young people who have seen the benefits of education, who have fought for their right to go to school, who have countered disabilities and adversity. They are the voices of the young people the world has a chance to educate. Young people who, without an education, would be stifled.

Meet Leroy Philips, youth leader from Guyana…

One such young man is Leroy Philips, a youth leader from Guyana who is also blind. Despite poverty and disability he fought for his own right to an education, and now hosts a radio program in Guyana that discusses social issues, such as education for all children. Leroy actively works with the Ministry of Education in Guyana to make schools more inclusive and accessible for children with disabilities. Leroy and the other three youths with disabilities at the conference are just a few of the over 90 million children in the world growing up with disabilities. Their full potential risks not being realized without access to quality schooling.

….and Anoyara from India

Anoyara from India is all too familiar with the barriers girls around the world face in going to school. At the age of nine she was trafficked as a domestic laborer to New Delhi. After escaping with the help of a local non-profit organization, years later she has made it her mission to ensure no other girl is trafficked, forced into child labor or marriage. How to achieve this? She believes schooling is the answer. Through education she continues to empower herself and hundreds of girls in her community.

Making youth participation a reality

The 31 youth delegates from 19 countries present at the replenishment conference today are not only a testament to the power of education to alter one’s life course. They are an even greater testament to the power of youth to alter the course of education.

Over the last year we have seen youth raising their voices and their pens to advocate in all environments from their schools, to communities, to governments to invest smartly and transparently in quality education.

Earlier this month we learned that aid to education has fallen by 10% since 2010 alone. This is not just disappointing, it is inexcusable. And while the Global Partnership for Education replenishment today is one step is reversing this concerning trend, even more importantly, it is an opportunity for all actors in the education community to reflect on how we can continue to build the most inclusive partnership that achieves real and tangible impact in young people’s futures.

If you visit the Youth Zone at the replenishment conference you are being asked: how can your organization better engage youth? And this is a question we have been reflecting on at the Global Partnership over the last year. In order to be a true partnership, youth must have a say in the education they receive at every level starting from their school, to their national ministry to the governance of this partnership.

It’s the power of the partnership that makes it possible for these young people to participate as valuable and legitimate stakeholders in the GPE replenishment. An impressive group of organizations has been supporting the youth leaders to come and join the conference. These organizations often take the back seat in order to give the steering wheel to the young people whose lives and futures we are collectively working to improve. With invaluable support from Plan International, UNICEF, A World At School, the Malala Fund, Save the Children, Restless Development, ActionAid, the Global Campaign for Education, Women Thrive Worldwide and the Dutch National Youth Council the youth present today, and thousands of their peers around the world, young people have been further empowered to demand to be a part of not only the conversation, but also the decision making.

Over the next four years we have ambitious goals to get millions of children in school and learning. We know we can’t do this alone. We look forward to achieving this vision with all of our partners, especially youth. Please join us.