What happened at the GPE Financing Conference in Dakar?

The 2-day event drew worldwide attention and pushed education on top of the global conversation. Find out what you may have missed and a wealth of post-conference resources.

February 09, 2018 by GPE Secretariat
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7 minutes read
Flags fly at CICAD in Dakar. Credit: GPE/Natalie Poulson
GPE and partners' flags at the entrance of the Centre international de conférence Abdou Diouf (CICAD). Dakar, Senegal
Credit: GPE/Natalie Poulson

It is hard to believe that just one week ago, we were in Dakar in the middle of the largest education financing event ever organized. Thanks to the co-hosts, President Macky Sall of Senegal and President Emmanuel Macron of France, as well as the advocacy of GPE's global ambassador Rihanna and thousands of partners around the world, the GPE Financing Conference was a big success, gathering 10 heads of state, more than 100 ministers, and more than 1,200 participants.

At the GPE Secretariat, we are delighted that developing countries committed US$110 billion of their national budgets to education and that donors pledged US$2.3 billion to the GPE fund for the next three years. These financial commitments will allow us to continue to implement our strategy, GPE 2020, and to ensure that more children get the quality education they deserve.

Most importantly, though, Dakar showed that education is at the center of development and essential for improvements in many other areas, including peace and security, stability, health, the environment, and gender equality. The political will to make education a priority has been building over the past year and we will continue to work on this over the coming years.

(Re-)Watch the webcast

If you didn't have the chance to watch the February 2 event live, you can still watch all of the performances, speeches and pledges by heads of states, ministers and heads of international organizations, Youssou N'Dour and Rihanna.  Below the video, we've added links to take you to specific parts of the webcast so that you can easily watch the speaker(s) or performance you are interested in.

(Re-)Read our press release and watch the press conference

Issued right after the conference ended last Friday, our press release was picked up by many news outlets around the world, thanks to a massive media presence in Dakar. You can even watch the full press conference by presidents Sall and Macron and Julia Gillard.

View event videos

Right after the end of the conference, our multimedia team created short recap videos:

You can also view other conference-related videos here.

Find out about financial pledges

The details of developing countries and donors' pledges are now available. You can also find links to the donor remarks, as well as their press releases.

Read leaders' quotes

We've collected key quotes from prominent speakers at the event. See a few here:

Look at photos

We've collected hundreds of photos from Dakar in three albums:

We want to thank again our conference sponsors: Ecobank, Altissia and Sonatel; our CSO partners: Girls Not Brides, Global Campaign for Education, Global Citizen, Malala Fund, ONE, Plan International, Results and Women Deliver; and all of those who helped make the financing conference a great event.

Please send us your comments and share your own memories from Dakar.

Financing

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February 11, 2018 by Amoabeng Isaac

GPEG came to help and boost education in Ghana from 2013 to 2015, through GPEP, Ghana Education Service increased in its infrastructure especially at the basic school. After its completion, there had been a lot of deficits. I want to know if it is possible for GPEG to come to Ghana again and if it is possible, when?

February 12, 2018 by Chantal Rigaud

In reply to by Amoabeng Isaac

The Global Partnership for Education continues to support Ghana. Stay tuned for announcements of further financial support once decision has been taken by the GPE Board of directors.

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