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:
President @Macky_Sall says his country's will is to support the Global Partnership for Education’s actions to help millions of children to go to school. @PR_Senegal #FundEducation pic.twitter.com/1jaFgbRYZJ
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 2, 2018
Thank you @EmmanuelMacron for your commitment to a better, safer world. #FundEducation @Elysee pic.twitter.com/t03FFEMiGj
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 2, 2018
Education builds confidence, confidence builds hope, hope builds peace.
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 2, 2018
Thank you for these strong words @MimicaEU @europeaid #FundEducation pic.twitter.com/wo9xvAdApw
“School should be a social lift for all children, and enhance equality, especially gender equality." -President Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger #FundEducation pic.twitter.com/37aXzYY22T
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 2, 2018
Thank you to the @DFID_UK and to @PennyMordaunt for renewing their commitment to #FundEducation for children all over the world! pic.twitter.com/OKsD957VFB
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 8, 2018
"The unprecedented support means that the Global Partnership for Education can continue to focus on the most excluded and vulnerable children" @AliceAlbright pic.twitter.com/MubIe0k3ca
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 5, 2018
20+ youth leaders from GPE @PlanGlobal @ONECampaign @RsFawe @UNICEF @Refugees & more came to Dakar to advocate for gender-transformative, inclusive, quality education that prepares students for the futurehttps://t.co/o6kvkPCFwY pic.twitter.com/1loAIS05Ph
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 4, 2018
Powerful words from our Financing Conference co-host @Macky_Sall.
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 3, 2018
Yesterday, Senegal became GPE's first African donorpic.twitter.com/0HbeZV4RUn
Thrilled to be able to count on a force like @rihanna!
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 2, 2018
Thank you for coming to Senegal and for calling on world to #FundEducation pic.twitter.com/b3g5Vl5tm1
"We are very proud partners of the Global Partnership for Education... We are grant agents for about 70% of the work they do, and we are here to tell you that this work is the most important work that any of us can do." - @JimYongKim @WorldBank #FundEducation pic.twitter.com/Tbu1Jxv9Up
— GPE (@GPforEducation) February 2, 2018
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.