WASHINGTON D.C./ZURICH/BASEL, 6 February, 2025 – The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and other members of the Switzerland group of Friends of Education are concerned by the Swiss Government’s announcement on January 29 of cuts to its international education assistance.

Since 2009, Switzerland has been a committed and valued member of GPE, generously contributing to its fund and helping shape its work, including through its active participation in the GPE Board of Directors. The Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) is serving as the Coordinating Agency for the Local Education Group in Niger, enabling local dialogue, planning and programming for transformative and coordinated education initiatives.

Over the past decades, Switzerland’s contributions to global education have been far-reaching. Switzerland’s own expertise on education, including on decentralization is a distinct value add for basic education globally. Together with Switzerland, we as members of the ‘Friends of Education’ group remain united in the shared vision that prosperity, security, peace and sustainable development depend on investments made from early on in life, in and through education.

In partnership with Switzerland and other partners, GPE has been able to implement important reforms to ensure accountability, cost effectiveness and efficiency for better impact. This has enabled this unique partnership to deliver at scale, helping countries make transformative changes to get more girls and boys in school and learning. Thanks to the partnership, 160 million more children are in school in GPE partner countries, and more children are completing primary school. Twice as many girls are enrolled in school and 70% of partner countries have seen better learning outcomes.

The Swiss Government’s decision comes at a particularly critical time, the needs have never been greater. As the Agenda 2030 deadline approaches, there are over 250 million children and youth out of school and as many as 7 out of 10 children are unable to read and understand a simple story by the age of 10. We need to invest in their education today if we want to ensure they are able to contribute to the global economy and help build strong, stable, resilient societies.

Today more than ever, our collective commitment to education remains essential to give girls and boys, whoever and wherever they are, the opportunity to learn, thrive and shape the world of tomorrow. This collective endeavor demands bold and ambitious collaboration across state, public, private and philanthropic partners. GPE is uniquely placed to enable such collaboration as illustrated by its partnerships with the diverse education actors in Switzerland, including through ‘Friends of Education’.

Scarcity of resources makes it crucial to focus on what has the greatest impact towards sustainable development, stability, prosperity and peace, all of which have education at their core.

We urge the government of Switzerland to keep its seat at the table: millions of children around the world depend on our commitment to get them the education they need for the world to be a better place for everyone.

This statement is supported by members of the Friends of Education Switzerland group, including GPE, Fondation Botnar, Jacobs Foundation, Roger Federer Foundation, and others.

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About the Global Partnership for Education

GPE is the world's only partnership and fund solely dedicated to providing education to children in lower-income countries. Over half of GPE 90 partner countries are affected by conflict and fragility. Since its inception in 2002, GPE has mobilized US$11 billion for education, and leveraged an additional $4 billion through its flagship innovative financing instruments.

About Friends of Education

Friends of Education (Switzerland) is an informal group of education funders, policy makers and policy shapers united by the shared goal of enabling stronger collaboration for impact and scale by sharing knowledge, enabling aligned funding and building a common narrative. The group was established in 2020 and comprises of over 30 organizations from philanthropy, international and multilateral communities including some of Switzerland’s most prominent funders of global education.