The Global Partnership for Education Board of Directors met in Dubai, UAE, on December 4-5, 2024.
The meeting was opened by Her Excellency Reem Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In her speech, Minister Reem assured UAE's continued support to GPE. The UAE was the first country from the Middle East to join GPE in 2018 and has since confirmed its leadership in supporting the work of the partnership. The Board also welcomed and heard an address from His Excellency Professor Nasser M. Alqeeli, Deputy Minister for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi delegation attended as an observer. The Board expressed gratitude to the UAE for hosting this GPE Board of Directors' meeting at EXPO City, where the Declaration on the common agenda for education and climate change was launched during COP28.
The Board received the report on the work of the Global Partnership for Education for the last six months, presented by GPE CEO Laura Frigenti. GPE grant approvals reached a record US$1 billion in fiscal year 2024, with disbursements also surpassing $1 billion. GPE grants were bolstered by an additional $3.8 billion from 64 co-financiers mobilized through GPE’s innovative finance mechanisms. These achievements combined with improved grant performance have reduced operational and fund management risks. While GPE’s current financial position is stable, it was recognized that, as GPE approaches the end of its current strategic cycle, resource mobilization efforts should continue.
In light of the importance and opportunity to mobilize additional resources, the Board made a landmark decision to support the creation of an independent non-profit legal entity in Geneva, Switzerland, with the sole purpose to support GPE's mission and objectives. This entity would complement and not replace GPE’s existing capabilities and institutional arrangements.
The 2024 GPE Results Report highlighted that in the three years since the GPE 2025 strategy was launched, the partnership has already exceeded the results of the previous five-year period. It has reached 253 million children, trained 1.9 million teachers, distributed 169 million textbooks and constructed or rehabilitated more than 36,000 classrooms. GPE now has promising early evidence of reform implementation in partner countries. Grants are successful in achieving their objectives on access, learning and gender equality. It is important to underline that GPE’s hardwiring of gender equality has doubled since 2021.
At the mid-point of GPE's current strategy, the Board welcomed the assessment undertaken by the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), which reaffirmed the relevance and value of GPE’s partnership model and strategic direction. The assessment noted strong progress made towards achieving the objectives of the GPE 2025 strategy. It also highlighted GPE's effective response to COVID-19, success in mainstreaming gender equality, support for more inclusive dialogue and track record of attracting new funds and financing partners. Equally, the Board was provided with valuable insights on areas for continued attention by the partnership. This included continuing to improve efficiency, strengthening results reporting, adherence at all levels to core principles of harmonization and alignment, strengthening measures to prevent sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment, and taking opportunities to further sharpen GPE's contributions to the multilateral architecture. The Board also reasserted the sector-wide challenge of measuring learning outcomes and the need to explore how GPE mechanisms can support, incentivize and strengthen accountability to drive progress.
GPE grant agents play a crucial role in delivering on GPE's strategic objectives and supporting the implementation of countries’ priority reforms. Responding to the findings of an independent assessment of the current grant agent selection process, the Board approved a set of proposed revisions to strengthen the process, and requested the Secretariat to develop the necessary procedures to operationalize these revisions for roll out under the GPE 2030 strategy.
Informed by the rich exchange during the two thematic sessions dedicated to transition from school to work and gender equality and inclusion, the Board made important decisions on three key aspects of the next strategic period.
First, it decided on its scope. The Board agreed to maintain GPE's scope of 12 years of primary and secondary education plus at least one year of pre-primary education. It was recognized that this could include evidence-based interventions to support programming for younger children (3+) as well as skills-to-work programming. The Board further reaffirmed its commitment to mainstreaming gender equality and inclusion across all aspects of GPE work, including a focus on addressing gender-based violence and inclusion of children with disabilities and refugees. The Board recognized the importance of school health and nutrition.
The GPE Board also determined to strengthen approaches to addressing and mitigating the impacts of climate change in education; explore ways to strengthen the participation and engagement of teachers; and ways to meaningfully engage children and young people. The Board also confirmed its focus on the most vulnerable and reaffirmed its commitment to leave no one behind. GPE will continue to prioritize support to low- and lower-middle-income countries. The partnership will continue to strengthen support to out-of-school children and youth, more gender responsive and inclusive education systems with an intersectoral lens, incentivizing the equity, efficiency and volume of domestic financing, and support to partner countries to improve data on learning outcomes.
Second, the Board agreed on key principles for the use of GPE funding to support the delivery of the GPE 2030 strategy. The Board determined to continue to prioritize financial support to low- and lower-middle-income countries and IDA-eligible small island and landlocked developing states, using needs-based allocation criteria. It was also decided that options to support some upper-middle-income countries could be considered, in a targeted manner and subject to the availability of funds. The Board also agreed to continue to use GPE funds to strengthen resilient education systems and better prepare for and respond to crises including climate change, and to take steps to further strengthen mainstreaming of gender and inclusion in system transformation, supported by the use of innovative financing instruments such as the GPE Multiplier.
Finally, strategic parameters for GPE 2030 country allocations were endorsed.
The meeting concluded with a presentation on the financing campaign for the strategic plan period 2026–2030. As agreed in June 2024, GPE expects to launch its fifth replenishment campaign in 2025 and to hold a high-level replenishment moment during the first half of 2026, with the vision of driving a step-change in education financing to accelerate education transformation to ensure a brighter future for children and young people in 90 partner countries.
The next meeting of the Board of Directors will take place in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in June 2025.