My Fellowship Experience with GCE-US
Reflections from Shruti Nallappa, GCE-US Senior Fellow
Reflections from Shruti Nallappa, GCE-US Senior Fellow
Ahead of the Global Education Summit: Financing the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2021-2025, which took place July 28 and 29, 2021, the Global Campaign for Education-US (GCE-US), the Inclusive Education & Early Childhood Community of Practice, and partner organizations joined forces to launch a series of Summit side events focused on inclusive education.
In many contexts, community-driven organizations offer girls in difficult circumstances a source of hope and chance at education by paying school fees, providing spaces for daycare, and taking on cases of gender-based violence by seeking legal justice on girls’ behalf. Community-driven organizations can also protect girls from female genital mutilation and early marriage and can support girls to develop and restore their power and agency through continuous training sessions. And that’s just the beginning.
The power of education is clear – brighter futures, healthier communities, and increased economic growth for individuals and countries. This is why we urge the United States Congress to allocate for Fiscal Year 2022 at least $1.1 billion for International Basic Education, including at least $150 million for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and at least $50 million for Education Cannot Wait (ECW), both of which complement U.S. bilateral education efforts.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education of over one billion people, including many of our most marginalized being impacted the most; this includes–but is not limited to: girls, children with disabilities, and children in conflict settings. Many of these children already faced challenges to access quality, inclusive education prior to the pandemic, which has now exacerbated these problems. On March 31, we co-hosted an event, in conjunction with the Civil Society Policy Forum during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, that discussed the issue of education financing during COVID-19 response and recovery to reach the most marginalized.
See here to read about Girls Education International and their latest international curriculum that was launched in celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child. Blog written by Girls Education International's Executive Director, Kate Schelbe.
The “Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act” proposes to expand the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program (MNBSP). The USAID funded MNBSP program was established in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for academically talented underprivileged Pakistani youth to earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree at one of the 30 partner universities in Pakistan.
According to UNESCO, of the 743 million girls around the world out of school and universities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over 111 million live in the world’s least developed countries, where already high gender disparities in education exist. There are now fears that progress made with regards to gender equality could be reversed as the pandemic threatens to further entrench existing gender gaps in education. Marginalised girls in poor countries are at a higher risk of dropping out of school compared to boys. Evidence from past crises suggests that there will be a disproportionate impact on education of adolescent girls. In order to mitigate this impact, it is vital that education policies designed to deal with the current crisis are gender responsive.
Washington, DC – The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs recommended that international basic education be funded at $975 million for the coming fiscal year (FY 2021) and an additional $150 million in emergency COVID-19 funding to support basic and higher education needs during the pandemic.
Schools in India have been disrupted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This blog discusses how the closing of schools can impact the education of girls and young women. Read to learn more and how you can help.