On Friday, July 12th, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), Light for the World, RESULTS and GCE-US convened a special day-long event, Unifying the Playing Field: Local and Global Movements to Advance the Right to Education. This special side event for the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), convened by the United Nations, took a closer look at the various efforts and challenges in achieving Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG4), the right to inclusive and equitable quality education for all. The day was filled with rich discussion on collaborative advocacy efforts around the right to quality, inclusive education undertaken by local civil society organizations, national education coalitions, and international organizations.
Heidi Gibson, Director of Global Schools First, CEI,
For years, childhood education professionals have advocated for early access to early childhood development (ECD) programs as a means of leveling the playing field between better-resourced, more affluent students and more marginalized and vulnerable students. Focusing on early literacy and numeracy skills during the pre-primary and primary years can be a useful way to address achievement gaps. However, ECD programs often feel pressured to spend the bulk of their time on specific literacy and numeracy competencies, ignoring some of the “soft skills” that are critical to development in the early years. These skills, including social-emotional learning and global citizenship competencies, not only increase students’ success in school, but also help prepare them for their future as adults.
On July 12th, during the UN High Level Politcal Forum on SDGs, RESULTS, Light for the World, the Global Campaign for Education, and GCE-US convened the special event, "Unifying the Playing Field: local and global moments to advance the right to education." Throughout the day leaders from around the globe shared insights on the best practices and challenges we need to overcome for building sustainable, gender equitable, inclusive, peaceful and resilient societies.
Beth Offenbacker, founder of Waterford Inc. shares her experience attending GCE-US's Inclusive Education Community of Practice. The meeting topic was "effective advocacy" with a panel featuring three former senior officials from the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Rachel Wisthuff, Assistant Director, OPPA, UNICEF USA,
Early childhood education (ECE) or pre-primary education is one of the smartest investments countries around the world can make. As a core component of early childhood development in concert with nutrition and protective, loving care, early learning is critical to a child’s first 1,000 days when their brains are developing more rapidly than at any other time in life.
Civil society organizations – including JRS – have joined forces to voice their support for Education Cannot Wait as it works towards its goal of supporting quality education for close to 9 million children annually in some of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Education is a fundamental basic human right. No child, youth or adult should ever be deprived of their human right to access free quality education. While this rings true, and many policies around the world support this notion, millions of children remain deprived of their right to education. Vulnerable, marginalized communities and those negatively impacted by conflicts are the least likely to attend or complete their full 12 years of schooling.
Little Ripples is an early childhood education program that empowers refugees and communities affected by humanitarian crises to deliver child-centered, quality, and comprehensive pre-primary education that supports the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children ages three to five. Little Ripples is designed to be refugee- and community-led in order to build long-term capacity and address the unique needs of children and communities affected by trauma, violence, displacement, and uncertainty.
On Thursday, April 11th during the World Bank Civil Society Meetings the Global Campaign for Education-US moderated a panel on the Importance of Investing in Disability Inclusion Early Childhood Education with representatives from the Bank Information Center, Light for the World, Open Society Foundations, and the World Bank.
