Donors have committed additional funds for improving basic education services in developing countries. This comes ahead of a pledging conference for a global education partnership in Denmark.
The pledges are made amid warning from some campaign groups that aid cuts could hamper and reverse progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goal seeking universal access to primary education.
The European Union is set to commit €31.8 million ($43.74 million) at a pledging conference in Denmark for the Global Partnership for Education, a network comprised of 46 developing countries and more than 30 private and public sector donors and civil society groups.
Canada, meanwhile, has pledged 45 million Canadian dollars ($44.44 million) for the GPE through 2014.
The global aid group Plan International, meanwhile, said it would spend an additional $55 million for education initiatives in the developing world. The pledge comes on top of the $113 million the organization spends on education initiatives in the developing world.
Ahead of the pledging conference, some aid groups have highlighted the need for robust support for global education efforts. Oxfam International, for one, said that cuts to the foreign aid budget put the future education of poor children at risk.
“Unless donors reverse the trend of cuts, there’s a real danger that a generation of children will lose the chance to learn, and that countries will remain poor and aid dependent,” Katie Malouf Bous, Oxfam’s education policy advisor said.
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