It took bruising personalities, dogged ambition and a lucky convergence of political will. But a year after the idea was raised, U.N. special envoy for global education, Gordon Brown, announced the launch of a $4 billion fund at last week’s World Humanitarian Summit. The fund aims to provide education to the 75 million children worldwide who are now living in conflict zones and fragile states.
The Education Cannot Wait fund was among the more concrete initiatives to emerge from the summit and may also prove a test case for many of the broader questions raised there. It will be one of just a few examples where there is a merging humanitarian and development priorities. The fund draws together the United Nations, national governments, international and local nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. Its grants will be flexible and lengthy.
The goal is for the initiative to reach full funding within five years, starting with a $150 million goal in 2016, which is expected to come from a variety of sources, including private companies. So far, $90 million has been pledged for the first year.
About the author
Elizabeth Dickinson@dickinsonbeth
Elizabeth Dickinson is a former associate editor at Devex. Based in the Middle East, she has previously served as Gulf correspondent for The National, assistant managing editor at Foreign Policy, and Nigeria correspondent at The Economist. Her writing also appeared in The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico Magazine, and Newsweek, among others.
