Throughout 2015 the Global Partnership developed a new five-year Strategic Plan (2016-2020) that set a new level of ambition aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 and core driver to achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda. Capitalizing on its unique status as a multi-stakeholder partnership that provides financing, technical support and capacity building to country level partners, the strategic plan – GPE2020 – guides the Global Partnership’s activities through three core goals: (1) to improve and achieve more equitable learning outcomes; (2) increase equity, gender equality, and inclusion; and (3) strengthen the efficiency and effective of education systems. The Strategic Plan is accompanied by a comprehensive results framework of 12 core and 25 sub-core indicators, as well as a monitoring and evaluation strategy, aligned with the Education 2030 indicator framework, and a five-year implementation plan. GPE today brings together developing countries, donors, international organizations, civil society, teacher organizations, the private sector and philanthropy to improve learning and equity through stronger education systems. A key function of GPE is to support governments to develop good quality education sector plans and to encourage donors to align their support with these plans, hence reducing aid fragmentation and transaction costs and increasing sustainability.
The panel will present three papers. The first paper frames the evolution of GPE from 2002 to 2017 and describe key financial, operational, and technical developments that situate the Partnership as a recognized global player central to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Agenda. It will also describe key recent developments, including the Financing and Funding Framework (FFF) designed to resource and implement GPE2020, which includes support for Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, and Advocacy and Social Accountability across the Partnership.
The second paper examines GPE’s engagement in the area of teaching and learning. It presents GPE’s commitment to improving teaching and learning as laid out in Goal 1 of its Strategic Plan and the specific results the Partnership aims to achieve. The paper provides an overview of current GPE investments in teaching and learning, both at regional and country level. It notes that a majority of its grants are financing teacher training, followed by learning materials, learning assessments, and teacher management initiatives. GPE work is highlighted through a series of country cases. The paper will also address inclusive education, Goal 2 of GPE2020, and describe GPE work to ensure children with disabilities access quality teaching and learning.
The third paper presents Joint Sector Reviews (JSRs), a central element of the GPE theory of change and Goal 3 of GPE2020. JSRs are a mechanism for enhancing inclusive and evidence-based policy dialogue in support of the implementation of Education Sector Plans to achieve greater sector performance, ownership, capacity, and sustainability. Since 2012, the Global Partnership has engaged in numerous initiatives for supporting sector monitoring and is technically engaged in supporting JSRs at country level and between in December 2016 concluded a six month research project for defining and measuring Joint Sector Reviews effectiveness.
The papers will describe how GPE works to ensure that the core business of education – learning and teaching – is driven by processes that respond to context, build capacity, and systematize harmonization for sustainable development. Discussants from the CSO and donor communities will respond.
Discussant: Keith Lewin, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Sussex
