Italy renews its longstanding commitment to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) with a \u20ac25 million pledge towards GPE\u2019s \u201cRaise Your Hand\u201d financing campaign. The campaign seeks to raise at least US $5 billion to help transform education systems in up to 90 low-income countries and territories, which are home to more than 1 billion children.<\/p>\n
The pledge is a significant increase from Italy\u2019s previous contribution of \u20ac12 million in 2018. The contribution confirms Italy as a key GPE partner, and highlights the priority that Italy is giving to development cooperation in education worldwide.<\/p>\n
During the online webinar on the \u201crole of multi-stakeholder partnerships in promoting global education\u201d, organized by Save the Children-Italy on 9 June 2021, the Italian Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Marina Sereni <\/strong>said: \u201cWe strongly believe that investing in education and especially in girls\u2019 education means investing in the future of countries and in peaceful, just and inclusive societies.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that \u201cItaly recognizes the impressive results achieved by GPE to ensure quality education for millions of children all over the world, especially those in the most fragile and vulnerable contexts. Despite all our efforts, there is still so much to be done and this is why Italy decided to increase its political and financial support to the Global Partnership for Education.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Italian Vice Minister Sereni concluded: \u201cItaly will be contributing \u20ac25 million for the next five years. Half of our contribution will be dedicated to girls\u2019 education in Africa, which is a top priority area for Italian Cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cItaly has been a long-standing GPE partner,\u201d said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of GPE<\/strong>. \u201cTheir increased contribution to the GPE \u201cRaise Your Hand\u201d comes at a critical time for global education. Millions of young students will never return to the classroom because of COVID-19. We must continue to build strong, resilient and quality education systems that can respond to future crises and ensure that all children remain in school.\u201d<\/p>\n Covid-19 has drastically worsened education prospects for millions of children. At the height of pandemic-related closures, 1.6 billion children were shut out of schools, with an estimated 24 million students at risk of dropping out permanently. The pandemic is increasing the chance that children will be sent to work instead of school. Girls, children from poor families, and children with disabilities face the greatest risks of dropping out.<\/p>\n As the economic fallout from Covid-19 continues to squeeze government budgets, countries require urgent support to secure the resources to deliver quality education for every girl and boy. GPE funding will help countries make transformative reforms, address bottlenecks in their education systems, train teachers, invest in new and innovative curricula and find new ways of delivering education to the children most at risk of being left behind.<\/p>\n