Together Women Rise Webinar: The Education Crisis (Jun. 2021)

Context: The Global Partnership for Education is seeking $5 billion in pledges at the end of July to execute their 5-year global education plan. We are dealing now with a global education crisis because of COVID-19. Girls are being impacted the worst. We need the U.S. to make a leadership pledge of $1 billion in July so that other countries step up. But the Biden Administration has not prioritized global education in his FY22 budget, proposing $682 million when $950 million was approved for FY21. We need to wake up the Biden Administration to the education crisis by activating Congress. The most important action we can take right now is to ask our Representatives to sign on to the bipartisan House GPE letter to the Biden Administration calling for a $1 billion pledge from the U.S.

Instructions: Send an email to your Rep’s foreign policy aide with the request, then follow up with a phone call in a day or so. Let us know if you need help finding the right person. Find out who your Representative is here.

Draft Email/Call to Send to Your Rep’s aide in charge of foreign policy.

Dear _________

Together Women Rise advocates are very concerned that a generation of children will be left behind due to COVID-19. An estimated 80% of the world’s school-age children, over 1.6 billion, have experienced disruptions in their education due to COVID-19. Children living in poverty, girls, and those from marginalized communities have had it the worst as many have no internet access to learn remotely and they still don’t have access to the COVID-19 vaccines. And even before COVID-19, an estimated 617 million children and adolescents around the world were unable to reach minimum proficiency levels in reading and math, even though two-thirds of them were in school. The current situation will only make things more desperate. Once a girl is out of school, it’s very hard to get her back in.

Thankfully, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) jumped into action at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, investing $500 million in emergency COVID-19 support to develop curriculum for radio, train teachers, provide internet access, and deliver lessons house-to-house. GPE has proven that coordinating resources around country-owned, national education plans can make a difference. Since 2002, GPE has supported over 160 million more children to be in school receiving a quality education. Support for global education and effect international development, in general, has always had bipartisan support. And now it’s more important than ever to invest in global education. 

 There is an opportunity to ensure that GPE has the resources it needs to carry out a bold, 5-year, $5 billion global education plan at an upcoming replenishment conference in July hosted by the UK and Kenya. Will the Representative please sign on to the bipartisan Kilmer/Fitzpatrick GPE Dear Colleague letter to the Administration calling for a U.S. pledge of $1 billion over five years to help fund GPE‘s plan? The US pledge would amount to a small increase in fund each year to hit the $1 billion mark. You can find a copy of the letter here. You can also see media generated in support of GPE here–people really care about global education.

 Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing back from you