18/02
12 March 2002
BROWN LAUNCHES FUND TO BOOST EDUCATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH
The Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF), officially launched today by the Chancellor Gordon Brown to mark Her Majesty The Queen's Golden Jubilee year, will help Commonwealth developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in education so that every child in the Commonwealth completes a primary education by 2015.
At present, 75 million primary school-age children in the Commonwealth do not attend school.
In the presence of Her Majesty The Queen at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conference in London, the Chancellor outlined his plans for the CEF. Mr Brown's speech followed an earlier visit to Allfarthing Primary School in Wandsworth which is 'twinned' with the Presbyterian Experimental Primary in Tamele, Northern Ghana. Accompanied by television personality Davina McCall, a supporter of Comic Relief, and Mike Aaronson, Director General of Save the Children, the Chancellor spoke to the children about their links with the school in Ghana and saw for himself the benefits of the 'twinning' programme.
The Chancellor announced that:
- Sir Edward George, Governor of the Bank of England, will chair the Fund;
- ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children will jointly administer the majority of CEF resources through a strategic fund.
Alongside the £10 million Government commitment to the fund, money raised by business will be matched pound for pound by the Government; the Government will also match pound for pound funds raised for education in Commonwealth developing countries by Comic Relief's Sport Relief.
While most of the funds from the CEF will be invested in expanding access to education in the Commonwealth's poorest countries, the Government will also expand its work to develop links between schools in Commonwealth countries and the UK, to raise children's development awareness.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The CEF is being launched in Her Majesty The Queen's Golden Jubilee Year. It will be one of the Golden Jubilee's lasting legacies. For further information about the Golden Jubilee, contact 0207 411 5514.
2. The strategic fund administered jointly by ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children is the largest component of the CEF and a promising model for future co-ordinated work by these agencies. It is the first time that they have worked together through a common management structure.
ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children have been the three longstanding leading UK members of the international NGO coalition 'Global Campaign for Education', which has been taking forward the commitments made by Governments and NGOs at the World Education Forum held in Dakar April 2000 to provide education for all.
The strategic fund will strengthen the capacity of low-income Commonwealth countries to ensure that the poorest and most marginalised children are able to enroll in and complete good quality primary education. Activities will cover three broad areas:
- Strengthening civil society participation in the design and implementation of national and local education plans and frameworks. Particular priority will be given to supporting initiatives that can accelerate progress towards gender equity in education;
- Enabling local communities to monitor government spending on education, both at the national and local levels;
- Supporting innovative ways for civil society to ensure that all children, especially girls and the most vulnerable and disadvantaged (including street children, former child soldiers and nomadic children) are able to access quality education.
3. The Government has already announced a grant of £10 million to kickstart the Fund. Funding from the CEF will commence from mid-2002 and be made available over three and a half financial years, ending in December 2005.
4. There are 75 million children in the Commonwealth who do not complete a basic education, and 120 million children worldwide. Since 1997 the Government has committed over £600 million to achieving universal primary education.
5. The strategic fund will concentrate on low-income Commonwealth countries identified by ActionAid, Oxfam and Save the Children as being seriously under-resourced in relation to education provision, and in which one or more of them has existing capacity to provide support to local organisations and to monitor and evaluate outcomes and impact. The potential 17 countries are: Bangladesh, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Other Commonwealth Countries requesting support would be encouraged to approach parallel funding sources such as Comic Relief's International Fund and DFID Challenge Funds.
6. The British Council manage a programme of 150 school links between Ghana and the UK to raise young people's awareness of interdependence, life in other countries and development issues. For further information, contact WOTW.