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Blog by Emanuele Russo and Chiara Damen, GCE-Italia, the Global Campaign For Education Italy

 

In 2024, Italy hosted the G7 presidency, with meetings that became important for the global education agenda. In a world facing multiple challenges and deep humanitarian crisis, the Italian G7 Presidency’s agenda was necessarily influenced by the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the Middle East, as well as the conflict in Ukraine. Humanitarian aid, peace, security and disarmament were therefore among the main priorities of the Presidency along with other issues such as: health, climate change, energy, artificial intelligence, migration and food security.

Initially, education seemed not to be high in the G7 political agenda but rather mainstreamed across different strands of work with a particular attention to girls’ education, however, a dedicated Education Minister meeting was held in June in Trieste, and a high level event on “Investing in lifelong learning for job creation and resilience: a dialogue with Africa” took place in Caserta in October within the framework of the G7.

The Global Campaign for Education Italy has been following the G7 work within the Civil7 (C7) which is one of the official engagement groups of the G7. C7 provides a platform for Civil Society Organizations to bring forth proposals and demands aimed at protecting the environment and promoting social and economic development and well-being for all, ensuring healthy lives, gender equality, human rights and the principle of leaving no one behind, to stimulate a constructive dialogue with the G7.

GCE and C7 organizations started early in influencing G7 positions on global education by organizing an event at the end of February 2024 in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education. In that occasion we asked G7 to play a strong role in ensuring the right to education and address the education crisis globally. In particular, we recommended the Italian Presidency to show a leadership on this by pushing G7 Countries to:

  • Urgently close the education funding gap globally by ensuring that Multilateral Funds such as the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait are fully funded, as well as by unlocking additional funding through timely debt relief in those countries that for this reason fail to invest in public services.
  • Cooperate with partner countries in Africa to build quality, inclusive and resilient education systems. Efforts and resources need to be increased to strengthen the resilience of education systems so that they are ready in case of external shocks and are able to ensure the continuity and quality of education.
  • Deliver on commitments made at previous Summits to support access to quality education and learning for girls by defining a shared action plan that translates these commitments into concrete and measurable actions.
  • Promote a shift in power dynamics by shifting resources, capacity and ownership to national and local actors to ensure more context-appropriate and effective outcomes for children, and in line with strategies and recommendations that emerged from countries during the last African Union Summit.

The Global Campaign for Education Italy has been sharing these messages and recommendations also ahead of the Education Ministerial Meetings and during the event in Caserta where Save the Children Italy – as part of GCE Italy and C7- had the opportunity to address the representatives of G7 countries and some African Countries.

In the Apulia Leader’s communiqué released at the end of the Summit in June, there isn’t a paragraph on education however it recalled the commitment to gender equality and girls education also underlining that “quality education for all girls is the best predictor for future levels of equality” and committing to “also promote access to safe, inclusive, and equitable quality education for all”. G7 countries committed to enhance the partnership with African countries on girls’ education, including through redoubling the efforts to meet the G7 Girls Education targets by 2026.

Meanwhile, the G7 Trieste Declaration and outcome of the Education Ministerial Meeting in June was welcomed by civil society. It raises attention to the need to invest in global education highlighting that education is an investment, not an expense. The focus on the importance of valorising everyone’s talents by supporting all students to reach their fullest potential, especially those who are most marginalized, thereby combatting low learning achievement and early leaving from education and training, is also very positive. In addition, G7 recognized the role of early childhood education in providing foundational benefits to children and enhancing the achievement of learning outcomes in the primary and secondary education years, supporting, in particular, the inclusion of learners with vulnerabilities. Despite the Ministerial Meeting didn’t come up with concrete and new commitments, the recognition of the transformative power of education and the pivotal role of reforming education systems set out in its final Declaration set the stage for the following Ministerial meetings.

Building on this, the G7 Development Ministers’ Meeting Communiqué, released at the end of October, included an important paragraph on education. Commitments were made to double efforts to accelerate progress on SDG4 and meet the G7 Girls’ Education Targets by 2026, as well as the G7 commitments on Technical and Vocational Education and Training for Women and Girls, through a stronger partnership with African countries. Moreover the communiqué included references to critical issues such as:  the need to invest more equitably, effectively, and efficiently in education and increase financing to build climate-resilient education systems, the key role played by teachers and educators in ensuring quality, inclusive and equitable education, the renewed commitment to girls’ education made in previous years, as well as the commitment to promote gender equality and empowerment of women and girls including by contributing to more resilient, safe, inclusive, gender-transformative education systems and school environments to end structural barriers and harmful gender norms, stereotypes, roles and practices.

While these initiatives are very welcome,  more concrete and measurable commitments as well as clear timeframes are necessary.

We hope that the upcoming Canadian G7 Presidency will put education at the centre of the G7 agenda and push G7 countries to show their leadership in global education and development issues by translating their commitments into concrete action thus playing a strong role in ensuring the right to education for all.

 

Photo Credits: © GCE-Italia

 

The Irish Network for Education Worldwide (INEW) works together with GCE-Italia as members of the European and North American Campaign for Education (ENACE), contributing to the collective advocacy for the right to education. A heartfelt thank you to Emanuele Russo and everybody at GCE-Italia for this kind contribution to our blog!