On Monday, 21 September 2026, we had the pleasure of co-hosting the Irish Launch of the 2026 GEM Report on Access and Equity with the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report in Dublin.
GEM Report Director Manos Antoninis presented the key findings from the 2026 GEM Report, an important source of evidence and analysis on progress towards SDG 4 and a valuable resource for the network, our members and partners. With only five years remaining until the deadline of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the launch recognised the GEM Report as an important tool in helping us frame the global conversation on how to shape an ambitious education agenda beyond SDG 4.
Liam Wegimont, Executive Director of the Global Education Network Europe (GENE), delivered an inspiring opening speech and taught the audience how to celebrate the launch of an important publication “the GENE way” — with a little dance of appreciation! His call to uncover lies and continue to defend those who are victimised set the tone for our exploration of progress towards SDG 4 and the post-2030 education agenda.
Chaired by Ruairí McKiernan, CEO of IDEA, our panel speakers — Sandra Corrigan from INTO, Amy Folan from Concern Worldwide, Barbara Scettri from Plan International, Orla Duke from Misean Cara, and Child Advocate Sarah from Northern Ireland — shared perspectives on the 2026 GEM Report, the SDG 4 Scorecard, the GEM 2026 Gender Equity in Access to Education in Africa report, and the 2026 GEM Youth Report.
Particularly inspiring was Child Advocate Sarah’s contribution. Drawing on her own work and the 2026 GEM Youth Report, she called for meaningful action to strengthen youth participation in decision-making on education issues.
Engaged table discussions brought forward a range of important reflections, including:
- How the GEM Report helps to make education and SDG 4 more visible and keeps it firmly on the agenda.
- How crucial this visibility is, given the threat by a minority with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo — and to use the evidence and data in the report to demand action.
- How education is part of a wider ecosystem that contributes to health, safety and peace.
- How meaningful participation includes youth participation as a multi-annual process, requiring foundations and roots to be built for young people to participate in decision-making.
- How access and equity need to be achieved across all stages of education, including lifelong learning to truly achieve a world of educated and empowered people.
- How important it is at this particularly challenging time to build public support for education and to be active and visible in making the case for education.
We are grateful to all our speakers and to the engaged audience for making this such an exciting and thought-provoking event.
And we are grateful, too, to those who helped make the event possible through their financial support, including Irish Aid, INTO and the UNESCO GEM Report.
We will add presentations by speakers as we get them. Thank you for your patience.
