Global Campaign for Education · T 201 7 Global Campaign for Education Members MEMBER/CSEF COALITION NAME TYPE GCE Constituency Country Afghanistan National Education Coalition (ANEC)

Global Campaign for EducationGlobal Report 2018

2 GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION GLOBAL REPORT 2018

Acronyms 5

Global Campaign for Education Memberships 7

Executive Summary 11

Background 13

The 2015 to 2019 strategic plan 15

Scope of Work 15

Strategic Focus Areas 17

Approach and Activities 18

Role and Focus of the GCE Secretariat 18

The key focus areas of the Secretariat 19

Impact & Acheivement 21

1. Strategic Focus Areas 21

2. Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Education 2030 Framework 33

3. Challenges 37

GCE Secretariat Activities 41

Conclusion 49

Bibliography 50

Table of Contents

Global Campaign for EducationGlobal Report 2018


5GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION GLOBAL REPORT 2018

ACEA Arab Campaign for Education for All

ANCEFA Africa Network Campaign on Education For All

ASPBAE Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education

CAMPE Campaign for Popular Education - Bangladesh

CBDE Campaña Boliviana por el Derecho a la Educación

CCNGO Consultative Committee of NGO

CLADE Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación

CSEC Civil Society for Education Coalition - Malawi

CSEF Civil Society Education Fund

CSO Civil Society Organisation

ECOSOC Economic and Social Council

EASG Education and Academia Stakeholder Group

GAWE Global Action Week for Education

GCE Global Campaign for Education

GEMR Global Education Monitoring Report

GPE Global Partnership for Education

HLPF High Level Political Forum

IFFED International Finance Facility for Education

IDDC International Disability and Development Consortium

IDP Internally Displaced Person

LEG Local Education Group

MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

OSF Open Society Foundation

OSISA Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa

RTEI Right to Education Index

SDG4 Sustainable Development Goal 4

TWG Thematic Working Group

UNGA UN General Assembly

Acronyms



Global Campaign for Education Members

MEMBER/CSEF COALITION NAME TYPE GCE Constituency Country

Afghanistan National Education Coalition (ANEC) National Asia Pacific Afghanistan

Movement for Support of Quality Education in Afghanistan National Asia Pacific Afghanistan

Albanian Coalition for Children’s Education National Europe & North America Albania

Angolan EFA Network (AAEA) National Africa Angola

Campanha Argentina por el Derecho a la Educacion (CADE) National Latin America Argentina

Armenian Constitutional Right-Protective Centre National Europe & North America Armenia

Australian Coalition for Education and Development National Asia Pacific Australia

Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) National Asia Pacific Bangladesh

Coalition Beninoise des Organisations pour l’EPT ( CBO-EPT) National Africa Benin

Campana Boliviana por el Derecho a la Education ( CBDE) National Latin America Bolivia

Campanha Nacional pelo Direito a Educacao National Latin America Brazil

Coalition Nationale EPT du Burkina Faso (CN-EPT/BF) National Africa Burkina Faso

Coalition Pour L’Education Pour Tous – BAFASHEBIGE National Africa Burundi

NGO Education Partnership (NEP) National Asia Pacific Cambodia

Cameroun Education for All (CEFAN) National Africa Cameroun

Canadian International Education Policy Working Group (CIEPWG)

National Europe & North America Canada

Rede Nacional da Campanha de Educação Para Todos (RNCEPT)

National Africa Cape Verde

Foro por el Derecho a la Educacion National Latin America Chile

Coalición Colombiana por el ‘derecho a la Education (CCDE) National Latin America Colombia

Agenda Ciudadana por la Education (ACED) National Latin America Costa Rica

Réseau Ivoirien pour la Promotion de l’Education Pour Tous (RIPEPT)

National Africa Cote D’ivoire

The Danish NGO Education Network National Europe & North America Denmark

Foro Socioeducativo (FSE) National Latin AmericaDominican Republic

Coalition Nationale de l’Education Pour Tous en RDC (CONEPT/RDC)

National AfricaDemocratic Republic of the Congo

Contrato Social Por la Educación Ecuador National Latin America Ecuador

Egyptian Coalition for EFA National Middle East Egypt

Red Salvadoreña Por El Derecho A La Educaciòn (RESALDE) National Latin America El Salvador

Basic Education Network in Ethiopia National Africa Ethiopia



Solidarité Laїque (Coalition Education) National Europe & North America France

EFA Campaign Network (EFANET) National Africa Gambia

Georgian Coalition for Education for All National Europe & North America Georgia

GCE Germany National Europe & North America Germany

Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) National Africa Ghana

Rede de Campanha de Educação Para Todos Guiné-Bissau (RECEPT GB)

National AfricaGuinea Bissau

Red EFA (REPT) National Latin America Haiti

Foro Dakar Honduras National Latin America Honduras

National Coalition for Education NCE India National Asia Pacific India

NEW Indonesia National Asia Pacific Indonesia

ActionAid International INGO INGO International

Global Alliance for LGBT Education (GALE) INGO INGO International

International Council for Adult for Adult Education (ICAE) INGO INGO International

Light for the World INGO INGO International

Oxfam International INGO INGO International

Plan International INGO INGO International

RESULTS INGO INGO International

Save the Children International INGO INGO International

SightSavers International INGO INGO International

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) INGO INGO International

CBM INGO INGO International

Education International INGO INGO International

Global March Against Child Labour INGO INGO International

International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI)

INGO INGO International

Iraqi Coalition for Education National Middle East Iraq

Irish Forum for Global Education National Europe & North America Ireland

CIFA ONLUS National Europe & North America Italy

Japan NGO Network for Education (JNNE) National Asia Pacific Japan

Jordanian National Coalition for EFA National Middle East Jordan

Elimu Yetu Coalition National Africa Kenya

Education Coalition in Kyrgyzstan (ECK) National N/A Kyrgyzstan

Arab Network for Popular Education National Middle East Lebanon

Lesotho council of NGOs National Africa Lesotho

National Education Coalition of Liberia National N/A Liberia

Coalition Nationale Malgache pour l’Education pour Tous (CONAMEPT)

National Africa Madagascar

Civil Society Education Coalition (CSEC) National Africa Malawi

Coalition des Organisations de la Société Civile pour l’Éducation Pour Tous (COSCEPT)

National Africa Mali



COMEDUC National Africa Mauritania

DCI National Africa Mauritius

Incidencia Civil en la Educatión (ICE) National Latin America Mexico

The Alliance of NGOs active in the field of Social Protection of Family and Child (APSCF)

National N/A Moldova

All for Education! National Civil Society Coalition of Mongolia (AFE Mongolia)

National Asia Pacific Mongolia

Moroccan Coalition for EFA National Middle East Morocco

Movimento de Educação Para Todos (MEPT) National Africa Mozambique

National Network for Education Reform (NNER) National Asia Pacific Myanmar

NCE Nepal National Asia Pacific Nepal

GCE Netherlands National Europe & North America Netherlands

Foro de Educacion y Desarrollo Humano De La Iniciativa Por Nicaragua

National Latin America Nicaragua

Coordination Nationale des Associations, Syndicats et ONGS pour la campagne EPT (ASO EPT)

National Africa Niger

Civil Society Action Coalition for Education for All (CSACEFA) National Africa Nigeria

GCE Network Norway National Europe & North America Norway

Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE) National Asia Pacific Pakistan

Palestinian Education Coalition National Middle East Palestine

PNG Education Advocacy Network (PEAN) National Asia PacificPapua New Guinea

Foro por la Derecho a la Education National Latin America Paraguay

Campaña Peruana por el Derecho a la Educación (CPDE) National Latin America Peru

E-Net Philippines National Asia Pacific Philippines

Africa Network Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA) Regional Africa Regional

Arab Campaign for Education For All (ACEA) Regional Middle East Regional

Arab Network for Civic Education Regional Middle East Regional

Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE)

Regional Asia Pacific Regional

Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE)

Regional Latin America Regional

Consejo de Educación de Adultos de América Latina (CEAAL) Regional Latin America Regional

European Students’Union Regional Youth-Led Organisations Regional

FAPE Regional Africa Regional

FAWE Regional Africa Regional

Red de Educación Popular Entre Mujeres (REPEM) Regional Latin American Regional

Fe y Alegria Regional Latin America Regional

Fundacion Ayuda en Accion Regional Latin America Regional

PAMOJA West Africa Network Regional Africa Regional

Coalitia Globala pentru Educatie - GCE Romania National Europe & North America Romania

Rwanda Education For All (REFAC) National N/A Rwanda



Samoa Education Network (SEN) National Asia Pacific Samoa

Coordination des ONG et Syndicats pour la defense d’une Education publique de Qualite (COSYDEP)

National Africa Senegal

Education for All Sierre Leone ( EFASL) National Africa Sierra Leone

Coalition for Education Solomon Islands (COESI) National Asia PacificSolomon Islands

Education for All Somalia (EFASOM) National Africa Somalia

Somaliland Network on EFA (SOLNEFA) National Africa Somaliland

Campana Mundial a la Educacion Espana National Europe & North America Spain

Coalition for Educational Development (CED) National Asia Pacific Sri Lanka

South Sudan National Education Coalition (SSNEC) National N/A South Sudan

Sudanese Network for EFA (SNEFA) National Africa Sudan

Swaziland Network Campaign for Education For All (SWANCEFA)

National Africa Swaziland

Swedish EFA Forum National Europe & North America Sweden

Réseau Suisse Education et Coopération Internationale National Europe & North America Switzerland

TAJIKISTAN (managed by ASPBAE) National N/A Tajikistan

Tanzania Education Network (TEN/MET) National Africa Tanzania

Civil Society Education Partnership Timor-Leste (CEPTIL National Asia Pacific Timor- Leste

Coalition Nationale Togolaise Education Pour Tous (CNT/EPT) National Africa Togo

Forum for Education NGOs Uganda (FENU) National Africa Uganda

Send my Friend to school National Europe & North America UK

GCE US National Europe & North America USA

Kolisen Blong Leftemap Edukeson (KOBLE) National Asia Pacific Vanuatu

Vietnam Association for Education for All (VAEFA) National Asia Pacific Vietnam

Yemen Coalition for EFA (YCEA) National Middle East Yemen

Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) National Africa Zambia

Education Coalition of Zimbabwe (ECOZI) National Africa Zimbabwe


The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is a civil society movement that promotes and defends education as a basic human right. Advocating at national, regional, and international levels, GCE puts pressure on governments, as well as the international community, to uphold the right to, and deliver free, quality, public education to everyone. GCE has representation of over 100 national and regional education coalitions and international organisations.

GCE developed a 2015 to 2019 strategy

plan, which serves to address the

growing concerns and inequality gaps in

education universally. With the GCE World

Assembly approaching, it was important

to reflect on the past three years by

examining the challenges, achievements,

and successes that occurred during that

time. An assessment on what has been

achieved by members against the GCE’s

strategic plan was also conducted. This

involved looking specifically at the six

strategic areas of the strategic plan, as

well as looking at the activities in line

with the fourth Sustainable Development

Goal (SDG4) and the Education 2030

Framework. Additionally, the performance

of four key deliverables of the Secretariat

were examined. The findings in this report

will be used as a tool to help guide the

CGE in the discussions around the impact

of the movement.

During the last 4 years, the GCE members

have addressed all six strategic areas of

the plan. Member organisations engaged

with communities worldwide in order to

educate them about their basic human

rights. They placed focus on education

financing in an attempt to counteract

recent trends towards limited investments

in public education and the increase of

privatisation of schooling. Additionally,

member organisations worked hard to

make sure that inclusive education is part

of their overall strategy to improve the

living conditions and future prospects

of children with disabilities. There was

campaigning to change laws, polices, and

practices that enable child marriage or

prevent girls from returning to education

if they have a child. Member organisations

also fought to increase the salaries of

teachers and worked with local education

systems to improve revenue collection

mechanisms and increase education

budget allocations. In the US, for example,

advocacy campaigns led to the adoption

of the READ Act, which was finally signed

into law, ensuring that vulnerable children

gain access to quality education.

Another area of focus was on the provision

of education for refugee children,

as 3 in 4 refugees are out of school.

Member organisations helped secure a

commitment from the European Union to

dedicate 4% of its humanitarian aid budget

to education in emergencies. The work of

member organisations also contributed

to the development of the Promoting

Rights in School Framework, ensuring it

becomes firmly embedded in communities.

The results saw increased community

empowerment and communities’ improved

capacity to mobilise and challenge

decision-makers to address the existing

gaps in the education system.

Executive Summary


Executive Summary

However, with successes often come

challenges. Many national coalitions

reported that government reluctance in

working with civil society was a major

obstacle for work aimed at influencing

policy processes. Despite the difficulties

associated with this, there has been an

increased capacity within the coalitions to

ensure their voice was effectively heard in

all education policy processes.

Political instability was another significant

challenge for coalitions. This was more

prominent in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific

regions and was a result of presidential

or parliamentary elections, as well as

changes in official governance and

administration mechanisms. It was

acknowledged that there has been

a general increase in workload, but

the problem of limited resources has

remained, and personnel, in particular,

remained a significant challenge. This was

reported by organisations at all levels.

There has been a steady level of

dedication with GCE members working

to achieve progress towards SDG4 and

the Education 2030 Framework. Through

the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF)

Programme support and coordination,

national coalitions were able to represent

civil society analyses and positions

at many key regional and global level

events. The GCE was also successful

in its application to run the UN Major

Stakeholder Group – the Education and

Academia Stakeholder Group (EASG).

The EASG engaged with monitoring and

reviewing the Sustainable Development

Goals.

The Secretariat has managed to deliver

on its four key focus areas, and sends

regular news and policy updates to the

membership and provides them with

opportunities for input and engagement.

In 2016, 2017, and 2018, the Global Action

Week for Education (GAWE) was organised

and carried out successfully. Additionally,

the GCE Secretariat provided support with

respect to global capacity development,

produced resource materials, toolkits,

and learning documents. It contributed

to the education financing campaign

through replenishment and advocacy

on issues that were arising from the

national coalitions and regions. Through

CSEF, GCE has assisted national coalitions

with feeding into Global Partnership for

Education (GPE)’s policy processes at an

international level.

A survey was conducted with member

organisations to determine the

levels of engagement at national,

regional, and international levels. With

respect to challenges that members

encountered while working towards their

achievements, 50% of respondents said

that lack of funding was the main reason,

and a further 35% indicated that lack of

capacity was a serious challenge for them.

Participants were asked to rate their level

of engagement at the national level and

national government engagement was

indicated to be the strongest, followed

by engagement with the general public.

Women’s rights organisations and

grassroots organisations were indicated

to have the weakest level of engagement.


Founded in 1999, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is a civil society movement that promotes and defends education as a basic human right. GCE campaigns and advocates at national, regional, and international levels to put pressure on governments, as well as the international community to deliver the right of a free, quality, public education to everyone. The GCE movement provides a platform to unify and coordinate civil society voices in relation to the global education agenda.

Today, the GCE proudly consists of over

100 national and regional education

coalitions and international organisations.

Their membership is made up of a

huge variety of national, regional and

international civil society organisations,

including teachers’ organisations, parents’

associations, women’s groups, disabled

people’s organisations, youth and

student groups, academic and research

institutions, as well as children’s rights

campaigners.

The World Assembly is GCE’s highest

governing body. Coming together every

four years, the World Assembly provides

a unique opportunity for education

campaigners and advocates from within

their membership and beyond to meet,

debate, reflect on challenges experienced

and successes as well as collectively plan

on solutions to challenges experienced

within the scope of transformative vision.

This is done within the commitment of

full realization of human rights for all.

Additionally, the World Assembly provides

the platform for debating on a wide range

of issues relating to universal education,

reflecting on what the movement has

achieved, as well as reporting on the

latest strategic plan.

This report will provide an overview of the

challenges, achievements, and successes

that have occurred during the course of

the past three years. This will be done

through an assessment of what has

been achieved against GCE’s strategic

plan, working within the different levels:

national, regional, and international.

The report will specifically address the six

strategic areas of the 2015-2019 Strategic

Plan.

These areas are as follows:

• Quality Education;

• Equity, non-discrimination and inclusion

in education and through education;

• Strong, public systems, leadership and

governance in the education sector;

• Financing for public education;

• Transparency, accountability and the role

of civil society in the education sector;

and

• Education in contexts of conflict or

disaster.

Background



The report will also address the

movement activities in line with

Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4),

which speaks to ensuring inclusive and

equitable quality education and promote

lifelong opportunities for all, as well as the

Education 2030 framework. In addition,

this report will attempt to highlight

relevant actions regarding a changing

landscape, and the specific deliverable of

the GCE Secretariat during the 2015-2019

period will be examined, with particular

emphasis placed on the following key

areas:

• Strengthening the movement-based

character of GCE by supporting

networking, communication and learning

between members.

• Supporting effective and high-profile

cross-national campaigns and advocacy

on GCE strategic focus areas.

• Supporting expanded technical

capacity and knowledge within the GCE

movement

• Supporting the sustainability of the

GCE movement by securing and, where

relevant, managing funds.

The report will serve as a learning

tool to help us assess our successes

and challenges, and build a stronger

movement for the years to come.


In order to address the growing concerns and inequality gaps in education universally, GCE developed a vision and strategy of the global civil society movement for the right to education. The document, known as the Global Campaign for Education Strategic Plan for 2015 to 2019, presents GCE’s four-year strategic planning. This document was developed in extensive consultation within the GCE membership that occurred during late 2012 to early 2015. It also included relevant evaluations and was endorsed by the GCE World Assembly in February 2015.

The GCE Strategic Plan provides a

representation for the GCE movement as

a whole and contains agreed priorities,

approaches, and ways of working

together. Additionally, the document

saw to the development of more specific

objectives for the Secretariat, which

was done through examining annual

operational plans.

Importantly, the GCE movement developed

a vision that serves to guide its work

to mid-2019. The GCE’s vision involves

influencing governments to take the

necessary actions required to guarantee

equitable quality education for all, on a

lifelong basis, through the effective and

accountable provision of public education.

Scope of WorkThe commitment to the lifelong right

to education, from early childhood to

adulthood, will be maintained throughout

the GCE’s work and forms the foundation

of their strategic plan. Their constitutional

commitment to basic education includes

early childhood care and education,

primary and secondary education, adult

literacy, and adults skills and vocational

training. The GCE remains committed

to the broadest possible expansion of

education amongst all ages.

The geographical scope has historically

focussed on Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin

America & the Caribbean, and the Middle

East. However, the GCE has come to

realise that many of the key debates

which will be engaged in during the

2015-2019 period has a global application.

Therefore, the GCE’s members in Europe

and North America have indicated

commitment to the exploration of how to

build a truly global nature for GCE.

The 2015 to 2019 strategic plan



Strategic Focus AreasWithin the scope of the GCE, as well as with the aim of achieving its vision, the GCE identified six strategic focus areas:

Quality Education

Equity, Non-discrimination and Inclusion in Education and through Education

Strong Public Systems, Leadership and Governance in the Education Sector

The goal of this strategic area

is to contribute to increased

political and policy focus on

education as well as the policies

and resources that are required

to create and sustain quality

education. This will involve

campaigning to prioritise teacher

issues at all levels, such as calling

for investments and policies to

ensure well-trained and well-

motivated teacher workforces;

curricula relevant to learners

that incorporate mother-tongue

instruction and cross-cultural

dialogue; the creation of safe,

supportive, flexible and inclusive

learning environments with

adequate materials; and the

appropriate use of formative

assessments to measure

learners’ progress as well as

inform teaching and learning.

This strategic area aims to

expose and draw policy attention

to inequity, discrimination and

exclusion on education. This

is both in terms of access and

quality, while linking to broader

social and economic inequality.

Attention will be drawn to non-

discriminatory and inclusive

education as an integral part of

the human right to education. The

GCE’s campaigning will focus on

inequity on the basis of identity,

wealth or income, location, and

migrant status. Governments

will be called upon to implement

policies and programmes that

actively target discrimination and

promote inclusion.

Strategic Area 3 will involve

GCE advocating for states to

effectively and responsively

take up its role as the primary

duty-bearer in education. Focus

will be placed on highlighting

the negative impacts of

privatisation of education as

well as the diversion of public

funds into profit-making private

providers. The GCE will provide

assistance with reinforcing and

monitoring state capacity and

systems in order to implement

commitments, demonstrate

best practices in strengthening

public education, and providing

advocacy aimed at improving

governance with the education

sector.

1 2 3



Financing for Public Education

Transparency, Accountability and the Role of Civil Society in the Education Sector

Education in Contexts of Conflict or Disaster

Financing for public education

is essential and the GCE will call

for increased domestic financing

for education by allocating a

minimum of 20% of budgets (and

actual spending) to education

as well as 6% of the GDP to

be being spent on education.

The GCE aims to connect

with broader campaigns and

promote progressive expansion

of the domestic revenue base.

Furthermore, the GCE aims to

hold both governments and

donors accountable for the

financing pledges they have

made and will assist with

demystifying budgets and

tracking spending down to school

level. The misuse of resources will

be challenged.

Transparency, accountability, and

participation are fundamental

concepts to the GCE’s vision of an

effective education sector. There

will be a demand for greater

transparency and accessible

sharing of information by

governments, including budget

and spending data. Another key

aspect of the strategic area is

for the GCE to make use of and

expand the space for participation

of civil society and citizens at all

levels in aspects such as debate,

decision making, evaluation

of government performance,

and challenging the excessive

influence of donors and private

sectors in education policy.

Important alliances will be built.

Additionally, the GCE recognises

the need to support expanded

funds for civil society activity in

the education sector, as well as

to support members to increase

the capacity of their members to

gather and share information.

With its sixth strategic goal, the

GCE will seek to increase its

focus on education in contexts

of conflict and disaster. One of

the main aims will be to draw

attention to the need to invest

in education in emergencies, to

learn to adapt to or mitigate the

impact of conflict or disaster

situations, build resilience, and to

protect learners, teachers, and

schools from attack. The GCE

aims to work with appropriate

allies and experts, linking GCE’s

civil society membership to

relevant actors and ensuring

relationships with key players are

maintained and are prosperous.

4 5 6



Approach and Activities The GCE brings together independent, nationally-led civil society coalitions from across the world with regional and global alliances as well as non-governmental organisations. Diversity of voices within the membership, member coalitions (including learners, parents, teachers), and a democratic structure is encouraged. Strong links will be created between national, regional and global levels. The GCE also aims at developing strong collaboration and synergy between members working in the same locations or on the same issues, as well as assisting in mobilising members at grassroots levels, prioritising widespread citizen and civil society.

In order to achieve the strategic focus

areas and work together as a movement,

the following actions were identified:

• Establishing communities of practice on

the GCE focus issues, supporting member

learning, exchange and the development

of expertise - these will be formed on the

basis of interest, and seeking regional

and language diversity;

• Regular sharing of information by

members through the Secretariat and

through GCE-supported platforms,

to build a shared knowledge base

within their movement to support their

individual and collective activity, GCE will

manage communication flow in all its five

official languages; and

• Building the GCE membership to reach all

education stakeholders, particularly those

that may be currently under-represented

in the membership at present.

A key component of the GCE is to

provide a platform for the coordinated

engagement of its members with other

actors and stakeholders in the education

sector. During the 2015-2019 period, the

GCE aimed to send representatives to take

part in processes or forums, facilitating

processes for participation of elected or

nominated civil society representatives,

and supporting and coordinating member

engagement in more open processes and

forums. Additionally, the GCE notes that

international education architecture may

change, therefore the types of bodies with

which the GCE will seek to engage will be:

• Global funding partnerships for

education;

• Global monitoring initiatives;

• UNESCO and other UN agencies;

Relevant NGO campaigns or initiatives

outside the GCE movement.

Role and Focus of the GCE Secretariat The GCE Secretariat is accountable to

the membership through the GCE board.

The Global Campaign for Education

created operational focus areas for the

Secretariat. These were designed in

order for Secretariat to best support the

movement in its mission to realise its

vision and approach, as well as to bring

about change in the strategic focus areas

according to the GCE’s theory of how that

change will occur.



The key focus areas of the Secretariat are the following:

1. Strengthen the Movement-based Character of the GCE by Supporting Networking, Communication, and Learning between Members

Relevant activities will include aspects such as the management of GCE

tools and platforms for communication, and sharing and exchange, in

all five GCE languages. It will see to the support of GCE Communities

of Practice, which will be related to the strategic focus areas and

facilitated by GCE members. There will be coordination of the sharing of

learning, evidence and best practice, with particular relation to the Civil

Society Education Fund (CSEF). Additionally, the Secretariat will provide

support to deepen and strengthen the diversity and reach of the GCE

membership at global level and within national coalitions. It is also the

responsibility of the Secretariat to organise and prepare the GCE World

Assembly.

2. Support Effective and High-profile Cross-national Campaigns and Advocacy on GCE Strategic Focus Areas

Within this focus area, activity areas will include the annual coordination

of Global Action Week for Education (GAWE) . This will include

coordination of the working group and production of materials. The

provision of support will be provided to ongoing advocacy through the

year on the GAWE theme. The Secretariat will also be responsible for

providing support to GCE representatives in collective representation

on global bodies or steering committees, as well as facilitating the

participation of members in global policy spaces.

3. Support Expanded Technical Capacity and Knowledge within the GCE Movement

The Secretariat will be involved in working with membership to produce

policy briefings or papers on priority focus issues as well as carrying

out policy analysis. Additionally, a key task of this focus area will be to

provide learning tools and handbooks on education issues or advocacy

approaches, drawing on member experience. They will also be

responsible for other technical support or capacity-building, particularly

in the CSEF context.

4. Support the Sustainability of the GCE Movement by Securing and Managing Funds

The relevant activities for this focus area include the Secretariat

securing and managing funding for many member coalitions within

the context of the CSEF. Outside the context of CSEF, the Secretariat

is responsible for seeking to work with GCE members to identify

additional potential funding sources, as well as to support sustainability

and diversification.




The impact of the GCE and its members will be discussed in three sections. The first section will discuss the performance of members with respect to the six strategic focus areas. Movement activities in line with the SDG 4 and the Education 2030 Framework will be discussed in section two. Challenges experienced by members will be discussed in section three.

Strategic Focus Areas As mentioned previously, the GCE has

identified and developed six strategic

focus areas, which are outlined in the

strategic plan 2015-2019. These focus

areas were developed with the purpose of

achieving GCE’s vision and mission.

Most of the GCE members addressed

the defined areas, at different levels.

According to the respondents of the

strategic plan survey that was conducted

in July, the areas members worked

more on during the 2015-2018 period are

“Equity, inclusivity and the reduction of

discrimination” and “Education Financing”.

The areas which received the least

amount of focus by national, regional or

international campaigns were “Building

strong system” and “Education in

emergencies”. The situation is, however,

very dependent on context, and coalitions

in the Middle East for example, had a

much stronger focus on the “Education in

emergencies” area.

Overall during the 2015-2018 period, civil

society efforts and campaigning seem to

have yielded much fruit in different areas,

including the following:

• Gender: the gap in gender has

significantly reduced, and according

to the last UNESCO report, as many

boys are out of school as girls though

distortions linked to age/ region remain;

• Financing: the Dakar 2018 replenishment

conference saw the end of the continued

decrease in investment in education, and

raised hope to achieve SDG4 targets if all

pledges were realised;

• Education in emergencies: the

Education Cannot Wait fund was

established during the World

Humanitarian Summit in 2016 to help

reposition education as a priority on

the humanitarian agenda and foster

additional funding to ensure schooling

for every crisis-affected child and young

person.

• SDG 4: The 193 member countries of

the UN General Assembly adopted the

Sustainable Development Goals including

SDG 4 on education in September 2015.

Civil society representatives from the

GCE movement have been involved and

able to significantly influence the text of

SDG4, its 10 targets and the Education

2030 agenda. SDG 4 ‘s targets are the

common agreed on standard on which

to benchmark education successes

globally.

Impact and Achievements

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Key achievements in the six strategic focus areasThe following list outlines some of the key achievements experienced by GCE members as they sought to deliver in the six strategic focus areas. These achievements are across national, regional, and global levels:

Quality EducationProviding quality education is one of the key cornerstones to improving the lives of millions of people. The members of GCE worked hard to ensure that quality education is one of their key focus areas. The following are examples of some of the accomplishments achieved during the 2015-2018 period:

• Voluntary Service Overseas reached

98% of their target with respect to

improving access to quality education for

the world’s most vulnerable children.

• Save the Children developed a

framework to ensure that the

environments where children learn

supports their development. In

Mozambique, this framework has been

implemented in 40% of its provinces.

Additionally, their Literacy Boost

programme has been implemented in 30

countries, which has helped more than

one million children read well by the time

they leave primary school.

• In the Arab Region, the Arab Campaign for Education for All (ACEA), was

part of the fourth Regional Partners

Meeting on SDG4 (Quality Education) in

the Arab Region, which was held in at

ALECSO Headquarters in Tunis on 17 & 18

October 2017. Building on the 2017 Dubai

Roadmap, the meeting aimed to maintain

constructive dialogue, to share strategic

information on Education 2030 at

global and regional levels and to ensure

coordinated support among partners

involved in the implementation and

monitoring of SDG 4 in the Arab region.

A number of communications, advocacy

and support activities were agreed upon

in order to help ensure quality education

across the Arab region.

• After years of advocacy by GCE-US and

its members, the READ Act was finally

signed into law in the United States of

America. This landmark legislation will

assist millions of vulnerable children

around the world to gain access to a

quality education. The READ Act was one

of the few substantive bipartisan bills to

pass both the House and the Senate with

overwhelming support in 2017.

• The Rwanda Education for All Coalition (REFAC) conducted an assessment

called “Barriers to Inclusive, Quality

Education in Rwanda”. The study

provided proposed strategies to

overcome obstacles for a better

education for all in Rwanda.

• The Socio-Educational Forum of the Dominican Republic conducted an

analysis of the quality of teaching, which

was done within the framework of

national reform. They also investigated

the extended school day in educational

centres. The research showcases

the findings of the results of the

implementation of the extended school

day in a selected group of primary

schools in the Dominican Republic during

the course of the 2015-2016 school year.

The results were presented to both

educational authorities and school

actors in Azua.



Voluntary Service Overseas and its Supporting Teachers to Improve English Language Teaching in CambodiaOver 15,000 children in Cambodia have had the opportunity to improve their

English through an innovative technology-based intervention initiated by

Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Independent research suggests this can be as

effective as private tutoring. In Cambodia, it is common for teachers and teacher

trainers to struggle with poor English and teaching capacity. This is a direct threat

to one of Cambodia’s national priorities: the acceleration of national development

and creation of more opportunities through learning English.

VSO was approached by Cambodia’s Ministry of Education to improve the skills

of teachers and their pupils. This resulted in the Basic English Language (BEL)

Project. VSO worked with the national Teacher Training Department to:

Develop teaching and learning materials for use in teacher training colleges and

primary schools;

Train directors and English trainers in all teacher training colleges, as well as

teachers and directors of district offices of education from five provinces; and

Deliver ongoing support, coaching, and mentoring through volunteers.

The resources developed included books for teachers and pupils as well as

digital apps for smart phones. These resources contained innovative audio-

visual material that can be easily accessed and updated even in remote areas.

Additionally, training videos have been produced, which have activities for use in

classrooms. Tablets were trialed to deliver real-time class observations that are

often difficult and costly to provide in remote areas.

Initial research conducted by the Royal University of Phnom Penn highlights

positive outcomes for the BEL project. Such outcomes included improved

listening skills of pupils when compared to those in the control

group and increased learning outcomes for students. Children

who benefitted from the project made the same progress

as those in the control group who were receiving private

tuition on top of attending school.

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Equity, Non-discrimination and Inclusion in Education and through EducationThe following has been achieved with regards to the focus of providing equitable, non-discriminatory and inclusive education:

• Globally, Light for the World has made

sure that inclusive education is part of

their overall strategy to improve the

living conditions and future prospects

of children with disabilities. Through this

end, they provide training to teachers,

inclusive schools, and rehabilitative

support for children. Light for the

World’s efforts saw to a substantial rise

in children with disabilities receiving

quality education with their peers.

Over 9,000 children with disabilities

across their various projects received

education. Light for the World also aims

for a system-wide change and therefore

trains teachers, develops inclusive

learning materials and links community-

based rehabilitation and education

programmes. The organisation is also

working to help change public opinion

to ensure support for children with

disabilities and their families.

• In Africa, the Africa Network Campaign on Education For All (ANCEFA), worked to

provide support to national coalitions with

the aim of ensuring inclusivity at all levels.

There was a special focus on women

representation as well as participation

in national coalitions’ activities. ANCEFA

is also working to increase capacity to

provide support to national coalitions

on education of children with disabilities

and providing advocacy to promote

inclusive education policies. This will

start with 4 countries in West Africa, with

the knowledge generated to be shared

across the GCE network.

• Gender equality and women

empowerment is one of the core

principles of All For Education (AFE) Mongolia. AFE Coalition is a woman led

organisation, with a gender balanced

governing body and staff members. AFE

Coalition advocates on the importance

of gender equality in education policy

making. They undertook a Diversity

mainstreaming study to contribute

to understanding the barriers to

young women’s education and other

gender issues in schools, particularly

on the LGBT group, which is one of

the recipients of bullying in schools in

Mongolia.

• The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) of Nigeria

implemented “The Girl Child Education”.

One of main focus areas of the coalition

is girls’ education and therefore

they carried out a Baseline survey

to determine the level of enrolment,

retention and completion of education of

girls living northern Nigeria. The results

of the survey were used for advocacy

and sensitisation activities with the

general public.

• In Benin, the Coalition Béninoise des Organisations pour l’Education pour Tous undertook a study on specific

educational needs of children with

disabilities in 5 under-privileged districts

of Benin.



ASPBAE – Harnessing the Power of Young Women for Change: A Youth Lead Action Research to Advance the Learning Needs of Vulnerable Young The primary focus for ASPBAE’s work in 2016 was the ASPBAE-UIL “Youth-Led Action-Orientated

Research on Education and Skills for Vulnerable Young Children”. The purpose of the research was

aimed at developing capacities of young women and education providers with action-research

skills. Additionally, through the research, the goal was to deepen their understanding of barriers

and enablers to the learning of young women from vulnerable communities. It was envisaged that

the youth-led research will serve to inform the design and provision of literacy and basic skills

education programmes.

ASPBAE partnered with its member organisations in three countries: Abhivyakti in India, E-Net in

the Philippines and ASPPUL in Indonesia. The core activities undertaken were:

1. Training young women from vulnerable communities in action research skills, where research

is employed as a tool for learning and advocacy;

2. Community-level action research undertaken by these young women in their communities;

and

3. Joint reflection on the outcomes of the research and planning for next steps towards practice

change and advocacy.

A total of 69 youth (63 young women and 6 young men) were involved in the research and covered

a total of 11 villages (3 in India, 6 in the Philippines, and 2 in Indonesia). The young women and

men involved in the research had typically been forced to drop out of school before completing

secondary education and were working as daily wage laborers.

Some of the main lessons and finding from the action research were as follows:

• The marginalized girls have gained an identity as “researchers”, which has served to bring them

dignity and recognition in the community;

• The experience of data collection was found to be enriching by the young girls and brought

them into contact with other girls from their community;

• Critical thinking among the young girls was enhanced through reasoning, comparing, listening

to the viewpoint of others, and challenging one’s beliefs;

• Basic skills of computing the data in simple frequency tables were learnt;

• There is no community space for young girls to gather, and there was no access to reading

resources; and

• Schooling is the only pathway for learning for young women – those who dropped out of school

or married early did not have access to relevant learning programmes in the community.

Based on the success of this initiative, ASPBAE intends to start applying lessons learnt from the

action research in piloting alternative strategies and tools in specific learning and education

programmes and services in order to increase participation and successful completion in education

programmes by marginalized young women. Additionally, they will disseminate the outcomes of the

research with governments major providers of basic skills education, and other stakeholders who

can support in reducing learning barriers.

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Education in Contexts of Conflict or DisasterThe following have been achieved with respect to providing education in contexts of conflict or disaster:

• Save the Children placed major focus on

refugees, as 3 in 4 refugee children are

out of school. The organisation helped

secure a commitment from the European

Union to dedicate 4% of its humanitarian

aid budget to education in emergencies.

ANCEFA agreed to join forces with

Save the Children to campaign around

the Safe Schools Initiative in Africa, to

prevent political violence to enter into

schools.

• Global March supported a campaign

implemented by its partner, A World at School, to urge world leaders to invest

in education for children trapped in

emergency situations such as conflicts,

wars, and natural disasters. Only 1%

of humanitarian aid goes to education,

which means that millions of children are

denied their right to education.

• ACEA created a campaign called Big Dream that placed focus on the right

of displaced children to education.

The campaign worked to engage

parents’ councils and local NGOs

as well as presented demands to

government to address educational

needs by the increase of domestic

financing to education. Additionally,

ACEA disseminated a policy brief on

Education in Emergencies in the Arab

World, discussing the main challenges to

financing education in the humanitarian

context. The paper addressed right

to education for refugees, internally

displaced persons (IDPs) and persons

with disability. It also highlighted

status of education gender equality

in the education sector. The paper

was presented and discussed in the

launching event of GAWE 2017 in Amman

Jordan.

• Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) in Bangladesh engaged on

the Rohingya issue, which was one of

the most critical area during the period.

CAMPE advocated within the LEG to

reallocate underutilised fund to Primary

Education and Education Cannot Wait

fund for education of the Rohingya

Community.

• The UK based Send my Friend to School coalition released a policy report,

carried out engagement & events with

parliamentarians & Ministers and ran a

school/youth campaign with the signing

of the Safe Schools Declaration as the

main objective. The Government has

now signed the Declaration and the

coalition has been active to push them

to implement it and encourage other

countries to do the same.

• The movement as a whole, represented

by the GCE Board, signed a declaration

on the Rohingya crisis in 2017,

highlighting the plight of displaced

children. Recently, GCE, ACEA and YCEA

published a statement on the situation

in Yemen, calling on governments and

international actors to collaborate

towards halting the war and all grave

violations against children, and to

consider education as top priority in

their financial contributions to Yemen’s

Humanitarian Response plan (currently,

less than 2% of education needs are

funded).



Peace and conflict disparities – different needs, different costs – the reality of achieving quality education for all in Sudan The Sudanese Coalition for Education for All (SCEFA) was established in 2003, and officially

registered in 2005. It currently has a membership of 67 organizations and has been CSEF

grant-supported since December 2011.

Although there has been a substantial increase in primary school enrolment in Sudan after

the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, there have been

significant disparities in access, absorption, retention and completion rates in all stages of

basic education between States. For example, Kassala State - where sustained conflict and

instability and high levels of poverty prevail - has not benefitted from the developments made

in the sector in other States such as in Nile River State – which is a peace area.

SCEFA led a comparative study to investigate the impacts of education costs and actual

expenditure in Kassala and the Nile States - specifically targeted because of their different

conflict and peace situations. The study was externally commissioned by SCEFA and fully

funded by CSEF. The research commenced in June 2016 and was completed in May 2017. Data

were gathered from various government departments, such as the Directorate General

of Budget of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and primary research was

undertaken with management of primary and secondary schools, representatives of school

boards or parent councils, representatives from the universities and government officials.

Focus group discussions were conducted with parents in each State.

The study findings were disseminated through SCEFA member program activities, mass media

engagement, other partners including international organizations, universities, youth and

women societies, the Federal Ministry of Public Education, and the Ministries of Education in

the two States. The findings of the research were welcomed by Government to support better

(equitable) planning for the development of education to ensure the rights of all children, for

improving the quality of education and general school environment, and for strengthening

the role of parents in school management. The Government has suggested that the same

study be implemented in different states of Sudan. The two Ministries

for Education in Kassala and River Nile where the study was

conducted have been influenced to increase the budget for

education by 2 percent.

The fact-based information provided by the outcome

of the study has given greater credibility to the

SCEFA’s contributions in advocacy and public

awareness programs. The coalition has recognised the

importance of researching facts to support campaign

and advocacy work for free education, particularly

during the Deputies council forums/meetings, and

for strengthening relationships with other education

stakeholders, communities and government.

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Financing for Public EducationSome of the key achievements in working toward financing for public education were:

• Following the #Costing Equity Report, which was funded by the Open Society Foundation, Light of the World joined forces with the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and several leading disability rights and development organisations with a global ‘Call to Action’ to Invest in Disability-Inclusive Education. The call urged governments and

donors to increase investment in and

commitment to education for all children.

The response to the initiative was

overwhelming. Over 200 organisations,

institutions, and stakeholders have

joined the call. Additionally, the UN

Special Rapporteur on the Rights

of Persons with Disabilities, the

International Disability Alliance, the

Global Campaign for Education, and

many other organisations have joined

the call.

• In September 2017, CLADE launched a

Monitoring System of the Financing of the Human Right to Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. The system

is a virtual platform that compiles

data and analysis of public funding for

education in 20 countries of the region

for the period 1998 to 2015. The platform

contributes to civil society evidence-

based advocacy, using official data, and

paving the way to achieve adequate

funding for public, free, and quality

education in the Latin America region.

• The Civil Society for Education

Coalition (CSEC) in Malawi developed

a report entitled “2015/2016 Early

Childhood Development Budget:

Analysis of Disability Inclusion

Awareness”. The report examined the

ECD budget allocations and provided

an analysis of the funding trends, as

well as achievements and challenges

experienced. Specific focus was placed

on how allocations in the national

budget for disability inclusion in ECD and

ECD services in Malawi are underfunded.

• Education for All Sierra Leone (EFA), a coalition in Sierra Leone, produced a

report on the “National Research Gaps

on Education and Domestic Financing

in Sierra Leone”. This report called

for increased financing of education.

The study provided a detailed look

into the progress and challenges

experienced in terms of reaching the

EFA goals, the trends in the financing of

education, and the gaps in education

policy implementation. Furthermore,

recommendations were made for civil

society dialogue with policy makers with

the aim of providing support to improve

financing in the education sector.

• The Yemeni Coalition conducted public

speeches given by representatives on

SDG4, mobilizing communities, local

councils’ role in monitoring spending

on education and finding innovative

ways to increase domestic financing

in times of emergencies. A petition for

signature addressed to government

and international aid actors in Yemen

was launched with the main demand

being to increase the share of education

in international aid and to address the

education crisis. The petition was signed

by 22,000 people.



Social Mobilization and change for fair and sustainable financing As part of the Latin American week that is run during September every year

that co-insides with the holding of the United Nationals general assembly with

an outlook of remembrance of the Sustainable Development goals, CLADE

participated in the 2017 Global Action week for Education (GAWE). This was done

in order to actively engage with the importance of accountability of fulfillment of

the 2030 Education Agenda, with additional focus on its social participant and

monitoring thereof.

The slogan that was used was “Fair Financing! For a public and free education for

everyone”. This slogan was aimed at engaging the educational community as well

as society in awareness for:

Strengthening of the public education system

Fair and equitable taxation system

Guaranteed enough funding for the implementation for the 2030 agenda for

sustainable development and education

Based on this context, multiple types of stakeholders were able to engage

and debate. Stakeholders included but were not limited to CLADE members,

teachers’ unions, students and youth organisation, as well as other civil society

organisations.

During the weeks activities, CLADE launched the Tracking System for the

Financing of the Human Right to Education in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This platform complies data on public education funding in 20 of the regional

countries from 1998 to 2015 (As of publication in 2017). The platform has additional

written analysis of the data for all the counties involved. Additionally, CLADE

launched an analysis on the financing of the human right to education within

Latin America and the Caribbean which was published in multiple languages

including Spanish, Portuguese and English.

The outcome of this was multiple stakeholder engagement in

order to allow participants an understanding of the costing

and financing of education with the Latin America and

Caribbean region.

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Transparency, Accountability and the Role of Civil Society in the Education SectorGCE members have been working hard to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the education sector. Progress and achievements made in this regard are highlighted below:

• Results developed the Right to Education Index (RTEI). RTEI is a

global accountability initiative that was

designed to ensure that all people,

regardless of where they live, can

enjoy their right to a quality education.

RTEI works with civil society, research

institutions, and governments in an

effort to drive accountability and

progress towards the right to education

in countries all over the world.

• The Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR) for 2017-2018 was

themed “Accountability in Education”

and stated that accountability and

reading the SDG4 goals will require the

collective involvement of all education

stakeholders and will start with

governments as a responsible body to

deliver on the right to education. The

GEMR stated that there needs to be a

participatory process in policy making,

transparent information systems, as well

as independent checks and balances of

the public system, which will ensure that

there is greater accountability.

• The GAWE 2018 theme was a call to

intensify the mobilisation of citizens to

hold governments and the international

community accountable for delivering

on the full SDG4 agenda, asking

governments to “keep your promises”.

The focus was to remind governments

on state obligations in building

democratic systems and governance

through quality, inclusive public

education. The GAWE 2018 was launched

by a roundtable in order to provide an

international perspective and reflection

to the theme, and renew global civil

society solidarity on SDG4 and Education

2030.

• In Asia, ASPBAE was fully committed

to providing advancement in strong

engagement of civil society with respect

to the implementation of the new

agenda for education and development.

• In 2017, NEP Cambodia implemented

a strategy to involve the Public

Financial Management Reform (PFMR)

working group in discussion with the

Ministry with the aim to influence the

government on effective education

budget expenditure and education

financing. The PFMR Working Group

meeting is a platform that NEP can use

to access the information related to

education budget status, the progress

of PFMR program implementation,

challenges, and interventions that

would be addressed by the Minister of

Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS).



ActionAid and the Activista NetworkActionAid has seen great achievements in their work with education. By 2017,

almost 5,000 schools in 25 countries reported improved access to free, safe, and

quality education for boys and girls. 400,000 parents, teachers and children in 25

countries increased their awareness of education rights and how to monitor the

quality of public education.

ActionAid developed a programme called Activista, which is a global youth

network involving more than 50 ActionAid partners and thousands of volunteers,

in more than 37 countries. Activista works to link marginalized youth with other

youth, working in both rural and urban areas, as well with youth in poverty and

youth out of poverty. There is recognition that unequal power structures have

many faces, on various levels and in various settings, and the network seeks

to address this. Activistas are forming alliances across borders, as well as from

university setting to rural communities. Activistas come from all walks of life and

experience very different living conditions.

This netork has seen enormous success. Five priority countries were given funds

and technical support to help them deliver innovative work linked to the youth

principles. One of these countries was Zambia. Activista Zambia used this support

to press for youth representation in local councils in the Nakonde District and

took advantage of the local elections and invited ActionAid staff to train seven

youth recruits. The training involved budgeting for youth, decentralization of

services and gender responsive public services. In total, three youth members

were elected as councilors and the local Activista Chair was nominated to sit on

the highest planning board in the district.

In Malawi, Activista members played a central role in advocating for a review

of the UK/Malawi Tax Treaty. A press briefing was conducted at the ActionAid

Malawi office and members took part in live phone-ins at four different radio

stations. Additionally, Activista members managed to collect over 16,000 youth

signatures for a petition to the Minister of Finance and the President.

As a result of this advocacy, the government publicly pledged to

finalise the process of revising the UK/Malawi Tax Treaty.

The Activista Network has contributed to seeing youth

raise their voices and participate in political spaces

by taking action and putting themselves forward for

leadership positions. The positive results seen by

the work of the Activista Network has shown the

importance of support young peoples’ wellbeing and

providing them with hope for the future.

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Strong public systems, Leadership and Governance in the Education Sector

Having strong public systems, leadership, and governance in the education sector will lead to increased outcomes in the improvement of education provided. The following have been achieved with respect to this focus area:

• ActionAid saw their Promoting Rights

in School Framework (10 core education

rights) become more firmly embedded in

communities. The results became visible

in terms of community empowerment

and communities’ capacity to mobilise

and challenge decision-makers to

address the existing gaps in the

education system.

• in 2015-2016, CLADE’s Strategic

Objective #2 was to “Strengthen active

and participatory democracies”. In

order to achieve this, the organisation

led many actions at the regional and

international levels. In collaboration with

the national coalitions, CLADE produced

numerous statements in favour of the

students in Mexico, Ecuador, Paraguay

and Honduras. CLADE also put together

a position paper on the repression and

criminalization of student protests, and

submitted them to Commissioner Dr.

Orozco Henriquez of the Inter-American

Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

• Several support activities were

carried out by the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE) in the Asia and

Pacific regions. In Vanuatu, meetings

were arranged in the Ministry of

Education with the Kolisen Blong Leftemap Edukeson (KOBLE)

Coordinator, and KOBLE was officially

welcomed onto the Local Education Group (LEG). In Samoa, for example,

the CSEF Regional Coordinator,

discussed strategies for increasing

their engagement with the key national

education committee with coalitions and

member organizations

• During the period under review, the CSEF supported coalitions made

significant progress in terms of

engaging with parliamentary processes

or oral, written and both oral/written

submissions through the representation

and participation in official education

sector forums and parliamentary

spaces. The programme is expected to

exceed its target indicator by the end of

December 2018.

• In Europe, the French coalition Solidarité Laïque was very active in dialogues

with the government over the period,

meeting more than 20 times with

the authorities, in official or informal

meetings. In 2018 alone, the coalition

met with President Macron and his

advisors, the Prime Minister advisors,

the Minister of Education and many

members or parliament. In 2017-2018, the

coalition managed to present more than

30 questions at the French Parliament.



Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Education 2030 FrameworkThrough a broad collaborative process

by various international organisations,

GCE members and Member States,

progressive, ambitious and inclusive

targets were set for the Sustainable

Development Goal 4 on Education.

Additionally, the GCE, as a movement,

assisted with developing a Education

2030, a strong framework for action to

implement SDG 4.

Following up on the adoption of the

Education 2030 and SDG 4 framework,

GCE members were actively engaged in

working to achieve progress towards the

10 targets.

In 2016, GCE successfully applied to run

the new UN Major Stakeholder Group

called the Education and Academia

Stakeholder Group (EASG). The EASG

brings together human rights-based

education civil society organisations,

networks, as well as organisations in

academia that work on the right to

education. The EASG engaged with

monitoring and reviewing the Sustainable

Development Goals. GCE acted as the

lead focal point for the four Organising

Partners and efforts were made to

engage as many CSEF coalitions within

the structure in order to ensure strong

southern voices. The EASG facilitated

a global consultation with education

CSOs to inform its first report to the

UN’s central platform for follow-up and

review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development and the Sustainable

Development Goals. The consultation

yielded 63 responses from CSOs across

the global south and north. This fed into

the High Level Political Forum’s (HLPF)

report on the theme “Leaving No-one

Behind”.

GCE is very involved at the highest level,

and has representatives in the UNESCO

Collective Consultation of NGO (CCNGO)

and Education 2030 steering committee.

Along with supporting national coalitions

to engage with their national level SDG4

implementation and review processes,

Regional Secretariats were active

participants in many major events

regarding the SDG4. This has ensured

that there were extended opportunities

for presenting linkages between national,

regional, and global needs and agendas.

Some highlights from Regional Secretariats included:

• CLADE launched the first edition of

the Latin American Week for the

Right to Education, during GAWE,

emphasizing the need to fair, adequate,

and sustainable financing for the

human rights education in the region.

CLADE also launched an analysis on

the financing of the human right to

education in Latin America and the

Caribbean with an aim towards the

slogan “Fair Financing!”. Under another

slogan “Education is on the move against

budget cuts!”, different activities were

carried out in 2017 to highlight the

importance of guaranteeing adequate

and sufficient funding for education in

all its stages, from pre-school to lifelong

education. Both campaigns addressed

the financial implications of SDG4.

Furthermore, a webinar called Gender

Equality in Education in Latin America

and the Caribbean was held within the

setting of the Regional Observatory on

Inclusive Education and a Consultation

was carried out on the right to education

of people with disabilities allied to Mais

2



Diferenças —UNESCO organisation in

Brazil— and with the support of The

Regional Bureau for Education in Latin

America and the Caribbean (OREALC/

UNESCO Santiago). Both events were

aimed at addressing the need for equal

and inclusive education for all.

• ACEA developed a position paper which

summarized critical education problems

in the Middle East. The paper focused on

financing education and highlighted the

very low percentage of funds allocated to

education from government budgets. The

main challenges facing civil society when

working with education financing included

lack of transparency of education

budgets and shrinking space available

for CSOs to implement accountability

projects for SDG4. The paper also

outlined the opportunities for civil society

to benefit from their advocacy work and

addressed other issues of importance

to the ACEA region such as education in

emergency and education budgets within

humanitarian response plans. In addition,

two events were held in Amman and

Ramallah by ACEA, on the accountability

to SDG4 and the role of citizens. The

events brought all education stakeholders

Some events attended and organized by GCE Members

2030

2016

Regional Coordination Group on SDG4-Education 2030 for West and Central Africa (RCG4-WCA), Dakar, Senegal.

In conjunction with ActionAid international, GCE presented a workshop at the UKFIET Education and Development Forum, entitled “How to Adequately Finance Education for Development?”.

Global Meeting for CCNGO groups Paris, 2016. Aimed at providing updates and information on the implementation of SDG4-Education 2030



of the ACEA region together to discuss

how education budget could be increased

to meet the huge challenges in the region.

The Amman event saw representatives

of the Ministry of Planning discussing the

2017 Voluntary National Review of Jordan

on the SDGs and a debate was fostered

on the role of civil society on monitoring

government spending on achieving SDG4.

At the National level, coalitions were very active in campaigning for SDG 4 and the Education 2030 agenda, for example:

• The Iraqi coalition held workshops

with regional heads of education

offices to discuss education’s share

of the government’s budget. They

communicated data on the current

education challenges in Anbar region

due to ISIS occupation and highlighted

the increasing dropout rates of students.

The Iraqi coalition also prepared and

presented a position paper to the Iraqi

parliament in which they outlined the

major challenges facing children in IDP

camps, mainly in areas controlled by

ISIS. The main demand of the document

was to raise to 20% the share of the

education budget.

2016

2017

2015

Asia Pacific Regional Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Education 2030+;

2030+

Fourth Regional Partners Meeting on SDG4 (Quality Education) in the Arab Region. ACEA council meeting of

the Arab Academy for Adult Education, 2016. The session included the four Arab Networks specialized in the field of Adult Education.

Global Meeting for CCNGO group /UNESCO, Cambodia, 2017. The session provided updates and information on the implementation of SDG4-Education 2030 agenda and future plans and focused on the recent developments in SDG 4 and highlighted the importance of regional and sub-regional consultations.

The Second Regional Meeting on SDG 4 (ARMED II) in Dubai, UAE, 2017. Further to the adoption of the first Arab Regional Roadmap for SDG4 - Education 2030 in December 2015 in Cairo, ARMED II was organized to take stock of the first year of implementation of the Education Agenda in the region and to decide on an action plan for 2017/2018.



• The Albania coalition organized 12 youth

consultation meetings resulting in the

issuing of the Education Manifesto, a

document that contains the problems

and solutions proposed by youth.

The document was presented to

political parties and Government. The

Youth forums committed to address

the priority issues of youth and the

education problems.

• The Nepal Government has made some

preparatory plans for the effective

implementation of the SDGs and

SDG4. The government has developed

a national education plan and it has

started preparations for Nepal’s National

Framework for Action. However, these

efforts are slow and there seems

no efficient preparations from the

government yet. NCE Nepal has thus

engaged with the District Education

Officers in the interaction program of

the SDG and in the dissemination of

the SDG documents. NCE Nepal had

conducted district consultations in

eighteen different districts of Nepal from

where community level voices were

collected and submitted to the Ministry

of Education.

• In December 2016, the Campaña

Boliviana por el Derecho a la Educación

(CBDE) carried out a forum on the SDGs

and the Education 2030 educational,

promoted by the Follow-up Platform

to the SDGs and the 2040 agenda,

which comprises several civil society

organisations, women’s rights, youth,

indigenous and religious groups. The

Working Group developed follow-

up activities after their meeting with

authorities, such as creating spaces for

dialogues at national and international

level during forums and / or seminars.

Overall contributions within the CSEF programme:

During the course of 2017, 100% of CSEF

grant-contracted coalitions actively

participated in at least one national-

level, regional and/or global engagement

on the implementation of SDG4. This

was facilitated by either the Global or

Regional Secretariats (usually both

in collaboration) in the cases of the

regional and global events. Through

CSEF support and coordination, national

coalitions were able to represent civil

society analyses and positions at many

key regional and global level events.

This resulted in education policy issues

being discussed and debated, as well as

putting forward civil society positions

on the implementation of SDG4. 66.7%

of national coalitions reported that they

actively participated in one or more

consultations on the implementation

of SDG4 facilitated at either a national,

regional, or global level. With respect to

national level consultations, across the

four regions CSEF works in, 40% (23) of

national coalitions reported to have either

facilitated or participated in national

stakeholder consultations on the SDG4

agenda. These consultation meetings

provided opportunities for stakeholders

to build on common civil society positions,

as well as develop recommendations for

regional and global events, form outputs,

and conduct reviews of actions in favour

of the SDG4.



Challenges

During the period under review, a wide range of challenges were experienced during the implementation of activities at national, regional and global levels. Some of the common problems experienced are highlighted below:

National Level Challenges

National coalitions reported on a wide

range of contextually driven challenges

when faced with the implementation of

their plans. There were common threads

that were observed across all countries:

• Many national coalitions reported

that there was government reluctance

in working with civil society, and this

proved to be a major obstacle for work

aimed at influencing policy processes.

Despite the difficulties that came with

this, which were exacerbated by a

shrinking space for CSOs, national

coalitions have reported to have

strengthened partnerships with various

local, national, and international

members. This has increased coalitions’

capacity to ensure their voice was

effectively heard in all education policy

processes.

• Political instability was a significant

challenge for coalitions. This was more

prominent in Africa, Asia, and the

Pacific regions and was the result of

presidential or parliamentary elections,

and changes in official governance and

administration mechanisms.

• In countries effected by conflict (such as

Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen), currency

depreciation, a well as political and

economic uncertainty, had a large impact

on the coalitions’ ability to implement

their activities. It was reported by the

coalitions that they were stretching their

available human and financial resources

as far as possible in order to continue

operating under these constraining

conditions.

• There has been a general increase

in work load but the problem of

limited resources has remained. This

has become a challenge for national

coalitions as they have continued to

gain more visibility and credibility in

advocacy spaces. While the increased

visibility is a great achievement, it has

led to an increased demand for coalition

staff and members to present civil

society perspectives at local, national,

regional, and global levels. National

coalitions also cited capacity challenges

with regards to responding to various

demands, particularly with respect to

engagements around monitoring the

implementation of SDG4 and conducting

research work. Personnel challenges

also exist at regional and global levels.

Regional Level Challenges Regional partners experienced the

following challenges:

• Across all regions, the majority of

coalitions continued to experience

challenges with gaining access to

important platforms that would

have provided a means of significant

engagement with ministries, parliament,

and local authorities. There is a persisting

problem of space shrinking for civil

society advocacy activities, and there

is an ongoing blockage to the initiation

of engagements by coalitions. This

contributes to delays in implementing

planned engagement activities

• Regional partners reported on varying

challenges they faced in supporting

national coalitions. Emphasis was

3



placed on limitations to the capacity

of coalitions as well as supporting the

establishment of newly formed coalitions

in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific regions.

• Within the African context, the formation

of new coalitions meant that staff

capacity was stretched in dealing with

the core foundation CSEF coalition-

building processes in some very

difficult conflict and fragile affected

states. Africa Network Campaign on

Education For All (ANCEFA) reported a

challenge of working with coalitions that

demonstrated unresolved performance

and accountability matters.

• Leadership changes occurred in the

Africa region, at both the Regional

Coordinator and Board levels, resulting

in transition challenges.

• Challenges were faced in the Latin

America and the Caribbean region due to

states of emergency declared because

of hurricanes. This had a negative impact

with regard to the implementation of

activities. Staff shortage issues were

also a challenge in this region.

• Within the ACEA region, challenges

continue to develop due to the diversity

of civil society organisations working in

both different context and in different

languages. This is also often the case in

difficult conflict or emergency settings,

as well as with nascent civil society

organisations. This has impacted the

ACEA’s ability to bring policy coherence

“upwards” from the region into global

processes and “downwards” in terms of

prioritising capacity support to complex,

different environments.

• In the Middle East, the proposal process

and reporting experienced significant

challenges due to the changing external

environment. A clear example occurred

in Yemen, where there was a dramatic

increase in conflict and the emergency

situation, which saw the education

sector needing to provide a response.

Support was therefore given to the

national coalition to order to assist

them with adapting their plans to the

increasingly worsening emergency.

However, this had the effect of slowing

the process of proposal development.

International Level Challenges

The challenges being reported at the

international level are as follows:

• Political instability as well as the political

repression and shrinking spaces of civil

society engagement in the education

sector have been reported as a

challenge. Criminalisation against human

rights defenders and the repression

of student movements have increased

globally, and attacks on journalists have

been taken to the next level. In 2017,

several high- profile journalists reporting

on, and trying to, expose the corrupt

manoeuvrings of political and economic

leaders, or covering the year’s many

protests, were attacked in increasingly

brazen ways. Furthermore, the Civicus

civil society 2018 report highlights that

more and more countries in all regions of

the world are experiencing a narrowing

of civil society space.

• Uncivil society is on the rise. Socially

conservative forces are claiming civil

society space. Among them are pressure

groups, think tanks that act as outriders

for nationalist and xenophobic ideas

and market fundamentalism, as well

as protest movements against LGBTI,

refugees and migrants’ rights. These

regressive forces working within the civil

society arena are becoming increasingly

emboldened. There are supported by



regressive governments that want to

weaken the impact of civil society that

advances progressive positions. In some

countries, including Poland recently,

state funding schemes have been

reworked to enable greater support

for uncivil society. Uncivil society is

increasingly making its presence felt

in the international sphere. These are

ell-organised and in numbers, as well

as funded and aided by supportive

governments and narrow business

interests to claim the space, argue

against human rights and sow confusion

about what civil society is, while

appearing to tick boxes about citizen

consultation.

• Recent political shifts mean that the

notion of national sovereignty is being

strongly reasserted but simultaneously

narrowed: it is not the people who are

sovereign, but presidents and ruling

elites. Multilateral institutions are

correspondingly being undermined.

When they raise human rights concerns,

they are attacked as propagators

of cosmopolitan values and utopian

standards, and as agents of unwelcome

overreach that hinder the pursuit of

national self-interest. Otherwise, they

are hijacked as vehicles to advance

neoliberalism and corporate agendas.

• As the UN’s funding base has declined,

it has increasingly embraced the private

sector, something that many in civil

society who attended the 2017 UN

General Assembly and 2018 HLPF noted

with concern. At the national level, the

private sector plays an ever-growing

role in the delivery of core services, while

governments prioritise the promotion

of business growth to drive economic

development. In the education sector,

private providers are more and more

present, driving funds and the provision

of education away from the States. The

quick fixes they promise are attractive

to donors who can show quick results,

whereas the systemic changes required

and advocated for by civil society are

more uncertain and will take a longer

time to implement.

• Education sector funding has been

on the decline partly as a result of

the global economic downturn and

related financial crisis, shrinking ODA,

public deficits in some donor countries

and shifting donor priorities. Despite

the commitments of the 2018 Dakar

conference, more funds are needed to

achieve SDG 4 by 2030, and to support

civil society.

• In 2016, the world lacked 69 million

teachers to reach the SDG 4 targets.

To fill the gap, some countries reverted

to massive recruitment, leading to an

increase in non-trained teachers, and

a decrease in pay and sub-standard

working conditions. Low-fee private

schools have emerged hiring non-

qualified or less-qualified staff, which

lessens standards for quality education

and increase inequality for the poorest.



As the GCE Secretariat is accountable to the membership through the GCE Board, specific activities have been determined for the Secretariat in the Strategic Plan 2015 – 2019. The four activities formed the operational focus areas for the Secretariat and were developed with the aim of best supporting the movement to realise its vision and approach.

The survey conducted in July 2018

revealed a just above average satisfaction

regarding the activities of the Secretariat

for the 36 coalitions who answered this

item. The higher satisfaction rate was

for “ Supporting effective and high-

profile cross-national campaigns and

advocacy”, and the lower for “ Support

the sustainability of the GCE movement

by securing funds”. The members who

answered from Asia/Pacific and Latin

America seemed the most satisfied, while

members from Africa and the Middle East

scored the Secretariat activities lower.

The activities of the GCE Secretariat to

date are presented within the five key focus areas below.

FOCUS AREA 1:

Strengthen the Movement-based Character of the GCE by Supporting Networking, Communication, and Learning between Members

The Secretariat made progress on three key relevant activities for this focus area:

- Management of GCE Platforms for

Communication, Sharing and Exchange;

- Coordination of the Sharing of Learning,

Evidence, and Best Practice in Relation

to CSEF; and

- Organisation and Preparation of the GCE

World Assembly.

Management of GCE Platforms for Communication, Sharing and Exchange

The GCE Secretariat has managed to

achieve the following in order to meet its

deliverables in this required activity:

• The Secretariat sends regular news

and policy updates to the membership,

providing them with opportunities

for input and engagement, as well

as providing tools and resources for

continued engagement at regional,

national, and global levels. Most of the

publications and email updates were

sent to the membership in all five official

languages of the GCE.

• The Secretariat has worked to

continuously update the GCE website

with new and developing communication

within the movement and to provide

the projection of their campaign and

GCE Secretariat activities



advocacy engagements. The Secretariat

developed and launched a new website

with a dedicated member section in

order to foster collaboration and shared

learning.

• Over the period, the team started to

develop Exchange briefs, to draw on

the experience from selected CSEF

supported coalitions in terms of resource

mobilisation, participation in LEGs

and research for advocacy, in order to

disseminate to the whole membership.

Coordination of the Sharing of Learning, Evidence, and Best Practice in Relation to CSEF

The Secretariat managed to make

significant progress in its support of the

CSEF:

• The Global Secretariat provided

continued support to civil society in 58

developing partner countries via RS and

RFMA.

• The Global Secretariat provided

support with respect to global capacity

development, produced resource

materials, toolkits, and learning

documents.

• Contributions to the education financing

campaign included replenishment

and advocacy on issues that were

arising from the national coalitions and

regions. This included bringing rooted

experiences and voices of coalitions into

SDG 2030 spaces.

• Through CSEF, GCE has assisted national

coalitions with feeding into GPE’s policy

processes at an international level. This

included the GPE Board and Committees

as well as the UNESCO SDG processes.

Improvements to reporting were

suggested and adopted.

• There were extensive improvements

made to the MEL online platform as

a response to partner feedback from

the maiden use of the platform in 2016.

This also served to meet the needs

of the 2017 and 2018 implementation,

monitoring, and reporting periods. The

improvements included the production

and dissemination of updated system

guidelines in all five official GCE

languages.

• The GCE Secretariat MEL Manager

developed a mid-term evaluation (MTR)

concept and methodological scope. This

was done in consultation with CSEF

partners and the GCE CSEF team. The

MTR evaluation was conducted in 2017

and the report was made available in

January and October 2018.

• The GCE Secretariat and Board

members have been involved in the

development of the development of the

successor programmes - now named

ASA (Advocacy for Social Accountability)

and KIX (Knowledge Innovation and

eXchange mechanism).

Organisation and Preparation of the GCE World Assembly

The Secretariat is responsible for

preparing for the GCE World Assembly,

which occurs every four years. To this end,

the Secretariat has managed to achieve

the following:

• The Secretariat has shared the relevant

criteria for hosting the next GCE World

Assembly to all national coalitions in the

Asia Pacific region. They have received

applications and will be presenting

them in the GCE Board meeting for

consideration and decision on who will

be the next host country for the World

Assembly.

• The next World Assembly will take place

on 16-18 November 2018 in Kathmandu,

Nepal. In addition to the World Assembly,

GCE is also organising a Youth Caucus, to

give an added voice to youth in the civil

society education movement discussions.



FOCUS AREA 2:

Support Effective and High-profile Cross-national Campaigns and Advocacy on GCE Strategic Focus Areas

During period under review, the Global Secretariat made progress on the following key relevant activities for this focus area:

- Coordination of GAWE on an annual

basis;

- Coordination of advocacy towards or

engagement with global targets;

- Providing support to GCE

representatives in collective

representation on global bodies or

steering committees, and facilitating the

participation of members in global policy

spaces; and

- Support to advocacy throughout the

year on the GAWE theme.

Coordination of Global Action Week for Education


coordinating the Global Action Week for

Education (GAWE) on an annual basis.

The following was achieved for this

deliverable:

• The annual GAWE was organised and

carried out successfully for 2016, 2017,

and 2018. The aim of providing support to

National coalitions and GCE membership

with materials, campaign messaging,

and packs was achieved.

• In 2016, the GCE moved away from the

global mobilisations that occurred in

recent years. As a new way forward, the

GCE chose to focus on social media-led

mobilisations as well as targeted global

advocacy. The aim of GAWE 2016 was to

deliver on the existing financial bilateral

and multilateral pledges for education,

provide individual commitment to and

undertake policy action in order to

enable the implementation and financing

of the Education 2030 framework, as

well as make measurable progress with

respect to delivering mechanisms that

will ensure tax justice on all levels.

• In 2017, the theme for GAWE focused

on ensuring accountability for SDG4

and active citizen participation. There

was particular emphasis on reminding

governments and citizens that

democratic governance is the foundation

of the SDGs, as well as the fact that

credible roadmaps are required in order

to deliver quality, inclusive, free, and

public education. The aims of GAWE

2017 was to ensure that governments

developed, funded and implemented

credible plans for the implementation of

the full SDG4 agenda.

• In 2018, the GCE Secretariat held an

international high-profile roundtable

in order to deliver an international

perspective and reflection on the theme.

The theme for 2018 was “Accountability

for SDG4 and Citizen Participation: a

Follow-up of 2017”. The aim was to call

for increased citizen participation in

the need to hold governments and the

international community accountable

to commitments that were made for

SDG4 and Education 2030. 2018 was

announced as the year to stress the

state obligations on building democratic

systems and governance through the

provision of quality, inclusive public

education.

Coordination of Advocacy towards Engagement with Global Targets

During the same reporting period, the

Secretariat was involved in a range of

engagements with global institutions

where education and developments were

the central discourse. The following were



achieved for this deliverable:

• High Level Political Forum (HLPF)

– In collaboration with the ICAE, the

Secretariat contributed to a successful set

up the Education Academia Stakeholder

Group (EASG) in 2016. The group organised

side events at the HLPF in 2017 and 2018,

in order to promote national reports

reviews, raising civil society concerns,

and voicing views and critical concerns

with regards to the implementation of the

SDG4 and other goals. A paper on how

to engage with VNR was produced and

disseminated in 2017.

• Privatisation in Education and Human

Rights Consortium (PEHRC) – The GCE

Secretariat is a continuous active

participant in the Steering Committee

of the PEHRC. Additionally, they have

participated in the annual meeting of

the Consortium. During the course of

the meeting, its strategic direction

was reviewed, as well as the on-going

development of their Guiding Principles.

• United Nations General Assembly

(UNGA) – The Secretariat contributed

to a successful side event at the 2017

UN General Assembly. GCE assisted

with co-convening the side event, which

placed focus on tax justice to achieve

sustainable financing for education at

the domestic level, as well as to look at

ways to balance donor focus at several

of the other education-related events

during UNGA.

Providing Support for GCE Representatives


providing support to GCE representatives

and managed to make the following

strides in terms of financing education

campaigns and privatisation in education:

• Financing Education Campaign: The GPE

Replenishment Financing Conference

was the most important event in

the first half of 2018 for the Global

Education movement, co-hosted by

President Macky Sall of Senegal and

President Macron of France on 2nd

February in Dakar, Senegal. The total

amount pledged by donors for this

replenishment period was US$2.3

billion for the GPE’s core fund to

support developing countries with

credible education sector plans over

2018-2020. This figure is well above

what was pledged in the last financing

conference in 2014. GCE had contributed

to the success of Education Financing

Conference by organizing a campaign

throughout the second half of 2017

mobilizing the entire GCE movement

and actively supporting advocacy

efforts of all national CSEF supported

coalitions. The education financing

campaign saw global, regional and

national advocacy for “Increasing Global

Education Financing: Bold and Credible

Pledges to Achieve Sustainable Change”.

In particular, the GPE Replenishment

conference was used as an opportunity

to advocate for increased domestic

budgetary commitments.



FOCUS AREA 3: Support Expanded Technical Capacity and Knowledge within the GCE Movement

During the reporting period under review, the GCE secretariat was responsible for delivering on the following relevant activity areas:

- Working with the membership to

produce policy briefings or papers on

priority focus issues;

- Carrying out policy analysis;

- Providing learning tools and handbooks

on education issues or advocacy

approaches, drawing on member

experience; and

- Other technical support or capacity-

building, particularly in the context of

CSEF.

Technical Support and Capacity Building

The Secretariat achieved the following

in terms of its technical support and

capacity building:

• Financial Management training

sessions were held with Asia and

South Pacific; Africa; Middle East and

Eastern European; and Latin America

and Caribbean CSEF national coalitions

and Regional Financial Management

Agencies (RFMAs).

• An outcome of the financial management

trainings was the action for internal

audit committees to be appointed within

all national coalitions. Internal Audit

committee members in Africa, Asia and

South Pacific and Latin America and

Caribbean coalitions were trained on

the internal audit function and on their

roles and responsibilities within the

committees.

• An online financial reporting tool

has been developed for CSEF grant

recipients to capture, report and review

CSEF-related financial data in real-time.

Training sessions on how to use the

tool and maximise its usage to reduce

reporting time were held with national

coalitions and RFMAs. Additional training

and support is provided on an ongoing

basis during usage of the tool.

• GCE’s Internal Audit Coordinator has

conducted internal audit, system-

strengthening and capacity support

visits in 13 CSEF national coalitions and

4 Regional Secretariats and RFMAs in

the Asia and South Pacific, Latin America

and Caribbean, and African regions.

During these visits, the Internal Audit

Coordinator evaluated and provided

an opinion on the effectiveness and

efficiency of the internal control, risk

management and governance processes

within the organisations visited. Weak

areas identified and recommendations

proposed for implementation and

improvement. As this process is

ongoing, six organisations have been

visited for follow-up evaluations, and

all organisations previously visited are

monitored and supported continuously.

• Financial monitoring and capacity

support visits were provided by other

Secretariat staff to xx national coalitions

in the Africa and Middle East and Eastern

Europe regions.

Policy Assistance

The Secretariat achieved the following

with respect to policy assistance:

• The Policy Working Group was revived,

involving Secretariat staff and key board

members.

• Several documents, policy papers

and reports were produced and

disseminated to strengthen members’

capacity in terms of education financing

and privatisation campaigning:



“Financing matters”, a toolkit on

education financing, a report and a

toolkit on privatisation”. In 2018, a pledge

tracking database was also developed

and two workshops held to build African

coalition capacity on the tool.

• The Global Secretariat and the GCE

Board contributed to the debate around

the development of the International

Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd).

Active engagement occurred with the

Education Commission, and significant

amendments were made to the initial

draft. The Secretariat shared the views

of the membership and reported on the

outcomes of the discussions. A recent

statement was produced in collaboration

with ANCEFA and ACEA regarding the

Education Outcome Fund project.

• Several policy papers were developed

for the HLPF in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

The Secretariat also developed and

disseminated statements regarding the

Rohingya crisis and supported the

YCEA/ACEA statement

around the crisis in

Yemen.

FOCUS AREA 4:

Support the Sustainability of the GCE Movement by Securing and Managing Funds

The Secretariat made progress on the following key relevant activities for this focus area:

- In the context of CSEF, the Secretariat

should secure and manage funding for

many member coalitions for the period

2015-2019.

- The Secretariat will seek to work with

GCE members to identify other potential

funding sources for the movement

and to support sustainability and

diversification, while noting that securing

such funds remains a significant

challenge.

Donor Relationships, Engagements, and Fundraising

The GCE Secretariat managed to make the

following strides in terms of fundraising:

• The support for the CSEF programme

was renewed by GPE for 2016-2018,

enabling up to 62 coalitions in developing

partners countries to receive funds for

their advocacy work.

• In 2015 and 2016, Open Society

Foundation OSF) supported projects

around the privatisation work, leading

to the production, translation and

dissemination of reports and increase

engagement of GCE with the PEHRC.



• In 2015 and 2016 also, Wellspring

contributed to projects related to SDG4

monitoring and the organisation of the

GAWE.

• OXFAM (IBIS) is a GCE funder for a

project related to HLPF processes,

education financing, privatisation and

building the Secretariat capacity. The

OXFAM (IBIS) funding has been extended

for two years as the IBIS TER project and

will carry on through to 2020.

• GCE was the recipient of two different

grants from GiZ/BACKUP, which came

to a total of Euro 115k. The projects

have successfully come to an end

and reporting has been finalized. The

Secretariat is committed to further

engagement and discussion with GiZ/

BACKUP in order to explore any future

collaboration.

• A recent proposal to foster advocacy

against privatisation in Southern

Africa was accepted by OSISA for

implementation in 2019.

FOCUS AREA 5:

Organisational Development, Governance, and Financial Management

With respect to the organisational development, governance, and financial management of GCE, the two main aspects that required attention were staffing issues and internal policies and structure.

Staffing Issues and structure

The Secretariat has experienced the

following staffing matters and issues:

• Over the past 3 years, the Global

Secretariat encountered a high turnover

at management positions, which lead to

challenges with regards to staff changes,

transitions, and replacements.

• In parallel, the team increased and

capacity was added to manage

CSO engagement, deliver the CSEF

programme, internal reporting, research,

audit and to improve MEL processes.

• The RFMA role in Asia was transferred

from Education International to the

Secretariat in January 2018, leading to

an addition of resources in the finance

department.

• Due to these changes, internal policies

and processes are being streamlined and

strengthen.




Overall, GCE members have addressed

all aspects of the 2015 to 2019 strategic

plan. They made significant strides in

achieving results within the six strategic

areas. There has been increased access

to quality education for children, and

several legislations have been passed in

order to improve the quality of education.

Additionally, member organisations

worked tirelessly to fight the privatisation

of education as well as to increase

funding for public education. Examples

from all over the world are numerous,

demonstrating a strong expertise,

knowledge and a wealth of expertise. The

members achieved tremendous impact at

national, regional and international level.

Member organisations worldwide faced

numerous challenges, like gaps in funding,

government reluctance to work with civil

society or political and social instability;

and they proved resilient and overcame

the issues through continuous learning,

exchange and capacity building.

As the movement will adopt a new

strategic plan in the next few days, and is

turning 20 in 2019, it is time to look deeper

into our collective impact and common

successes. The civil society movement

worldwide is at a turning point, and

only collective energies will ensure our

common goal is achieved.

*Note from the editors:

This report has been put together using

various uneven sources.

The objective was to give an overview

of the successes and challenges, and

the examples highlighted aimed at

giving balanced glimpses of successes

worldwide, and showing the wealth of our

movement.

Report compiled by Capacitate Social

Solutions (Pty) Ltd

October 2018

Conclusion*


The report was drawn from these main

resources:

• Data available through the MEL system

(Excel extraction for CSEF funded

coalitions in Africa on the 6 strategic

areas - coalitions level; extraction on

regional secretariat activities)

• Regional reports (ACEA 2016-2017, CLADE

2016-2017, ASPBAE 2015-2016-2017)

• INGO reports (ActionAid 2015-2016-2017,

CBM 2015-2016-2017, Global March 2015-

2016, ICAE 2016, Light for the World 2015-

2016 2016-2017 2017-2018, Oxfam IBIS

2015-1016, Plan 2015-2016, Results 2015-

2016-2017, Save the Children 2015-2016-

2017, VSO 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018)

• CSEF annual reports (2016, 2017 and mid

2018)

• GCE members survey 2018

• Secretariat work plans and board

reports (2015 to 2018)

• The global campaign reports (Fund the

Future 2017 and Global Action week for

education 2016-2017-2018)

• GCE projects reports (OSF, Wellsprings,

IBIS EAPI and IBIS)

• Overall state of education reports

(UNESCO GEM reports)

• SDG4 and Education 2030 framework

Bibliography


Documents

Global Campaign for Education · T 201 7 Global Campaign for Education Members MEMBER/CSEF COALITION NAME TYPE GCE Constituency Country Afghanistan National Education Coalition (ANEC)