The G7 Education Pledge — is it enough?
At the G7 Summit, Boris Johnson pledged £430m towards improving education in poorer nations, yet there is still no clear plan to restore Foreign Aid Budgets to pre-pandemic levels. Elaine Green, Head of Influencing, Campaigns and Public Affairs at Leonard Cheshire, asks if this pledge is enough.
This June, the UK hosted the G7 summit, welcoming leaders from fellow G7 nations, as well as those from Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa. Held in Cornwall, Boris Johnson wanted to use this meeting — the first in almost two years — to promote cooperation between leading democratic nations, to ‘Build Back Better’ following the coronavirus pandemic.
Leaders have pledged to prioritise girls’ education in developing nations, in accordance with the FCDO’s Action Plan on Girls’ Education. Over the next five years, the UK is aiming to contribute £430m to the Global Partnership for Education, an international coordinating body. This pledge is significant, but world leaders must make specific financial commitments to disability-inclusive education, as 9 out of 10 children missing from the classroom are disabled. The Global Education Summit, taking place in July 2021, is aiming to raise £3.5bn for education projects in 90 countries. This summit needs to set out clear aims for inclusive education and disability support in order to use the budget more effectively.
As we’ve already pointed out, we specifically need to ensure girls with disabilities are not left behind after COVID-19.
Given the widening gap for already marginalised girls, we must therefore ask whether we could — and should — be doing more.
We would do well to remind ourselves what foreign aid does for girls with disabilities overseas — and what more will be possible once our contribution is restored to 0.7% of GNI as the government has promised.
The UK government funds several hugely impactful projects across the world through the FCDO. In 2020, this included giving £200m to help developing nations fight coronavirus. Government funding also supports the work that Leonard Cheshire does within international communities. We need to keep sight of what ‘Global Britain’ is capable of doing to help marginalised communities when aid is properly resourced. If we don’t, we risk losing the progress we have already made.
Foreign aid helps the most vulnerable children access support and education. In the last year alone, Leonard Cheshire has helped 11,023 disabled children into education, across Africa and India. Additionally, communities are given the tools needed to assist those with disabilities at a local level. Parents, teachers and government representatives need training. Leonard Cheshire’s 20/21 programmes taught 2,916 key figures about inclusive education, as well as over 3000 parents. Without a clear plan for distribution and restoration of funding, charities could see drops in outreach statistics and may be forced to end some projects.
Leonard Cheshire’s work actively engages communities across Africa and Asia to improve circumstances for vulnerable young women. It is through these projects that we can see how the international community is working to address educational inequality for girls with disabilities.
Linda’s story really drives this home.
Linda was born with an intellectual disability, and lives in Kisumu County, Kenya. She was unable to access education, as local schools were unable to provide resources for disabled students. Many Kenyan village schools cannot create an inclusive environment, due to large class sizes, limited understanding of disability, and lack of funding.
Her mother, Pamela, was unable to work, as Linda required constant care. The large family was struggling to make ends meet. But through the Education for Life project, made possible with support from the UK government, Linda was able to access the help she needed to transform her future.
Linda was able to enrol in a Learning Centre Programme, run by Leonard Cheshire and other partners, that provides 9 months of in-class learning. In addition to basic literacy and numeracy classes, the project works towards vocational goals, providing advice and guidance. For Linda this meant learning how to start her own business. Without projects like this, operating outside of traditional educational frameworks, marginalised young women would be left uneducated and in poverty.
Leonard Cheshire also works to address social barriers to education. Susan, a disabled girl from Mur Ng’Iya village in Kenya, was going to drop out of school due to bullying. Through the Girls’ Education Challenge Transition (GEC-T), Susan was given the resources needed to stay in education and be accepted by her community.
Advocacy work, like that done in Mur Ng’lya Village, helps destigmatise disability and teaches community leaders to facilitate long term, sustained change. In order to continue to improve the circumstances of these young women, consistent international support is vital.
With the Global Education Summit at the end of July, co-hosted by the leaders of the UK and Kenya, we must, as I said before, look at what we could be doing as much as what we are doing. The UK government needs to keep demonstrating its global leadership on disability inclusion.
As the world continues to recover from the fallout of COVID19, the important commitments the government has made to disability and education cannot be undermined by the cuts in foreign aid spending.
The pledge made by Boris Johnson at the G7 Summit is a great start. But the ultimate results for girls with disabilities and other marginalised communities depend just as much on what comes next. The pledge cannot be a one-off.
