GBC-Education welcomes Jakaya Kikwete as the new Chair of the Global Partnership for Education board

Photo credit: Lana WongThis week, the former President of Tanzania took over as leader of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which has helped millions of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalized children into school.

GPE works with more than 70 partner countries to transform their education systems and has helped 160 million children, more than half of them girls, go to school.

Jakaya Kikwete was President of Tanzania from 2010 to 2015. He became a special envoy for the influential Education Commission and has been an ardent supporter of the Global Business Coalition for Education’s mission. At GPE he takes over from former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who served as the organization’s Chair for seven years

David Boutcher, Executive board member of GBC-Education, represents the private sector on GPE’s Board of Directors. After the announcement, he said:

”President Kikwete has a tremendous record of leadership in education and understands the powerful role business can play in education. We welcome his commitment to building strong national education systems and look forward to working with him in his new role as the Board Chair at GPE.”

President Kikwete joins the Global Partnership for Education at a sensitive time for education in the poorest countries, which was profoundly impacted by the pandemic and the slow vaccines rollout. After years of progress, many children and youth could fall behind and not get the skills they need to thrive.

Despite a strong mobilization to raise funding for GPE at the Global Education Summit in London in July, these efforts fell short as donors only pledged $4 billion out the $5 billion targeted.

Investment in education and the future of our children is crucial if the world is to rebuild and recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic, and GPE can play a key role with the support of the private sector.

The Global Business Coalition for Education wants to pay tribute to the accomplishments of Julia Gillard over the past seven years. GBC-Education stands ready to continue working with President Kikwete and his team at the Global Partnership for Education, so that together we can encourage more businesses and philanthropies to support the next generation.