The Business Voice at the Global Partnership for Education Replenishment

June 27, 2014

“The private sector will not alone get 58 million children and youth into school, but I see a hard time getting there without them”

Kolleen Bouchane, Director of Research and Policy, GBC-Education

The 2nd Global Partnership for Education Replenishment took place from June 25 – 26 and resulted in $28.5 billion in additional funding for education for millions of children in more than 60 developing countries.

During the Replenishment, the Private Sector convened a panel on its role in transforming global education. Panelists included James Bernard (Microsoft), Tamela Noboa (Discovery Communications), Amanda Gardiner (Pearson), Alex Palacios (Global Partnership for Education), Sally Gear (UK Department for International Development), Kolleen Bouchane (Global Business Coalition for Education) and the Honorable Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang (Minister of Education of the Republic of Ghana).

The panel affirmed the importance of business and partnerships in the GPE model. As panelist Sally Gear commented: working with the private sector in education should not just be about philanthropy – it’s about partnership.

Successful partnerships – especially with government – are built on transparency and accountability as mentioned by Discovery Communication’s Tamela Noboa. Microsoft’s James Bernard agreed and expressed the importance of partnerships meeting both social and business goals.

Amanda Gardiner from Pearson summarized the discussion, saying that business wants to engage with the Global Partnership for Education but the “how” needs to be clearer. Businesses should also start shifting away from a giving model and focus more on co-creation by leveraging business assets.