A Dubai Cares’ delegation this week joined like-minded organizations in a series of events held under the auspices of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown in Washington D.C. The meetings brought together civil societies, NGOs, youth and international institutions to accelerate progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals of providing education for all children and youth by 2015. Discussions also revolved around laying the groundwork for the ‘Global Education First Initiative’, an initiative by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon to address fundamental issues in the provision of quality, relevant and transformative education for everyone post-2015. This global initiative was launched back in September 2012 during the week of the UN General Assembly in New York, where Ban Ki-Moon selected Dubai Cares to be a member in the Technical Advisory Group of the initiative.
The delegation, led by Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares also attended the “Learning for All Ministerial Country Meetings” held at the World Bank, which brought together ministers of finance and education from eight countries that are home to half of the world’s out-of-school children, namely; Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, Yemen, and South Sudan. Leaders from development partner organizations discussed specific challenges and concrete steps to accelerate progress towards ensuring that all children go to school and learn.
Speaking on the occasion, Tariq Al Gurg said: “The power of education to transform the lives of children has never been more relevant in this day and age to lift them out of poverty towards a brighter future. From our perspective as a member of the Advisory Group for the ‘Global Education First Initiative’, these events have given all stakeholders renewed optimism as we work together to provide education for all in today’s knowledge-based global economy. For the next five years, Dubai Cares will be advocating for quality education to become a primary focus on the agendas of local and national governments as well as aid organizations worldwide.”
“Hand in hand with the efforts of the ‘Global Education First Initiative’, we promise to diligently continue our journey, which aims to reinforce education as a social and economic ‘enabler’ that equips people with the knowledge, skills and values they need to build a better world for themselves and their communities.” Al Gurg added.
According to UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, "I very much welcome Dubai Cares’ support of the Secretary-General's ‘Global Education First Initiative’. Dubai Cares has not only championed and advocated the need for quality primary education but has designed and implemented innovative education programs worldwide. I look forward to working with the Dubai Cares team over the years ahead to support the initiative."
Among the series of events attended by Dubai Cares in Washington, the delegation took part in “The Sprint to 2015: Education and Learning, and the Millennium Development Goals”, an event hosted by the Centre for Universal Education at the Brookings Institute. The event was held to discuss the potential to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Education and the overall state of learning in developing countries. Dubai Cares also attended meetings for civil societies hosted by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown under the theme “The 1000 Day Countdown- Delivering to Meet the 2015 goals”.
Dubai Cares has recently brought similar high-level events to Dubai, including the second Learning Metrics Task Force (LMTF) meeting held in Dubai in February 2012 to identify common learning goals in order to improve learning opportunities for children and youth across the world. The LMTF was convened by Brookings Institution and UNESCO in order to ensure that learning becomes a central component of the global development agenda, in line with the ‘Global Education First Initiative’.