40 million more girls in school and 20 million more reading: Examining G7 Global Objectives through protracted crises and digital technologies

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In 2021, with less than 10 years until the Sustainable Development Goal 4 deadline of 2030, the G7 heads of state set and endorsed a pair of Global Objectives on girls’ education to be achieved by 2026 in low- and lower-middle-income countries:

1. 40 million more girls in primary and secondary school
2. 20 million more girls reading by age ten or end of primary school

These objectives recognise that the most marginalised and vulnerable girls are often left furthest behind as a result of poverty, disability, conflict, climate crises, and the gender inequalities that are further magnified by these challenges. The objectives are also intended to be steppingstones towards the 2030 targets of universal primary and secondary completion and minimum learning proficiency for all.

Since 2022, a baseline and annual report have been published to monitor progress towards these objectives and to keep G7 partners focused on providing support where needed. The 2024 report examines the most up to date global data on the two global objectives, particularly through the lens of education in emergencies and protracted crises (EiEPC). This symposium aims to examine findings from this report whilst exploring the degree to which digital technologies have enabled progress and/or furthered a divide for the most marginalised. The panel of speakers will include those who have contributed to the report, including Sharon Tao, primary author and Director of Level The Field International; Chris Berry, UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Policy Lead on Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises; Christian Stoff, Chief of Monitoring, Evaluation and Global Reporting for Education Cannot Wait; Manos Antoninis, Director of the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report; and Antara Ganguli, Director of the UN Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI).

The 2024 G7 Global Objectives Report provides an update on progress for both objectives. The first, regarding getting 40 million more girls into school in low- and lower-middle-income countries, is measured by the reduction in OOS girls within these contexts, which include several EiEPC settings. The report explores the operational, technical and political issues surrounding the collection of OOS data in EiEPC contexts and how it is likely that Global Objectives reports to date have underestimated the number of OOS girls. UNESCO has noted that evidence from three out of five major crises for which reasonably reliable and comparable information is available, suggests that the out-of-school population may be underestimated by 5.5 million. In order to address this issue, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has convened a task force that will propose a process on how to take supplementary information into account for estimating a margin of error in OOS population calculations, for a limited number of the most severe humanitarian crises. The task force will also introduce an annual process that will incorporate these margin-of-error estimates into timely and reliable country-level estimates on OOS rates that are aligned with SDG 4 reporting. That said, UNESCO have already explored what can be said about OOS numbers in five humanitarian crises, including Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine, Burkina Faso and Myanmar. Although these estimates are included in the 2024 Global Objective Report findings, the data are not sex disaggregated, which limits the precision of estimates regarding OOS girls.

The G7 Global Objectives Report also provides an update on global progress for Objective Two’s target of getting 20 million more girls reading at a minimum proficiency by the end of primary. Although there are a number of low- and lower-middle-income countries with new data for this target, issues around collecting systematic and reliable data remain. Moreover, the operational, technical and political issues around collecting data in EiEPC contexts are further amplified, intensified and made more complex when it regards collecting learning data.

Fortunately, there is a significant amount of laudable work being done by the global Education Cluster amongst others to improve information on the impact of EiEPC learning investments. There are also efforts underway, spearheaded by Education Cannot Wait (ECW), to improve the collection of data on the considerable number of children who participate in non-formal education (NFE) programming, and the Global Objectives report highlights several case study examples that are supported by G7 partners. However, the report highlights the tension that data on both access and learning, including those used by the Global Objectives Report, do not currently include data from non-formal settings. This points to the debate that post-SDG objectives and targets should acknowledge and support the delivery of education that occurs in NFE.

In summary, this symposium will bring together the contributors of the report and each panellist will critically reflect on a number of themes from their organisational perspectives, including: 1) the progress that has/hasn’t been made against the G7 Global Objectives; 2) how and to what degree EiEPC contexts have contributed to and/or have not been included in the findings; 3) how and to what degree digital technologies have enabled learning in EiEPC contexts, as well as increased an educational divide for the most marginalised; and 4) recommendations moving forward to ensure that by 2026, millions of the world’s most marginalised girls are indeed back in school and reading.



Chair - Introduction to the Symposium and the G7 Global Objectives
Manos Antoninis, Director of the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report

Paper 1 - Findings from the 2024 G7 Global Objectives Report: Exploring how gender inequality has affected progress in EiEPC settings
Sharon Tao, Director of Level The Field International

Paper 2 - Exploring the meaningful learning occurring in EiEPC contexts: Examining FCDO and G7 programming that contributes to the Global Objectives
Chris Berry, FCDO Policy Lead on Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises

Paper 3 - How can EiEPC data be included in the future? A look at the Education Data and Statistics Commission Task Force
Christian Stoff, Chief of Monitoring, Evaluation and Global Reporting, Education Cannot Wait

Discussant - What next for the Global Objectives and gender equality in/through education, more broadly?
Antara Ganguli, Director of the UN Girls' Education Initiative

Sub Unit

• Education in Conflict and Emergencies SIG

Organizer

• Sharon Tao, Level The Field

Chair

• Manos Antoninis, Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO

Individual Presentations

• Findings from the 2024 G7 Global Objectives Report: Exploring how gender inequality has affected progress in EiEPC settings - Sharon Tao, Level The Field

• Exploring the meaningful learning occurring in EiEPC contexts: Examining FCDO and G7 programming that contributes to the Global Objectives - Christopher Berry, FCDO

• How can EiEPC data be included in the future? A look at the Education Data and Statistics Commission Task Force - Christian Stoff, Education Cannot Wait

Discussant

• Antara Ganguli, UN Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI)