The first webinar organised by the Global Campaign for Education addressed the issue of education budget advocacy during the COVID-19 crisis.

We looked at the challenges and opportunities the current health crisis poses to adequate financing of education and education budget advocacy. Whether it support or hinder progresses towards SDG4 in terms of financing? We also reviewed the 4Ss, the issue of debt, the role of just taxation and addressed some perspective for the future.

The following panelists graced the webinar

  • Refat Sabbah, GCE President, delivered the introductory address, highlighting the various impact the COVID-19 is having on education systems, and why the issue of financing is important in this context.
  • Rene Raya, ASPBAE, spoke on “Education as priority for the Post-COVID-19 Recovery Stimulus Package“. The presentation focused on the trend of threatened education budgets due to shrinking fiscal space, discuss the contents of emerging country stimulus packages where education is mostly missing, and conclude on what can be done to make sure education is part of the recovery packages.
  • David Archer, ActionAid International, spoke on “Debt relief, an opportunity or a challenge?” addressing the recent call for immediate cancellation of debt payments through to end of 2021 and the need for renegotiation of long term debt servicing, noting that debt cancellation should also be linking to a lifting of policies around public sector wage bill containment.
  • Andressa Pellanda, Campanha Nacional pelo Direito à Educação, spoke on “COVID-19 crisis: a threat to public education systems?” in Latin America and Brasil. The session looked at the role of private actors in the COVID-19 crisis and the issue of equity and education as a human right.
  • Margaret Louise Irving, Global Partnership for Education, highlighted the issue of “International aid and public education systems: lessons learned from previous crises“. The supporting slides are available here.
  • Grant Kasowanjete, GCE Global Coordinator, concluded and summarise the main points of the discussion.

The Webinar on Education Budget Advocacy during the COVID-19 crisis took place on Tuesday May 12th at 9 pm CST/ 3 pm CEST/ 9 am EST/

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The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) is a civil society movement that aims to end exclusion in education. Education is a basic human right, and our mission is to make sure that governments act now to deliver the right of everyone to a free, quality, public education.