Global Goals Week Begins with a New Vision for Education: Improved cross-border knowledge sharing and collaboration

September 24, 2018

NEW YORK — A new report on improving cross-border knowledge sharing in education was launched today by a coalition of organizations – the Center for Global Education at Asia Society, Results for Development, Teach For All, The Boston Consulting Group, and World Innovation Summit for Education. The report takes forward the recommendations of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (the Education Commission) in its 2016 Learning Generation report.

The new report, Investing in Knowledge Sharing to Advance SDG 4, presents a fresh approach for understanding knowledge sharing in education and proposes a set of criteria, derived from case studies and interviews, that funders and practitioners can use to make more effective investments in knowledge sharing.

As Lawrence Summers, a member of the Education Commission, writes in the report’s foreword, “funders and practitioners must unite to make cross-cutting investments in collective resources devoted to improving knowledge sharing in education…Increasing the level of investment in knowledge sharing can help scale effective innovation, coordinate efforts across borders, and empower local education systems.”

Launched on September 24th at the Asia Society, the report builds on a recommendation of the Education Commission in its 2016 Learning Generation report to invest in a “global ‘ecosystem’ for education that will promote cross border learning and sharing of innovations and grow the capacity of leaders and practitioners.”

“The report draws on the input of over 200 leaders in education, and highlights both the potential for knowledge sharing to accelerate progress, and what it will take to do this effectively,” explained Wendy Kopp, CEO of Teach For All, one of the coauthors of the report.

Investments in knowledge sharing have yielded significant returns in other sectors, such as health and agriculture, while the education sector has fallen behind. The report explores how similar gains from knowledge sharing could be made in education by combining investments in global public goods, capacity development, and networks—three essential elements of knowledge sharing. With more than 260 million children out of school, 75 million affected by crises, and 69 million new teachers needed by 2030, coordinated action is needed to accelerate progress. The report argues that with increased focus and investment in knowledge sharing, the sector can hasten progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

Randa Grob-Zakhary, Board Member of the Global Partnership for Education and one of the speakers at the launch event, explained, “We have seen the promise of knowledge sharing in health and agriculture. In order to achieve SDG 4, we will need to strengthen our approach in education. This report is a pivotal step in defining this path forward.”

One of the key findings in the report is that both the quality and quantity of investment in knowledge sharing must increase. “There has been significant underinvestment in knowledge sharing in education,” said Lane McBride, a Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, who focuses on education topics. “But better investment is also needed. Too often, investment timeframes are too short or impact measurement requirements are too strict to allow for effective investment in knowledge sharing. In the report, we propose a set of investment criteria that can help overcome these barriers and encourage funders to evaluate how they can make better investments within their current approaches,” he continued.

Education Commission Director Liesbet Steer put this report in the context of the Commission’s other work, stating, “We are glad that the recommendation the Commission made in The Learning Generation report to invest in a global ‘ecosystem’ for education that will promote cross border learning and sharing has been further elaborated upon in this report. We hope this will inspire and enable education actors to share tools, approaches, data, and programs across borders to advance progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4. All children should have access to a quality, equitable education, and this is one part of making that a reality.”

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About the Education Commission
The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity (Education Commission) is a global initiative encouraging greater progress on meeting Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) — ensuring inclusive and quality education and promoting lifelong learning for all. The Commission is helping to create a pathway for reform and increased investment in education by mobilizing strong evidence and analysis while engaging with world leaders, policymakers, and researchers. The Commission was co-convened in 2015 by the Prime Minister of Norway, the Presidents of Malawi, Indonesia, and Chile, and the Director-General of UNESCO. The Commission is chaired by the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown and supported by 26 high-level Commissioners, including former heads of state and government, government ministers, Nobel Laureates, and leaders in the fields of education, business, economics, development, health, and security. For more information, visit: http://www.educationcommission.org.

About Results for Development
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non- profit global development partner that collaborates with change agents around the world—government officials, civil society leaders, and social innovators—to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. R4D helps its partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. The organization combines global expertise in health, education, and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making, and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with its partners, R4D builds self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results, and then shares this knowledge so that others also can achieve results for development. For more information, visit: www.r4d.org.

About the Center for Global Education at Asia Society
Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. The Center for Global Education at Asia Society partners with education leaders and institutions across the United States, Asia, and the world to tackle one of the most critical education challenges today: how to educate all students for employability and citizenship in a global era. Its mission is to develop global competence in students and educators as the foundation for understanding between people in the Asia Pacific region and throughout the world. For more information, visit: www.asiasociety.org/education.

About Teach for All
Teach For All is a global network of 48 independent, locally led and governed partner organizations that seek to develop collective leadership to ensure all children can fulfill their potential. Each network partner recruits and develops promising future leaders to teach in their nations’ under-resourced schools and communities and, with this foundation, to work with others inside and outside education to ensure all children can shape a better future for themselves and all of us. Teach For All’s global organization works to increase the network’s impact by capturing and spreading learning, facilitating connections among partners, accessing global resources, and fostering the leadership development of partner staff, teachers, and alumni. For more information, visit: www.teachforall.org.

About the Boston Consulting Group
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. BCG partners with clients from the private, public, and non-profit sectors in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their enterprises. Its customized approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of organizations and markets with close client collaboration. BCG’s education practice works with educational institutions, school systems, foundations, nongovernmental and international organizations, and private companies spanning early childhood education to post-secondary education and workforce development. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with offices in more than 90 cities and 50 countries. For more information, visit: www.bcg.com.

About Wise
Qatar Foundation, under the leadership of its Chairperson, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, established the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) in 2009. WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate, and purposeful action that has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education. Through its range of events, including the biennial summit in Doha, its research, and a range of ongoing programs, WISE actively promotes innovation and participates in creating the future of education through collaboration. For more information, visit: www.wise-qatar.org.

 

Photo © USAID’s Zambia’s STEP-Up program

Global & Regional Initiatives

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