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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Ingalls (laura.ingalls@worldlearning.org) in Washington, 1.202.464.6973

U.S. Leadership Critical to Meet Global Education Goal

WASHINGTON, DC (April 29, 2010) -- World Learning strongly urges Congress to pass the Education for All Act to position the United States as a global leader on this critical development issue in time to meet an important deadline.

Representatives Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and David Reichert, R-Wash., are cosponsoring the bill that would establish universal basic education as a top U.S. foreign policy goal. The United States is among more than 180 nations that agreed a decade ago to ensure that every primary-age child would have access to a free, quality basic education by 2015, one of eight Millennium Development Goals. While there has been progress, the target will be missed unless significant action is taken this year.

"Education is the linchpin in solving a number of the world's most pressing development problems," said Adam Weinberg, World Learning President and CEO. "Without access to education, some 72 million children worldwide are susceptible to poverty, exploitation, radical ideologies and HIV/AIDS."

The bill calls on the Obama administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to meet the 2015 goal, with priority given to marginalized and vulnerable groups in the developing world. These include girls—three out of five of which are denied a basic education—children affected by HIV/AIDS, those impacted by conflict, and children with disabilities. The bill calls for "substantial new resources" to go toward this effort and the integration of bilateral and multilateral approaches to aid. Similarly, President Obama has pledged to create a $2 billion Global Education Fund.

Since 2000, U.S. bilateral assistance has helped deliver basic education to tens of millions of primary-age children, through programs such as those implemented by World Learning in Ethiopia and Ecuador. The Education for All Act would strengthen the U.S. global education strategy and bolster the Obama administration's ability to leverage contributions from other donors at upcoming international fora such as the G8/G20, the World Cup and the UN's Millennium Development Goal Summit.
           
"Passage of the Education for All Act would send a powerful signal that the United States is serious about seeing children worldwide have the hope for a better future and an alternative to the conditions that breed extremism and violence," said Weinberg.

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