UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

UNESCO is hosting a High-Level Round Table Luncheon on the theme “Education and the Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs) on 22 September at the forthcoming MDG Summit.

Around 40 global leaders are expected to participate in this event, which is being held in partnership with the State of  Qatar and Save the Children and moderated by journalist Nicholas Kristof.

Participants will discuss the importance of achieving Education for All (EFA) as a fundamental right and as a means for accelerating progress across all the MDGs, as well as the importance of placing education higher on the global agenda, in order to protect the gains made in primary education during the past decade and ensure further progress. This will require governments to increase the priority given to education and pay greater attention to equity, and donors to expand and improve the effectiveness of their aid programmes.

The Round Table Luncheon will present an excellent opportunity to help shape the global agenda on education as efforts intensify to achieve the MDGs.