UNITED NATIONS GIRLS EDUCATION INITIATIVE

Save the Children, Qatar, UNESCO and UNICEF are co-hosting a High-Level Round Table Luncheon on the theme “The central role of education in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” on 22 September at the forthcoming MDG Summit.

Around 40 global leaders are expected to participate in this joint event, which is being held in partnership with Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Chairperson of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.; Save the Children; UNESCO and UNICEF. The Round Table is being moderated by journalist Nicholas Kristof.

Following opening remarks from Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, two Heads of State or Government and a high-level representative of the Government of Qatar will address the gathering. Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children’s Chief Executive will then open the floor for discussion. The group will be encouraged to bring forward suggestions and action points to feed into the MDG Summit deliberations, which member states and partners can integrate into existing programmes. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO will close the event and outline the way ahead for the EFA movement.

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 presents an excellent opportunity to help shape the global agenda on education as efforts intensify to achieve the MDGs.