Teach For All Contributes to Discussions at the World Bank
During the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C., and the World Bank event on Breaking the Cycle of Poverty, Teach For All discussed how to advance progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4, to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
On October 11, the network’s Co-founder and CEO Wendy Kopp participated in the panel "Pass or Fail: Are countries doing their education homework," and was joined by World Bank CEO, Kristalina Georgieva; Minister of Finance of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani Indrawati; Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda, Claver Gatete; Executive Director of Oxfam International, Winnie Byanyima; and the panel’s moderator, Malala Fund CEO, Farah Mohamed. The discussion focused on the World Bank’s World Development Report 2018, which for the first time addressed education, warning of a global ‘learning crisis.’ One of the report’s most significant findings is that children who are already disadvantaged by poverty and other factors reach young adulthood without attaining the most basic life skills. These findings highlight the complexity of the problems facing children in under-resourced communities--systemic issues Teach For All partners are working to address by developing collective leadership among educators, policymakers, students and families to ensure all children have access to the education, support, and opportunity they need to thrive.
“There are so many good, high potential people and leaders in ministries and systems all across the world, but we're expecting them to wake up and imagine things that they've never been exposed to,” Wendy shared."We can do so much by building more networks and opportunities to help local leaders see what's possible and what's working in other contexts. We could radically increase the pace of change with just a little bit of investment in a global learning and sharing infrastructure."
At the Civil Society Policy Forum during the World Bank Group and IMF Annual Meetings, Teach For All hosted a panel session entitled “Global Ecosystem for Education: Strengthening Local Capacity and Learning Across Borders to Achieve SDG #4” on October 12. Wendy Kopp was joined by Senior Director of Education at World Bank, Jaime Saavedra; Partner & Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group, Lane McBride; and Senior Education Specialist and Adviser at the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, Bridget Crumpton, who moderated the session.
Lane McBride discussed the concept of “global public goods” and explained how the global health sector can serve as a model for the education community in scaling and sharing innovative solutions across borders. Similar efforts by global education leaders, he noted, could help advance learning outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.
Wendy highlighted Teach For All’s conviction that building local leadership capacity and platforms for global sharing are key to scaling impact at a global scale. She described the network’s efforts to foster cross-border networks and peer-to-peer support through alumni communities of practice, and shared examples of the impact the alumni of network partners are making by working collectively and in collaboration with other across sectors.
On October 17, in recognition of the 25th anniversary of International Day to Eradicate Poverty, the World Bank released the report Fair Progress? Educational Mobility Around the World, which concludes that the social status of one’s parents is as influential today as it was 50 years ago in determining a person’s future. Maimuna Ahmad, Founder and CEO of Teach For Bangladesh, joined speakers including President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim and President of Otero Strategy Group and Senior Advisor, Bainum Family Foundation, as part of a panel of experts to discuss the report’s findings.
Maimuna described how her experiences in Bangladesh have led her to recognize that a coalition of leaders at all levels is necessary to address the immense complexity of problems children face, even before they step into a classroom, and how it is essential to engage families and local communities in understanding the “value proposition” of education. This idea of a coalition of actors is also highlighted in the World Development Report.
These events bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, as well as private sector, academic and civil society leaders around a range of issues linked to poverty reduction, international economic development and finance. We’re delighted to be able to contribute to these discussions.
