Latest news with #GlobalPartnershipforEducation
Zawya
24-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
IsDB signs $129mln financing agreements with Kyrgyz Republic
Jeddah: The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Kyrgyz Republic cosigned financing agreements on Wednesday for three projects in the agriculture, energy, and education sectors, with a total value of $129.11 million. This includes a $15 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), for which the IsDB serves as trustee. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the presence of Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser and Minister of Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic Almaz Baketaev. The agreement aims to promote inclusive and quality education in Kyrgyzstan. The three funded projects support priority sectors in the country: one will finance a credit line to boost agricultural mechanization and improve productivity and livelihoods in rural areas; the second will fund the construction of power transmission lines and substations in Tamga and Karakol in the Issyk-Kul region; and the third will support the Smart Education Project to enhance access to inclusive and quality learning opportunities for all children in Kyrgyzstan. Dr. Al Jasser affirmed that these projects represent strategic investments in agricultural productivity, energy access, and inclusive education key enablers of sustainable growth in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. The IsDB Group has approved $631 million in financing for 89 operations in Kyrgyzstan to support infrastructure development, private sector growth, and international trade. Its insurance arm, the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), provided $48.1 million in business insurance and $0.7 million in new insurance commitments. The meeting between Dr. Al Jasser and the Kyrgyz delegation also discussed prospects for future cooperation in energy production, water, and sanitation.
Euronews
23-04-2025
- General
- Euronews
The power of early education helps children thrive into adulthood
ADVERTISEMENT In this episode of The Exchange, Laila Humairah explores elementary education's role in shaping children's futures. Laura Frigenti from Global Partnership for Education and Maleiha Malik of Education Above All, share insights on innovative strategies for empowering communities and enhancing workforce readiness. Stefan de Vries reveals why Dutch youngsters are among the happiest globally, highlighting the unique features of their education system. We examine how a helpful learning environment affects children's well-being and success.
Arab News
14-04-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Uzbekistan's $220m education project signals shift toward skills-driven systems: GPE CEO
RIYADH: Uzbekistan's $220 million education reform deal reflects a growing global shift to align schooling systems with economic transformation, according to Global Partnership for Education CEO Laura Frigenti. Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Human Capability Initiative 2025 in Riyadh, Frigenti said the agreement, signed with the Islamic Development Bank and the Uzbek government, aims to help the country 'accelerate that process of transformation.' Fully aligned with Uzbekistan's national education strategies, this project aims to enhance the quality and efficiency of the education system while supporting the achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 4. 'Uzbekistan is a country that has a very well-functioning, in a way, education system because under the Soviet Union, education was a big priority,' she said. 'At the same time, [it] was a system that was designed thinking about a world that doesn't exist anymore. And so, because they are moving very quickly at transforming their own education, they do want to have resources to accelerate that process of transformation and that is the sense of, you know, of the project that we signed today,' Frigenti told Arab News. The $220.25 million 'Smart Education' program includes $160.25 million from IsDB, a $40 million grant from GPE, and a $20 million contribution from the Government of Uzbekistan. The project is already under implementation, with early work focused on school construction and partnerships with UNICEF and UNESCO. 'It's also a project that is part of the process of finding innovative instruments to finance education,' Frigenti said. 'Education, as I'm sure you know, is a very expensive type of sector that, until now has been basically mainly funded either through domestic financing or with the development assistance resources.' Education for growth Frigenti emphasized that education systems must shift to meet the needs of evolving economies, and focus on producing skills that are needed to make society progress and facilitate process of growth and so on. Saudi Arabia, she noted, has made significant headway in this area. 'Saudi Arabia has been understanding this connection between skills and economic growth very well and they have invested in this over the past couple of decades significantly,' Frigenti said. 'Other countries need to get to that and so the kind of things that we are trying to do is to see how can this re-alignment of education with the needs of the economy be translated for countries that do not have the same resource base of Saudi Arabia.' She added: 'And this is where we are working on issues related to financing of the sector, efficiency in the administration of the resources, etcetera.' Women's workforce gains Frigenti also highlighted Saudi Arabia's progress in gender inclusion. 'I think having a very clear political vision that sets a specific target, like 50 percent of the labor force needs to be female, as in the Vision 2030, and then having the ability of designing a set of policies and programs that leads to that results in record time — that is quite an extraordinary result,' she said. Zooming out, she described the Kingdom's broader economic transition as strategic and well-resourced. 'Saudi Arabia is a country that has several strong things going for it. First one, there is a clear vision of where the country, you know, needs to go — and the country needs to go toward an economy that is more diversified, that is not depending on fossil fuels and where you know that there is a whole range of new activities that needs to be started and stimulated.' She added: 'The second part is that to be able to get to that different type of economy, you need a different type of skills. You need people that can do different things, people that can work in services, for example, people that can work in manufacturing and so on and so forth.' The CEO went on to say: 'And then you need to have the resources that on one hand create this skill mix and on the other hand, put in place the infrastructures that allow this to happen. That is rather unique.' Young population Frigenti sees Saudi Arabia's youth bulge as a pivotal advantage. 'The very young workforce is accessing the labor market and is going through the education system at this time. So all this has been an exceptionally fertile ground for transforming the education system on one side, but the economy on the other in a very quick time.' She said they had created 'a working group, a forum' that brings together ministers of education, heads of major technology companies, and key government players — with Saudi Arabia playing a particularly strong role. According to her, the Kingdom wanted not only to contribute its experiences but also to learn from others. 'Attention to technology and the role it can play in education is something that I feel is going to be very much at the center of the education portion of the Vision 2050,' she said, adding that this would be highly relevant going forward. She concluded by saying that Saudi Arabia is actively looking to share and absorb best practices globally. Frigenti also emphasized that Saudi Arabia is eager to engage in a global exchange of best practices — sharing what has worked for them while also learning from successful experiences elsewhere. 'They are very keen on having a kind of exchange with the rest of the world around good practice, what works and what doesn't work,' she said. 'Events like HCI 2025 are just an example,' the CEO concluded.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia focuses foreign aid spending on Pacific region as US slashes aid programs
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia plans to spend a larger share of its foreign aid on its neighbors in Asia and the Pacific islands after the United States announced major cuts to development and humanitarian aid abroad. Three-quarters of Australia's total overseas development aid will directly benefit the Indo-Pacific region, which is a 40-year high proportion, according to documents seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Total aid for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is set to increase by only 136 million Australian dollars ($86 million) above the current year's spending to AU$5.097 billion ($3.22 billion). Neither Foreign Minister Penny Wong nor Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy mentioned Washington's foreshadowed cuts in explaining Australia's change in focus. 'Australia's development program is central to ensuring the stability and security of our region,' Wong said in a statement. 'In these uncertain times, we are ensuring more of Australia's development assistance is going to the Pacific and Southeast Asia, where Australia's interests are most at stake,' she added. Conroy said Australia remained committed to multilateral aid channels despite Australia's shift toward direct bilateral aid deals. Australia will suspend or delay AU$119 million ($75 million) in payments to the multinational U.N. Development Program, the Global Partnership for Education and the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Malaria and TB. 'Flexibility is needed in this year's budget to protect our region's stability and prosperity — and reinforce Australia's role as a trusted and reliable partner for our neighbors,' Conroy said. The Trump administration said last month it was eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. Riley Duke, a researcher with the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, described Australia's aid budget as a response to expected reductions in U.S. and European aid spending in the Pacific. 'Australia has cut and delayed payments to multilateral organizations to give it room to respond to potential vacuums left by the rapid U.S. cuts,' Duke said. 'Australia's budget is becoming hyper-focused on its neighbors and the share of our aid budget that's allocated to the Pacific is amongst the highest it's ever been,' he added. Direct funding to Pacific island nations was at least 40% of the total Australian aid budget, he said. The foreign aid planning is part of a wider national economic blueprint for the next fiscal year that the government introduced to the Parliament late Tuesday. Duke said the shift in spending priorities indicated the government felt it needed to play a bigger role in the Pacific to secure the outcomes that Australia wants. 'The Trump administration has directly said that HIV and family planning are the kinds of things that they don't want to be engaged with and it looks like Australia in preparing to plug those gaps,' Duke said.
The Hill
26-03-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Australia focuses foreign aid spending on Pacific region as US slashes aid programs
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia plans to spend a larger share of its foreign aid on its neighbors in Asia and the Pacific islands after the United States announced major cuts to development and humanitarian aid abroad. Three-quarters of Australia's total overseas development aid will directly benefit the Indo-Pacific region, which is a 40-year high proportion, according to documents seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Total aid for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is set to increase by only 136 million Australian dollars ($86 million) above the current year's spending to AU$5.097 billion ($3.22 billion). Neither Foreign Minister Penny Wong nor Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy mentioned Washington's foreshadowed cuts in explaining Australia's change in focus. 'Australia's development program is central to ensuring the stability and security of our region,' Wong said in a statement. 'In these uncertain times, we are ensuring more of Australia's development assistance is going to the Pacific and Southeast Asia, where Australia's interests are most at stake,' she added. Conroy said Australia remained committed to multilateral aid channels despite Australia's shift toward direct bilateral aid deals. Australia will suspend or delay AU$119 million ($75 million) in payments to the multinational U.N. Development Program, the Global Partnership for Education and the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Malaria and TB. 'Flexibility is needed in this year's budget to protect our region's stability and prosperity — and reinforce Australia's role as a trusted and reliable partner for our neighbors,' Conroy said. The Trump administration said last month it was eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. Riley Duke, a researcher with the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based international policy think tank, described Australia's aid budget as a response to expected reductions in U.S. and European aid spending in the Pacific. 'Australia has cut and delayed payments to multilateral organizations to give it room to respond to potential vacuums left by the rapid U.S. cuts,' Duke said. 'Australia's budget is becoming hyper-focused on its neighbors and the share of our aid budget that's allocated to the Pacific is amongst the highest it's ever been,' he added. Direct funding to Pacific island nations was at least 40% of the total Australian aid budget, he said. The foreign aid planning is part of a wider national economic blueprint for the next fiscal year that the government introduced to the Parliament late Tuesday. Duke said the shift in spending priorities indicated the government felt it needed to play a bigger role in the Pacific to secure the outcomes that Australia wants. 'The Trump administration has directly said that HIV and family planning are the kinds of things that they don't want to be engaged with and it looks like Australia in preparing to plug those gaps,' Duke said.
