At this year’s UNGA, Malala Fund calls for governments to challenge the status quo and reignite global momentum on girls’ education.
This year's U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City marks the halfway point of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed in 2015 by leaders of 193 countries. Progress on the SDGs has been underwhelming at best, and the world is not on track to meet SDG 4 — the target for ensuring 12 years of free, quality education for all children — by 2030.
Without drastic measures to change current trajectories, by 2030 110 million girls will still be out of school and an additional 10 million girls will become child brides, likely foregoing their education. Girls are most likely to be left behind in lower-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, progress in closing gender gaps in secondary education has stalled, and the number of out-of-school girls is actually growing.
As we approach the SDG Summit, governments must take radical action for all girls to have the chance to learn and lead. However, such international summits often fail to deliver the kind of agreements needed to drive collective action and actual change.
Girls need this year to be different. To help drive ambitious action at UNGA, Malala Fund will be focusing its efforts on two outcomes that can be transformative for girls’ education: reform of global tax governance and stronger alliances to hold governments accountable.
Lack of education funding hits girls hardest
Global education financing is at a stalemate, and global progress towards gender equality is stalling. Every year lower-income countries are missing an estimated $97 billion in funding needed to meet their SDG 4 targets. Even in the unlikely event that donor countries meet long-established aid benchmarks, funds would cover only around one-third of the shortfall.
Earlier this year our co-founders Malala and Ziauddin Yousafzai visited Nigeria, where the number of out-of-school children is rising as the population increases. Under pressure to service the national debt, the government sacrifices investment in education. Additionally the country loses $554 million a year to global tax abuse. Persistent government underfunding of education results in households shouldering 72% of total education spending. Families facing stretched finances often pull girls out of school first, largely due to deep-seated gender inequalities.
Similar dynamics are repeated in other lower-income countries, leaving education severely underfunded and girls on the sidelines. Each year lower-income countries lose $47 billion to tax abuse by wealthy corporations and individuals, equivalent to 22% of their education budgets according to our estimates.
Changes in global tax rules hold promise for education
Governments need to increase investment in education to fulfill their commitments to girls. Global tax reform can help achieve this by generating more funds for national budgets and reducing the need for governments to take out loans to invest in education, which can have punishing interest rates. At this year’s UNGA, leaders will debate and choose from three options to shift the control of global tax rules from a few wealthy countries to all UN Member States — a move that African governments and activists have consistently called for in the last 20 years.
Governments’ agreement to a legally binding framework convention on international tax cooperation would establish a fairer global tax arrangement, helping free up funds for education and other public services that girls and women depend on. More importantly, this transformative step is within reach. The framework nature of the convention leaves enough space for governments to work out the details over the coming months — meaning governments could achieve consensus on the broad approach to shifting power as early as next week.
Stronger, united movements drive real change
A breakthrough on fairer global tax governance at UNGA will be testament to an unrelenting global movement for tax justice over the past 15 years. As we reflect on our own work with education activists, we see firsthand the power of such collective action to drive change. As we enter the second half of the SDGs, we need to build and strengthen united, diverse movements to hold governments accountable for bringing girls off the sidelines.
In the margins of UNGA, we will convene girls’ rights, gender equality and economic justice organisations to set out an agenda for wider global financing reform that supports girls’ rights through mobilising more education funding. We will also join others who are pushing back against the weakening international consensus on gender equality that threatens further progress on girls’ education.
According to our own analysis, 232 million girls live in countries where governments are taking inadequate steps towards more gender-equal education. At this year’s UNGA, girls don’t need another “talking shop” — they need change. Change is possible if countries agree to challenge the status quo: reform the global tax system and heed the call of united movements for girl’s rights, gender equality and economic justice.
