Funding plan to help millions into school gets a boost from Europe

A funding initiative that will get millions of children into school in developing countries is gathering strong support in Europe.

100,000 people in Germany and the Netherlands have added their names to a petition backing the International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd).

The bold plan will unlock $10 billion of funding each year and the G20 summit of world leaders, held in Germany last year, made a landmark commitment to act on it by the end of 2018. 

More than 1.5 million signatures backing IFFEd were handed in last month to the United Nations by three of Theirworld’s Global Youth Ambassadors.

Now 67,000 people in Germany and 23,000 in the Netherlands have signed an IFFEd petition hosted by the campaigning website Avaaz. They have become part of the growing campaign to ensure the big idea that could help to deliver quality education for every child becomes a reality.

Singer Shakira has also been gathering support during the European leg of her world tour. On the day of her concert in Antwerp, Belgium, she used our hashtag #MakeImpossiblePossible to urge her fans to sign Theirworld’s IFFEd petition.

On Twitter and Facebook, Shakira said: 

Great to be in Europe for #ElDoradoWorldTour during #EDD18. We need all countries to back the Education Finance Facility to #MakeImpossiblePossible & get every child in school. Sign today if you want leaders to back this plan for universal education ✍️ https://t.co/UzwxBBA3uL

— Shakira (@shakira) June 7, 2018

She appealed to fans again in Germany when she paid tribute to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s support for IFFED.

Hallo Deutschland 🇩🇪 Last year Germany led commitments to #FundEducation at the G20. I hope Angela Merkel continues this trend by backing the new education financing facility to #MakeImpossiblePossible for millions of children. https://t.co/UzwxBBA3uL

— Shakira (@shakira) June 17, 2018

Shakira has been a leading figure in the campaign to tackle the global education crisis – there are more than 260 million children and youth out of school – and get some of the most marginalised children into classrooms.

She delivered an inspirational message to the world’s most powerful leaders on the eve of last year’s G20 summit in Germany. At the Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg, she stood on the stage beside Gordon Brown – the UN Special Envoy for Global Education – and said IFFEd had to become a reality.

Shakira is a member of the influential Education Commission that proposed IFFEd. The commission believes it can succeed in the same way that a new funding approach in the 2000s helped to ensure that massive vaccination schemes saved the lives of millions of children.