9 July 2015: Participants at the Oslo Summit on Education for Development issued a Declaration that calls for the establishment of an International Commission on the Financing of Global Education Opportunities. The Commission will identify ways to increase and invigorate the case for investment in education and will present a report and recommendations to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2016.

“Education is a human right…a catalyst for job creation, economic growth, healthier lives and gender equality. Education is a prerequisite for sustainable development and poverty eradication,” states the Oslo Declaration. It declares that financing of education is fundamental for realizing sustainable development and calls for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) to commit to scaling up investments and international cooperation for education.

Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, announced the group’s establishment at the Summit on 7 July. Solberg will serve as one of five conveners of the Commission alongside President Michelle Bachelet, Chile, President Joko Widodo, Indonesia, President Peter Mutharika, Malawi, and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova. The UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, will chair the Commission, which is expected to be composed of leaders and experts.

“Education is one the most powerful catalysts for development, serving as a bridge from poverty to prosperity, from exclusion to participation,” stressed Bokova. She explained that achieving the post-2015 development agenda on education will require political will, sufficient domestic resources and donor support. Bokova further outlined the Commission’s role in making the case for such funding.

The Commission will explore how to reverse current underfunding in education and will aim to identify ways to deploy resources in more accountable, effective and coordinated ways, including through innovative finance, non-traditional partnerships, more strategic official development assistance (ODA), increased domestic resource mobilization (DRM) and private sector investment.

The Summit convened from 6-7 July in Oslo, Norway. [UNESCO Press Release on Commission] [Oslo Declaration] [Summit Website] [UNESCO Press Release on Education Side Event at FfD Conference]