The third meeting of the SDG-Education 2030 Steering Committee was organized in New York on 29-30 June 2017 back to back with the High Level SDG Action Event on Education, convened by Peter Thompson, President of the UN General Assembly (PGA).

The PGA event provided an opportunity to highlight the growing synergy around the implementation of SDG 4 and to raise awareness about the opportunities and obstacles for achieving universal access to quality education. It focused on: more and better financing; innovation in teaching and learning; Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Global Citizenship Education (GCED); and Education in post-conflict and disaster-affected countries. Throughout the event, representatives from Ministries of Education and education advocates shared experiences and put forward strategies to achieve SDG4.

At the Steering Committee meeting the members examined successes and challenges in the implementation of SDG4 since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda. The gathering highlighted the critical role of regional organizations as policy peer learning mechanisms in enhancing effective implementation of SDG4-Education 2030. 

Recommendations for improved implementation

During this third global meeting, the Steering Committee endorsed a set of recommendations for improved implementation of SDG4 in 2018 and 2019.

The Steering Committee endorsed specific messages and actions including strengthening of national ownership of the SDG 4 targets and commitments, coordination and national implementation efforts as well as national and sub-national capacities on monitoring and evaluation and the use of data.

It affirmed calls for increased domestic financing, improving financing data, strengthening ODA (bi-lateral and multilateral aid), and support for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) replenishment and increased finances for the Education Cannot Wait Fund.

The Steering Committee provided an update on the development of global frameworks to monitor the SDGs and SDG4 including: IAEG; the UN Statistical Commission; the Technical Cooperation Group; the Global Alliance to Monitor Learning; and the UN reporting process through the High-level Political Forum (HLPF).  It went on to review follow-up actions to the 2016 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report recommendations.

It also examined the criteria and issues to be considered for the possible prioritization of indicators and the development of a global lead indicator for education. In doing so, the Committee deliberated on the issue of benchmarking and thresholds for global education indicators.

The SDG-Education Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is an inclusive high-level multi-stakeholder partnership, the SDG-Education 2030 Steering Committee provides a global forum for consultation and a mechanism to coordinate and harmonize global education efforts. It is mandated to provide strategic guidance to Member States and the education community, make recommendations for catalytic action, advocate for adequate financing, and monitor progress toward SDG4 targets through the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the Global Educational Monitoring (GEM) Report. 

Read the full report.