Global Education Meeting
In line with the Education 2030 Framework for Action, UNESCO convenes periodic Global Education Meetings (GEMs) aligned with the meeting schedule of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The first ordinary GEM was held in 2018 in Brussels, Belgium, in preparation for the 2019 HLPF, which reviewed progress on SDG4.
The 2020 GEM was convened on an exceptional basis to exhort the highest-level political commitment to protect education as a catalytic force for the COVID-19 recovery and sustainable development.
The 2021 GEM consisted of a Ministerial Segment aligned with the 2021 HLPF in July and a High-Level Segment aligned with the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference in November, paving the way for strengthened global education cooperation.
Global Education Meeting 2024
The next Global Education Meeting will be held in 2024, in person.
We will be sharing more information soon. Please visit this page for updates.
Global Education Meeting 2021
The 2021 GEM was conducted with a Ministerial Segment aligned with the 2021 HLPF in July and a High-Level Segment aligned with the 41st Session of the UNESCO General Conference in November. With the SDG-Education 2030 agenda’s midpoint in sight, countries and the international community face the pressing need to transform the way we work—at the global level, it is critical to create an enabling environment to allow accelerated progress toward SDG4, leveraging the partnerships, innovations, and lessons learned gained from the COVID-19 response and recovery action in the past year and a half.
At the 2021 GEM High-Level Segment in November, co-hosted by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and French President Emmanuel Macron, the implementation and fulfillment of the 2020 GEM commitments were reviewed and the strengthened SDG4 Steering Committee was officially launched. The exchanges during GEM also led to the adoption of the Paris Declaration on Education.
Read about GEM 2021 Ministerial Segment
Read about GEM 2021 High-Level Segment
Read about Paris Declaration: a Global Call for Investing in the Futures of Education
Global Education Meeting 2020 (extraordinary session)
UNESCO convened an extraordinary session of the Global Education Meeting (2020 GEM) online on 20 and 22 October 2020, co-hosted by the Governments of Ghana, Norway and the United Kingdom. The 2020 GEM provided a unique platform for exchange among high-level political leaders, policy makers and global education actors to protect and rethink education in the current and post-COVID-19 world and agree on global priority actions for educational recovery and progress in the Decade of Action for Sustainable Development.
Read about GEM 2020.
Global Education Meeting 2018
The first Global Education Meeting was held in Brussels, Belgium from 3 to 5 December 2018. The Global Meeting was convened by UNESCO in its mandated role as lead agency and coordinator of the Education 2030 Agenda, with the kind support of the Government of Belgium. The Meeting reviewed progress towards the global education targets and commitments in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Read about GEM 2018.
Visit GEM 2018 webpage.