Functional Area Committees

Promote evidence-based policy formulation and implementation

• Technical Leads: OECD and UNESCO
• Focal Sherpas: Latvia and Jacobs Foundation
• Technical Committee members:
  • African Union Commission (AUC)
  • Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO)
  • Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI)
  • Council of Europe
  • European Commission
  • Global Campaign for Education (GCE)
  • Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE)
  • Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO)
  • UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
  • United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
  • World Bank
  • Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
  • Building Evidence in Education (BE2)
  • Network for International Policies and Cooperation in Education and Training (NORRAG)
  • Yemen.

The overall objective of Functional Area 1 is to strengthen the institutional capacities of education authorities to use data and evidence for policy, planning and implementation.

This objective is partly derived from the one of the core problems identified in an strategic review conducted by NORRAG in 2022, which found that limited use of globally produced evidence in policy, planning and implementation at the country level is due to two broken feedback loops: (a) between researchers and decision makers and (b) between global and local levels.

The review made three recommendations. These recommendations have been developed as the basis for setting Functional Area 1’s strategic objectives, which are as follows:

1. Increase the accessibility of locally relevant research and evidence syntheses and support governments in using data and evidence for policy making, planning and implementation, particularly for countries furthest behind in respect of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4.
2. Build knowledge and policy bridges between global and country levels through support to regional hubs, cooperation, peer learning and knowledge sharing.
3. Advocate and support country-level uptake and use of evidence for education policy making, planning and implementation, particularly for countries furthest behind in respect of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Monitor progress and improve the availability/use of data

• Technical Leads: UNESCO Institute for Statistics and Global Education Monitoring Report
• Focal Sherpas: Saudi Arabia and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
• Technical Committee members: (chairs of the TCG working groups)
  • Gambia (administrative data)
  • Brazil (household survey data)
  • OECD (teacher data)
  • SEAMEO (finance data)
  • (RTI) (learning assessment data)

Functional Area 2’s overall objectives are i) to improve the availability of timely and accurate data on Sustainable Development Goal 4 indicators, with emphasis on the subset of benchmark indicators and ii) to improve the reporting and increase the use of such data to monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4, strengthen accountability, and inform action.

Functional Area 2 has identified five priority strategies:

1. Improve data accessibility through the Global Education Observatory
2. Identify and reduce data gaps on Sustainable Development Goal 4
3. Strengthen country participation in Technical Cooperation Group processes
4. Continue efforts to develop national Sustainable Development Goal 4 benchmarks
5. Monitor the Global Education Cooperation Mechanism’s Thematic focus areas

Drive financing mobilization and improved alignment

• Technical Leads: World Bank and Global Partnership for Education 
• Focal Sherpas: African Union Commission (AUC) and Romania
• Technical Committee members:
  • Bangladesh - MFA
  • Education Cannot Wait
  • Education International
  • European Commission
  • France - MoE
  • ActionAid International
  • GEF Secretariat
  • Ghana - MoE
  • Global Campaign for Education
  • FCDO UK (Donor Representative)
  • IMF
  • OECD
  • Open Society Foundations (OSF)
  • UNESCO
  • UNICEF
  • Brazil - MFA
  • Education Outcomes Fund (EOF)
  • UNESCO IIEP

The core objective of Functional Area 3 is to support the coordination of global actors, mobilizing greater and more diversified levels of equitable and efficient financing to education, aimed at achieving impact at country level.

Improving the efficacy of domestic financing and international support can be transformative but requires coordinated, participatory and targeted actions at global level to positively impact country financing targets. The comparative advantage of global-level mechanisms such as the Global Cooperation Mechanism is to provide an overview of the opportunities where actors can better align resources to maximize gains, or gaps where actors can be better coordinated for concerted action in support of progress at country level.

Functional Area 3 partners are working together to identify where existing and additional resources can be combined to address identified gaps in the following 3 types of activities:

• Advocacy: Ensure that the case for education financing has a stronger voice in national and global discussions to mobilize greater domestic and international resources including the pursuit of alternative / innovative sources of finance.
• Technical support: Support the design and use of public goods for strengthening country capacities to devise sound education sector financing strategies that support the implementation of nationally agreed outcome targets in policy frameworks
• Data, Evidence and Knowledge: Promote better evidence and data on education financing and their use; seek cross-country peer learning opportunities.