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What is the Canadian Global Campaign for Education Alliance?

The CGCE was created on December 1, 2004 as a broad-based coalition of non-governmental organisations, teachers unions, religious based development groups, Canadian educational advocacy organisations and Canadian research organisations with an interest in promoting the universal right to education.

The Canadian GCE is a member of the Global Campaign for Education, an international coalition that brings together national and regional coalitions of NGOs and citizen organisations to advocate for education for all.

Canadians believe that good quality basic education is a universal right. The Canadian government has re-asserted its commitment to the achievement of Education for All. The reality, however, is that the world is still very far from achieving this goal. Civil society, in Canada and internationally, has an important role to play in the achievement of the right to education, through advocacy, monitoring, research and the support of citizens and their organisations.

For background information on the Canadian Global Campaign for Education, read the concept note here.
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What are the Goals of the Canadian GCE Alliance?

The Canadian GCE has three primary goals:

• To enhance Canadian commitment to the achievement of the universal right to education by raising public awareness, stimulating evidence-based dialogue, and demanding better funding and more effective approaches to this issue within our foreign policy agenda
  
• To support forms of research and policy dialogue that can encourage a sustained role for democratic engagement in the governance of education in developing countries
  
• To provide a forum for debate, information sharing and discussion among those Canadian civil society organisations which are active in efforts to achieve universal publicly-funded basic education in developing countries
  

Who are our members?

The CGCE is currently made up of 23 members and partner organizations with diverse expertise and interests. The CGCE is open to new membership. Please contact info@cgce.ca for more information.

The CGCE is governed by a steering committee which sets goals and approves activities. The steering committee is represented by members from the following organizations

Steering Committee Members

Other member and partner organizations include:

What is the Global Campaign for Education (GCE)?

As a global alliance working in over 150 countries, GCE represents a dynamic coalition of NGOs, teachers’ unions, trade unions, activists and other civil society organisations lobbying and advocating for the Education for All (EFA) goals.

The GCE was created in October 1999 by four international civil-society organisations: ActionAid, Education International, Oxfam International, and the Global March Against Child Labour. GCE has since steadily grown, and its present official membership includes about 25 international and regional organisations, and about 34 national coalitions. GCE’s organisational structure consists of a 12-person Board, elected every two years, and a permanent secretariat office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

What does GCE do?

GCE’s core belief is that free, quality education is a basic right and a public responsibility and their mission is to hold Northern and Southern governments and multilateral agencies accountable for delivering on all six EFA goals. This is done by building up strong national coalitions and strengthening civil society advocacy capacity, working closely with regional networks in Asia, Africa and Latin America and pressuring governments and the international community to provide the resources and commitment needed to achieve the EFA goals. GCE was also instrumental in initiating the World Bank hosted Fast-track Initiative, which promises funding to all viable national education plans for basic education.

As a broad-based global coalition of Northern and Southern partners, GCE has successfully, through their systematic lobbying and advocacy, raised the profile of EFA on the international political agenda. The coalition has also given a more cohesive, coherent voice to civil society at the International level. GCE is represented by its members or staff in influential forums such as:

• UNESCO High Level group on EFA
• UN Girls' Education Initiative Global Advisory Committee
• EFA Fast Track Initiative Partners'Forum
• World Economic Forum Global Governance Initiative
• UN Millennium Taskforce on Education and Gender
• International Facilitation Group of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty

What is the Global Action Week?

Each year the Global Campaign for Education holds a Global Action Week to mobilize public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfill their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people. It commemorates the anniversary of the Dakar conference, where 164 countries committed themselves to these promises, known as the Education for All (EFA) goals.

During Global Action Week Canadian children are linked to a world-wide movement through learning and activities which allow them to share and exchange information and experiences. Global Action Week grows every year, with millions of participants in 120 countries participating during 2006. The 2007 Global Action Week campaign is EDUCATION RIGHTS NOW! JOIN UP! Activities will culminate during Global Action Week April 23-29th. Click here to find out more about the 2007 campaign, and previous campaigns.

To read more about the GCE, link here to their website: Global Campaign for Education

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