The Global Education Initiative (GEI) 2010 Year Review and Outlook

Since 2003, the Global Education Initiative (GEI) has been engaging leaders from business, government, academia, international organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations to effect positive, sustainable and scalable changes in education at global and regional levels with a focus on innovation, quality and relevance. The GEI’s open, multistakeholder approach to education advancement has proven to be a resilient and creative backdrop for the multiple workstreams that constitute the initiative as it moves into its eighth year of existence. Ranging from country initiatives in Jordan, Palestine, Rajasthan (India), Egypt and Rwanda in its formative years, the scope of the GEI has extended to include a formal collaboration with UNESCO (Partnerships for Education), the Global Agenda Council on Education and a significant focus in 2010/11 on Entrepreneurship Education. Although there is evidence of increased access to basic education (as measured by the Millennium Development Goals on Education) the world is facing a global crisis in quality education that requires urgent action and coordinated efforts to reboot education systems worldwide. While GEI activity has led to positive advancements in all of its constituent workstreams, it is the latter that has constituted the main activity focus for 2010, which once again reinforces education as a key driver for growth, economic development and the advancement of societies.