Human well-being and capabilities, social justice Strengthening education for reflected action on sustainable development: the Global Partnership for Education, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and bilateral cooperation in vocational education

The German Government’s main vehicle for promoting basic education in partner countries is multilateral cooperation: with its contribution, amounting to 321 million euros (2021-2026), to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) (External link), Germany supports efforts to strengthen education systems in around 90 countries through a holistic approach.

From the start of the strategic phase in 2021 until 2024, the GPE reached 253 million children – almost 40 per cent of all school-age children in these countries. During the process of developing GPE’s strategic plan for 2021-2025, the German Government advocated for more gender justice and the establishment of a dedicated funding mechanism for girls’ education, known as the Girls’ Education Accelerator (External link).

Germany also supports Education Cannot Wait (ECW) (External link), which funds education in emergencies and protracted crises. Germany is the fund’s largest donor, contributing 328.8 million euros since 2017, and has co-chaired the Executive Committee in tandem with Norway since 2023.

Through ECW, the German Government has made a core contribution to strengthening education at the interface between humanitarian assistance, development cooperation and peacebuilding.

In the vocational education sector, partner countries have shown very considerable and growing interest in cooperation for many years. In two thirds of the partner countries, vocational training is a priority area of bilateral development cooperation. Germany’s efforts are primarily aimed at developing and strengthening vocational education systems, with a particular focus on gender equality and building skills for a just transition to a green economy.