“Education is about empowering people to determine their own destiny. That is why the opportunity to be educated is critical to human development, which is about enlarging people’s choices and freedoms.”
Helen Clark
UNDP Administrator
"Education is the key to bridging the gap between what you are and what you have the potential to become. We cannot deny the 58 million children currently not in school this opportunity. By the end of 2015 every child must be in school and learning"
Gordon Brown
UN Special Envoy for Global Education
“Quality Education for All is a fundamental right and an essential tool for conquering poverty, overcoming exclusion, combatting climate change and achieving truly sustainable development. With partnership, political will and wise investments in education first, we can transform individual lives, national economies and our world for the better."
BAN KI-MOON
UN Secretary General
"This Forum stands as a symbol of the international community’s resolve to place education firmly at the heart of the future sustainable development agenda, because it is a fundamental human right and the most powerful force for peace, inclusion and innovation. We have a tremendous responsibility towards young generations to close intolerable gaps in access to school, make education a path to empowerment, and create opportunities for everyone to learn throughout life because this is the only way to be on the right side of change."
IRINA BOKOVA
UNESCO Director-General
©UNHCR
“Education in humanitarian crises is not an optional extra. In the devastating context of global conflict and displacement, education gives hope to refugee children and youth to envision and build a secure future.” -
António Guterres
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
©UNICEF
“Education is the key to a better life for every child and the foundation of every strong society – but far too many children are still being left behind. To realize all our development goals, we need every child in school and learning.”
ANTHONY LAKE
Executive Director, UNICEF
“Education is not only the key to individual success and a social equalizer par excellence, but also the very foundation of a prosperous and growing economy. We owe all children in the developing world the chance to enroll in school and receive a quality education which prepares them to pursue further education and training, to do productive work, to support themselves and their families, and to develop a lifelong thirst for knowledge.”
JIM YONG KIM
President of the World Bank Group
"Education is not just about learning; It is about empowering all people, building peaceful societies and protecting our planet. Our future development agenda starts with education: this is the first step on the road to dignity by 2030"
AMINA J. MOHAMMED
Secretary-General's Special Advisor on Post 2015 Development Planning
“From childhood all the way through adulthood, every girl and every woman has the right to relevant and high-quality education and life-long learning”
PHUMZILE MLAMBO-NGCUKA
Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women
"The right to education is central to the exercise of all other human rights. Investing in education is the right thing to do, it enables young people to transition into decent work and empowers girls and young women to fulfil their dreams and aspirations for equality. Young people everywhere have the right to quality education, including comprehensive sexuality education. Together we can make it happen!"
BABATUNDE OSOTIMEHIN
UNFPA Executive Director

NGO Forum

As part of the World Education Forum 2015, the 2015 NGO Forum, 18-19 May, provided a space for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to meet among themselves and agree on a collective civil society vision for education post-2015 as well as reflect on strategies for civil society engagement in the post-2015 education agenda. 

The results of the NGO Forum were presented at the WEF 2015. 

The one and a half day NGO Forum consisted of an opening session, plenary sessions and parallel working group sessions. There was an open space where participants are presenting Education for All (EFA) related activities and publications. 

The NGO Forum was led by UNESCO, in close collaboration with the CCNGO/EFA Coordination Group, the WEF 2015 Host Committee and Korean education Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

Participation in the 2015 NGO Forum was by UNESCO’s invitation only, through the Collective Consultation of NGOs on EFA (CCNGO/EFA), a global network of 300 national, regional and international NGOs working on EFA.

Related links

Co-conveners