Wednesday, September 23, at the ECOSOC Chamber of the United Nations Headquarters, Multiply Possibility was held: In New Era for Education Financing, the high-level event co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of Italy and Nigeria at the United Nations together with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the international organization that supports school systems in over ninety low and medium-income countries. The event marks a stage in the Multiply Possibility campaign, which aims to mobilize five billion dollars for the refinancing cycle of the GPE 2026-2030, as well as another ten billion co-financing, to improve the education of almost 750 million children in the world.
To open the event was the Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, who co-chaired the conference together with the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Kashim Shettima. “It’s a great honor to co-host this event with Nigeria,” said Tajani, calling it a symbolic moment and a strong political message: “Education remains the most powerful investment we can make in development. More education means less conflicts and wars, more peace, growth and cooperation.”.
Tajani has announced the doubling of the Italian contribution to GPE, from 25 to 50 million euros, with a stated focus on Africa and female education, defining education “a priority of Italian foreign policy in Africa, the Mediterranean and the world”.
The Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara, together with the Nigerian counterpart, took part in the co-chair of the event. Valditara recalled that Italy was, in 2024, the first G7 country to dedicate a ministerial meeting to education as a motor of social and economic development, with the involvement of the African Union. He reiterated the importance of involving young people in discussions on global funding for education, explaining that he invited representatives of Italian students to New York, an initiative launched at the G20 in South Africa in October 2025 and reiterated at UNESCO last July: “We must listen to young people: they are our present and our future. It is for them that we want to multiply the possibilities.”.
Valditara cited some data on the global educational crisis: the loss of productivity linked to lack of education is estimated at $3,300 billion a year, 270 million children and boys are out of the school system in the world, and 70% of primary school students in low-income countries cannot read a simple text in their native language. He defined the shortage of teachers “incoming tsunami”: by 2030 44 million teachers will miss in the world, 15 million only in sub-Saharan Africa.
L’articolo Multiply Possibility, at UN Italia and Nigeria lead the global education refinancing campaign proviene da IlNewyorkese.
