Friends Lynette, Juliet, Jemimah & Florence rest during break time at catch up club in Wakiso, Uganda.

protecting funding for global education

Recent cuts to the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will have devastating consequences for the fight against global poverty. Funding for education around the world is at particular risk. The UK’s global education funding has seen a decade of falling prioritisation and is further at risk from the recent ODA cuts. With an immense funding gap and important replenishments for multilateral education funds coming up in 2026, it is imperative that the UK protects funding for education, and also takes urgent steps to support reforms that will enable countries to fund their development priorities, including global tax and finance reform and debt relief.

what

global education is falling off the UK’s agenda, and must be protected amid cuts to the ODA budget

who

the UK Government must make education one of its priorities for remaining funding for international development

how

ask your MP to take action to protect and reprioritise funding for global education

challenges to education spending

Globally, education has faced decades of inadequate funding, with substantial gaps in countries’ education budgets and in external support from donors to meet agreed commitments. There is an approximately US $100 billion annual shortfall to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality education) by 2030. Chronic under-investment has been a major barrier to ensuring children learn even the most basic skills they need to grow and thrive. Since the SDGs were agreed in 2015, the rate of out-of-school children has only gone down by 1%. Today, only 1 in 5 African children can read with understanding and demonstrate basic proficiency in maths by the end of primary school.

The UK has long been a vocal champion of education. Yet UK funding for global education has dramatically declined in priority in the last decade. With impending cuts to the ODA budget and the absence of education in the list of priorities the Government has announced so far, it is critical that the Government is persuaded to give education the priority it deserves as a catalyst for achieving the SDGs.

ODA has never been enough to fund global spending priorities like education. But while lower-income countries have been making progress on increasing their public education funding, their budgets are constrained by low tax revenues, unsustainable debt, and austerity that make it difficult to close this gap. As the UK makes cuts to ODA, it has the responsibility to be ambitious in supporting the reforms needed to address these issues in the long-term.

the UK’s role in supporting global education

The UK has a critical role to play in closing the education funding gap. While the UK has long been a vocal champion for global education, particularly for girls, it has fallen away from the international benchmark of 15% of ODA for global education over the past decade. As a proportion of bilateral ODA, education spending has declined from 13.5% in 2013 to just 3.5% in 2023. The UK has ranked a disappointing 25th in its prioritisation of education.

In 2026, two important multilateral funds that support education around the world, the Global Partnership for Education, and Education Cannot Wait, will run out of money and need additional funding from international donors. The UK is one of the largest donors to both funds, and it is important that funding is made available for these.

The UK’s spending by education level has also changed, with money shifting away from basic education and toward higher education, despite declarations that foundational learning is a key priority. Because the poorest children are the most likely not to complete primary school and gain basic foundational skills, it is critical that funding matches the UK’s commitments to foundational learning.

Beyond ODA, the UK is uniquely positioned to push for global reforms called for by African governments that would support lower-income countries to raise more progressive tax and free them from unsustainable debt. Enabling the growth of domestic public budgets is the best way to solve the education financing gap.

The UK has recently stated its support for reforms to international finance rules that unfairly constrain public budgets in low-and middle-income countries, but needs to be more ambitious to enable them to adequately fund their own education systems.

how you can help

Results UK is joining members of the Send My Friend to School campaign to launch a new campaign, “Invest in My Friends’ Learning”, calling on the UK Government to restore the percentage of UK ODA given to education in line with international benchmarks, to ensure that the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait are fully funded, and to support reforms enabling the growth of domestic education spending in low- and middle-income countries.
Please help us share these recommendations with Parliamentarians! MPs have an important role in influencing the UK Government to make these changes. You can help by:
- Sharing Send My Friend’s ‘Invest in My Friends’ Learning’ briefing and MP briefing with your MP.
- Making the case to your MP for why funding is important for foundational learning, ensuring every child has the basic skills they need to thrive. Use any personal stories to explain why you care about this issue, which will make your letter stand out!
- Ask your MP to write to the new Minister for International Development, Baroness Chapman, to let her know that global education must be a priority.
Read our advice on writing to your MP, and find out information about your MP’s including their contact details here.

how Results campaigners have supported global education

For many years, Results grassroots advocates have campaigned for global education, for example, helping to gain resources from the UK for the Global Partnership for Education in 2021 and Education Cannot Wait (ensuring education in humanitarian emergencies) in 2023.

Results is also a member of the Send My Friend to School campaign, a coalition that advocates toward the UK Government and works with schools and children in the UK to promote the right to education globally.

take action!

write to your MP about the need to reverse the decline in funding for education globally

Share our briefing with your MP and ask them to write to the Government

I took action!

we’re here to support you!

If you have any questions or need support or advice in writing your letter, please contact Naveed Chaudhri, Head of Campaigns, at [email protected].

catch-up clubs in Uganda

Catch-up Clubs are classes based on ‘TARL’ (‘Teaching at the Right Level’) which target instruction based on students’ knowledge to catch them up to their grade level. Funding for these clubs is an important way of ensuring that children who have had their learning disrupted have the foundational skills in reading they need to continue their education. “I like this club so much. I have learned so much more about how to write, create sentences and read stories. My favourite book so far is Tinto Goes Swimming”, said Ziipe, aged 11, who attends a Catch-up Club in a refugee settlement in western Uganda.

For more information, read: Save the Children (2023) The Price of Hope

Credit: Esther Ruth Mbabazi / Save The Children