Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALSEstimating the cost of achieving Education for Allmiddle-income countries, and between differentlevels of education, full delivery of the 2005commitments would leave a deficit of US$11 billion(Figure 2.49). That scenario points to the case foran urgent reassessment of aid commitmentsand distribution patterns. With an internationalsummit on the Millennium Development Goalsplanned for 2010, donors should as a matter ofurgency convene a pledging conference to closethe Education for All financing gap.ConclusionThe limitations and uncertainties associatedwith global financial costing models have to beacknowledged. Yet the results of the exerciseset out here provide a clear warning sign. In theabsence of an urgent, concerted effort to makenew and additional resources available foreducation, there is little prospect of the world’spoorest countries getting on track to meet the 2015targets. If the policy goal is to ensure that all theworld’s primary school age children are ineducation systems by 2015, the investment cannotbe delayed. The global costing exercise underlinesthe importance of low-income developing countriesand donors doing far more. However, the roleof donors is critical because governments inthe poorest countries lack the resources toclose the Education for All financing gap.131