Education key to eliminating poverty

By TONY BLAIR, GORDON BROWN and HILARY BENN
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
This time last year, a remarkable campaign involving millions of people was reaching its climax. The aim was to press world leaders meeting at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, into decisive action on global poverty.
Thanks in no small part to the weight of public opinion behind the ONE Campaign to make poverty history and Live 8, the international community listened and acted. World leaders at Gleneagles agreed to double aid, write off debts, train peacekeepers, make AIDS drugs available to all, and help poor countries achieve free universal primary education and access to basic health care.
It was a remarkable result in which millions of people can take pride. But that was just the first stage. With the G-8 due to meet soon in St. Petersburg, what progress has there been in the last year?
First, the good news. International aid increased by around 25 percent between 2004 and 2005 to more than $100 billion -- well on the way to the target of $130 billion by 2010. We will, in the next month, have canceled 100 percent of the debt of 20 of the poorest countries, a remarkable achievement.
Britain will meet its target to provide 0.7 percent of national income as aid by 2013. We have already met our target to provide $1.8 billion a year in aid to Africa and we are increasing steadily to reach $2.3 billion by 2007-08.
As a concrete example of what this achieves, Britain has committed to spend $15 billion in aid for education over the next 10 years -- our share of the extra money the world needs to educate the 100 million children who do not go to school. Twenty-two African countries are already preparing 10-year education plans. We will continue to press other donors to join us in committing their share of the money needed to implement these plans.
For $10 billion a year, every child in every continent could have teachers, books and classrooms. That's only $14 a year for each of us in the richest countries. And education is the single greatest investment we can make to ensure growth and economic development. It improves job chances and prosperity, promotes health and prevents disease.
Infectioin rates
Education is at the center of any successful strategy to turn back the tide of HIV and AIDS. For instance, infection rates among educated women in Zambia have declined, while remaining constant among those who have not received basic education. Put simply, implementation of an effective AIDS strategy is critical if a country wants to avert a devastating loss of teachers.
Nearly $4 billion was committed in 2005 to replenish the global fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. A special session of the United Nations this month agreed to fully fund all countries that put together credible, sustainable AIDS plans, as part of fulfilling the Gleneagles promise of universal access to AIDS treatment by 2010.
Britain is the second-largest funder of AIDS programs and we have committed to provide $2.75 billion between 2005 and 2008. Along with other European countries, we have launched the International Finance Facility for Immunization, which will save five million children from death between now and 2015.
So there is plenty in which to take pride. But, of course, there is more that we need to do. Trade is the one key element of the 2005 agenda where we have failed to make the progress we hoped and the deadline -- the end of this year -- is fast approaching.
And then there is the challenge of conflicts like Darfur. Last month a peace agreement was signed in Abuja. We need to use it and the new U.N. resolution to put pressure on all parties to stop the fighting and allow for a smooth handover to the United Nations when it takes over from the African Union later this year.
We are sure that there will be some who would like to have seen more progress, while others will question our assessment about what has happened over the last year. We welcome this. For just as public opinion played a huge role in ensuring we did not miss the historic opportunity to agree to major steps toward making poverty history in our world, so it must also ensure the international community delivers on its promises. Together we can make sure we don't fail the poorest on our planet.
Tony Blair is prime minister of Britain, Gordon Brown is chancellor of the Exchequer and Hilary Benn is secretary of state for international development. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.