In 2025, GPE and its partners continued to turn shared commitments into progress - working together to strengthen education systems and expand opportunities for children.

That’s why I end this year optimistic. Even at a time of constrained resources and competing priorities, education stands out as one of the smartest, most future-shaping investments we can make. It strengthens resilience, expands opportunity, and equips people to navigate a rapidly changing world.

For the second year in a row, GPE approved more than US$1 billion in grants to support country-led education reforms. This means our active portfolio has never been larger, with grants approaching $3.5 billion strengthening education systems across partner countries.

This makes 2025 a strong ending to GPE’s strategy for 2021-2025. Since 2021, GPE has supported better education for 372 million children, helped train 4.7 million teachers, and enabled nearly 10 million additional children to enroll in school.

Multiply Possibility

As GPE transitions toward its next strategic period, we marked a major milestone earlier this year. In September at the United Nations General Assembly, we launched our Multiply Possibility financing campaign with an ambitious goal: to raise US $5 billion for education, unlocking a further US $10 billion in co-financing and reaching a total of US $15 billion for children.

We are proud to have been joined in this effort by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as co-hosts of the campaign, brought together by a shared commitment that education must be at the heart of global development.

The campaign started strong, opening with more than $50 million in early pledges from foundations and philanthropists, later joined by Germany, the campaign’s first multiannual sovereign contribution of €45 million a year between 2027 and 2032.

The campaign comes at a global inflection point. The largest generation of young people in history is coming of age. A fully funded GPE would support the education of 750 million children across our more than 90 partner countries.

Each and every one of them carries potential. The potential to shape their own futures and contribute to their societies. But potential does not realize itself. It is shaped by the opportunities children are given - and the best chance we can give them is a seat in the classroom. Classrooms are where skills are built, opportunities are opened, and futures take shape.

That is why education is the engine of progress. Over recent decades, better education has been responsible for a large share of global poverty reduction, lifting millions out of hardship. For girls in particular, being in school delays child marriage, raises lifetime earnings, and drives wider gains for families and economies. And at a global level, education has been a central driver of economic growth - boosting incomes, productivity and long-term self-reliance.

Education is also one of the most powerful tools we have to build peace and stability. Even a single additional year of education can significantly reduce the risk of conflict, especially when girls and boys have equal access to quality learning. Education tackles the root causes of violence, strengthens social cohesion, and helps societies withstand shocks - from extremism to climate stress.

There’s a more positive vision of the world contained in every classroom. But to realize it we need partnership. It depends on the commitment of governments, donors, civil society, communities and educators working together toward a common goal. At a time of global uncertainty, this partnership is a source of optimism and resolve. Together, we are showing that progress is possible, and that with the right investment and collective action, the possibilities of this generation can be multiplied and realized.