It took bruising personalities, dogged ambition and a lucky convergence of political will. But a year after the idea was raised, U.N. special envoy for global education, Gordon Brown, announced the launch of a $4 billion fund at last week’s World Humanitarian Summit. The fund aims to provide education to the 75 million children worldwide who are now living in conflict zones and fragile states.

The Education Cannot Wait fund was among the more concrete initiatives to emerge from the summit and may also prove a test case for many of the broader questions raised there. It will be one of just a few examples where there is a merging humanitarian and development priorities. The fund draws together the United Nations, national governments, international and local nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. Its grants will be flexible and lengthy.

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