Led by the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance has just published a comprehensive review of the global financial governance and new ways to deliver on the world’s important global economic and social objectives, including the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

The newly released report draws attention to the gaps in the international financial architecture and the importance of addressing them without creating parallel structures that could duplicate international efforts. The review focuses on approaches that integrate additional resources with the core operations of multilateral development banks (MDBs).

The International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd) is one of the two examples highlighted in the report. The Facility is described as a new initiative targeted at strengthening MDBs’ financing for lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) as they lose access to concessional financing.

Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the Education Commission – the body which is putting forward this new global education fund – welcomed the report’s supportive comments and said:

“There is growing recognition that the gaps in the international financial architecture need to be met with innovative measures. This new finance facility will help generate $10 billion for education so we can address the plight of the world’s 260 million out-of-school children and the 800 million who leave education for good with no qualifications.”

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