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For over a decade, Education International has warned that the World Bank's “ Billions to Trillions” agenda—a strategy to leverage small amounts of public money to attract private investment for development— would prioritize private profit over public need. We were dismissed as ideological, anti-market, unrealistic. Then came the evidence.

When economists like Larry Summers, former United States (US) Treasury Secretary, and N.K. Singh, former chairman of India's Finance Commission, reached the same conclusion in their 2023 G20-commissioned expert group report, the development finance establishment could no longer ignore the evidence. Their comprehensive analysis found that this seductive pledge to use public funds to unlock private investment had become exactly what we predicted: an extraction machine. Instead of "billions to trillions" flowing to development, they documented "millions in, billions out"—with 68 billion dollars more flowing out of poor countries than flowing in. It was, they concluded, a "disaster."

While the "billions to trillions" model promised efficiency through market mechanisms, it delivered extraction through debt mechanisms. While it pledged innovation through private competition, it produced stagnation through public austerity. While it offered partnership between public and private sectors, it created parasitism of private profit off public resources.

A system built to extract

This extractive disaster extends far beyond the World Bank's failed strategy. It represents the continuation of colonial financial architecture through modern mechanisms: IMF programs that force austerity on the Global South; bilateral creditors that impose political conditions on aid; private creditors that charge punitive interest rates; credit rating agencies that systematically downgrade African countries regardless of economic fundamentals; and a global tax system that allows multinational corporations to shift profits to tax havens while governments struggle to fund basic services. This system operates as a coordinated web of extraction, where each institution plays its role in ensuring that wealth flows from South to North, perpetuating the same colonial dynamics that have impoverished the Global South for centuries.

The consequences are stark. Less than one-fifth of the world's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on track for 2030, a spectacular miss that can be traced directly to the chronic underfunding of public services globally. The latest UNESCO data from June 2025 reveals the scale of this failure: the global out-of-school population has increased to 272 million children, demonstrating how the current financing system is failing even the most basic development commitments. Meanwhile, three-quarters of lower-income countries now spend more on servicing debt to wealthy creditors than on education or health care for their own people. With 54 developing countries allocating 10 percent, or more, of government revenues to interest payments, we have arrived at the grotesque spectacle of 3.3 billion human beings —nearly half the planet—living under governments that prioritize payments to bondholders over schools and hospitals. This is not the temporary disruption of a pandemic or the unfortunate byproduct of a recession; this is the predictable outcome of a development finance system that promised to harness private capital for public good, but instead created the most efficient wealth extraction machine the world has ever seen.

The Sevilla Commitment: decolonizing financing for development

The question now is whether world leaders will finally listen. The United Nations 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), taking place in Sevilla (Spain) from 30 June to 3 July, provides an opportunity for the international community to chart a fundamentally different course - one that breaks free from the colonial patterns of extraction that have defined development finance for decades. The Conference is a unique global space that brings together governments, international organizations, financial institutions, and civil society to reform development financing.

While the US has chosen to walk out of negotiations rather than challenge a system that serves Northern creditors over Southern development, 127 countries have endorsed the Compromiso de Sevilla —a comprehensive framework that places "public resources, policies and plans at the heart of efforts for a sustainable development investment drive."

The text's emphasis on domestic public resources, transparent public financial management, and strengthened public institutions signals the international community's recognition that private finance-led development has failed spectacularly. When countries commit to “continued reform of the international financial architecture, enhancing its resilience, coherence and effectiveness in responding to present and future challenges and crises”, while acknowledging a US$4 trillion annual financing gap, they are implicitly rejecting the notion that private capital can fill this void.

The declaration calls for multilateral development banks to "further increase and optimize annual lending capacity"—potentially tripling their output to US$300 billion annually while maintaining focus on sustainable development impact. This signals a return to public-led development that puts social outcomes before financial returns, challenging decades of market fundamentalism imposed on the Global South.

Yet for all its progressive language, the Compromiso de Sevilla remains largely aspirational. The document is filled with commitments to “encourage,” “support,” and “consider”, rather than the binding obligations and concrete mechanisms needed to challenge the fundamental architecture of extractive development finance. While countries commit to “scale up investment”, these pledges lack enforcement mechanisms, clear timelines, or accountability structures that would ensure implementation.

The declaration represents what could have been a transformative moment, had governments found the courage to move beyond diplomatic language to binding commitments. Instead, it offers a framework for change without the teeth to enforce it.

Education: a hard-won victory

Education International's advocacy secured explicit language in the Compromiso de Sevilla, with countries committing to support “adequate financing to ensure inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all.”

But, securing even this paragraph on education was an uphill battle throughout the negotiations. The reality is that, while education is universally valued in principle, it remains chronically underfunded in practice. The latest UNESCO SDG4 Scorecard reveals the accelerating scale of this crisis: the global out-of-school population has reached 272 million children and youth—21 million more than previous estimates. Progress since 2015 has been less than 1 percent, with countries already projected to be off-track by 75 million relative to their own national targets by 2025.

Half of lower-income countries still spend more on debt repayment than on public education. Teachers are undervalued, underpaid, and overworked and, as a consequence, the global teacher shortage—an alarming 44 million—grows with every year of neglect.

As Education International's recent research on decolonizing education demonstrates, "The education union movement is, at its core, a decolonial movement"—because we understand that the chronic underfunding of public education is inseparable from these broader patterns of colonial extraction. When teachers in our member unions across Africa, Asia, and Latin America report classes of over 80 students with no textbooks while their governments service debt to Northern creditors, we see the direct link between financial colonialism and educational injustice. The debt crisis is not a bug in the system—it is the feature that ensures wealth continues to flow from South to North.

From Sevilla to implementation

The vision outlined in Sevilla reflects a growing global movement. On UN Public Services Day, Education International joined over 30 civil society organizations in signing the "Financing a Public Future" statement—a declaration that authentic development financing must prioritize public investment over private profit, and democratic accountability over market fundamentalism. These principles are also embraced in the Compromiso de Sevilla, representing a clear rejection of decades of market-first policies. Now comes the critical test: turning declaration into delivery.

Declarations do not build schools. They do not train teachers, restore health systems, or provide clean water. Sevilla's framework provides the architecture for public-led development financing, but translating declaration into delivery requires sustained political will and practical mechanisms.

The declaration includes critical tools: strengthening tax systems, combating illicit financial flows, and enhancing debt transparency. Its call for "responsible sovereign borrowing and lending" principles provides a foundation for rejecting debt arrangements that prioritize creditor profits over public welfare. Crucially, the commitment to “engage constructively in the negotiations on a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation” represents a historic opportunity to finally ensure that multinational corporations pay their fair share. The UN tax convention negotiations, running until 2027, could establish the global tax justice framework essential for governments to raise revenues to fund rights and reduce inequality.

Education International will continue advocating for this public investment approach because we know that quality education systems, like all essential public services, require sustained public funding, professional, well-supported workers, and democratic accountability. None of these emerge from profit-driven private schemes.

The question now is whether this choice can be sustained in the face of inevitable pressure from those who profit from the current system. Sevilla has shown the way forward—towards public investment, tax justice, and democratic accountability. Now comes the harder task: making that choice stick through binding commitments, concrete mechanisms, and the political will to challenge extraction wherever it occurs. It's time to Go Public.