Push to finance early childhood education: Global summit countdown begins
Leaders from around the world will gather in London next summer to drive new action and investment in the youngest children and their families.
The countdown to the first-ever Global Early Years Finance Summit began with a special launch event held during the United Nations General Assembly. The venue and dates - June 2 and 3, 2027 - were officially announced by the Act For Early Years campaign.
You can find out more about the Summit here.
The historic summit will be held during the UK’s presidency of the G20 and co-hosted with the Government of Jordan. The country-led Summit will support countries and cities to accelerate progress towards their own priorities for the early years by developing practical, measurable commitments and mobilising investment backed by domestic resources and international partnerships.
Education International is an active partner of the Act For Early Years campaign, and speaking on the announcement our Deputy General Secretary, Cassandra Hallett, said:
“Investment in the early years must start with the workforce. Across the world, women make up the overwhelming majority of early childhood educators, yet – too often – the work they do remains undervalued, underpaid, and underfunded. This is not inevitable. If governments want quality, universal early years services, they must make the choice to invest in the workers who deliver them, through decent work, professional recognition, and sustainable public financing.”
Hallett added: “The Global Early Years Finance Summit is an important opportunity to put the workforce at the heart of investment commitments and ensure that workers and their unions have a meaningful voice in shaping them.”
Why is the summit being held?
The early years lay the foundations for lifelong health, learning, and wellbeing. Yet millions of children and families around the world still lack access to quality early years services and support.
Investing in the early years helps governments advance a range of social and economic priorities, including foundational learning, health and nutrition, gender equity and poverty reduction.
But investment in early years services must also mean investment in the people who deliver them. Quality early childhood education depends on a qualified, well supported, fully resourced and highly valued workforce. This means investing in the recruitment and retention of teachers and education support personnel, as well as their professional development, pay, working conditions, and professional status.
This is particularly important in a highly feminised sector, where the undervaluing of early childhood education is closely connected to wider gender inequalities. Raising the status of the workforce and ensuring decent working conditions is therefore an essential part of advancing gender equity.
For education unions, this is part of the Go Public! Fund Education global campaign, a wider call to governments to ensure sustainable public financing for quality public education and invest in the teachers and education personnel who make quality education possible.
The summit will bring together partners to accelerate progress towards their own early years goals. It will focus on practical, financed commitments that can be implemented and tracked through to 2030.
The event will focus on practical investments to improve children’s lives while helping governments deliver wider economic and social goals, including:
- Universal access to quality primary health care in support of health, wellbeing, nutrition and development across pregnancy, birth, and early childhood.
- Universal access to quality, inclusive preschool education and learning
- Universal support for families including affordable and quality childcare, child benefits and parent and caregiver support.
A country-led approach also means that those who deliver early years services must have a meaningful voice in shaping them. Engaging teachers, education personnel, and their organisations through social dialogue will be essential to developing realistic, sustainable commitments that can deliver quality services for children and families.
Where and when will it be held?
The summit will be held in London on June 2 and 3, 2027. That will be strategically at the midpoint of the United Kingdom's Presidency of the G20, the forum for the world’s major economies. This will continue the impressive early years momentum from the recent G20 presidencies of Brazil and South Africa.
Who will be there?
Hundreds of leaders from all walks of life. They will include government ministers, city mayors, international organisations, education unions, development finance institutions, philanthropies, business leaders and civil society representatives.
The summit is co-hosted with the Government of Jordan and supported by the Act For Early Years partners including Education International, UNICEF, UNESCO, the World Bank, Theirworld, and the LEGO Foundation.
More information about EI’s work on early childhood education is available here and you can find out more about the Global Early Years Finance Summit and the wider Act For Early Years campaign on the campaign’s website.
