“As illiterate young women have more children, average per capita income falls, and those children, having also missed out on an education, must increasingly migrate in search of opportunities elsewhere”

school is the most effective way to keep them free from exploitation, forced labour, trafficking, and child marriage. Moreover, whereas educated women bear an average of two children, the average for uneducated women is five. This higher birth rate for uneducated women creates a vicious cycle. As illiterate young women have more children, average per capita income falls, and those children, having also missed out on an education, must increasingly migrate in search of opportunities elsewhere.

And yet, despite all of the good work being done by multilateral organisations such as the Global Partnership for Education and the new Education Cannot Wait Fund, total education aid has fallen in recent years. From 2010 to today, total funding for education in low- and lower-middle-income countries from bilateral aid and international donors fell from a paltry $10 per child to $8 per child. That is barely enough to pay for the cheapest textbook, let alone teachers and school buildings. Worse still, in response to recent pleas for education aid in conflict zones such as Chad, South Sudan and Gambia, just 2% of the requested sum was raised.

As a result, by 2030, a majority of school-age teenagers in certain countries could be out of school and on the streets. Having been deprived of a curriculum that teaches them valuable skills and respect for different viewpoints, they will become ever more vulnerable to extremist groups that are counting on the West not to keep its promises.

The IFFEd is being launched with a challenge not only to