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As aid budgets come under pressure in the US and Europe, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is betting on the Gulf to help in its next funding drive. Laura Frigenti, the organization’s chief executive officer, told Semafor she expects Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to boost donations, and for Kuwait to back the 24-year-old Washington-based organization for the first time, as it aims to raise $5 billion over the next five years.
GPE is responding to shifts in the global development finance landscape, most notably the Trump administration’s closing of USAID and a critical shortfall in UN contributions. The organization works on programs in lower-income countries and aims to reach nearly 750 million children in 96 territories. In addition to grants, it plans to help recipient countries borrow around $10 billion for education programs by 2030 by tapping into private financing.
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“Traditionally, education and many social sectors in global development have always been funded by grants,” Frigenti said. The long-term investment in education — a minimum of 12 years per child — makes sustained donor support essential.
GPE has been engaging with Gulf countries to help plug its funding gap. In the previous cycle, the UAE pledged about $100 million, Saudi Arabia contributed $46 million, and Qatar provided around $20 million in grants — with additional funding from Doha targeting specific projects. Frigenti expects these figures to “significantly increase.”
Frigenti said Gulf countries bring both financial resources and valuable development experience. They have demonstrated that they can develop an education system within a generation, helped by abundant resources. This example “resonates” with other resource-rich countries, Frigenti said, and even if the transformation cannot always be achieved so quickly in other places, it shows that political will and investment can help build skills and diversify economies.