World is failing South Sudan – Brown - The Guardian

Young women in South Sudan are more likely to die during pregnancy or in childbirth than to make it into secondary education. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA

The former prime minister Gordon Brown is to deliver a strong attack on international aid donors for their failure to tackle an education crisis in the world's newest country, South Sudan.

In a report timed to coincide with this week's spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, Brown said that action to put an extra 1 million children into school in the conflict-ravaged country was a test case.

Brown criticised the "half-measures, hesitation and indifference" that meant that a girl in South Sudan is more likely to die during pregnancy or in childbirth than to make it into secondary education.

He called for $1.6bn to be mobilised over the next four years. This would, the former PM said, provide better education for 2 million children, half of them currently out of school; give financial support for the schooling of half a million girls; make provision for the education of 300,000 children displaced as a result of armed violence or living in conflict zones; train 30,000 teachers; and build 3,000 schools.

"There is one country that illustrates more than any other what is not working in the current international aid architecture on education. That country is South Sudan, Africa's newest nation."

Brown, co-chair of the Global Campaign for Education's high-level panel on education, said children were being pushed to the back of the queue for development assistance. He added that he was planning a new type of organisation – Education without Borders – to galvanise support and deliver education aid in the places where it was most needed.

The millennium development goals set by the United Nations include universal primary education by 2015, but Brown said the body responsible for financing the multilateral donor effort in South Sudan – the Global Partnership for Education – had yet to establish a programme.

"This is a wasted opportunity – and not just for South Sudan. The GPE needs to establish its credentials as an innovative and dynamic force for change in countries affected by conflict."

Bob Prouty, head of the GPE, said he was baffled by Brown's criticisms. He said his organisation was working actively with South Sudan to step up investment in education, but did not operate in a top-down manner. "We are giving the government time to work out what it wants," he said.

Brown said: "I am, of course, aware that some people will argue that the goals that have been set are too ambitious, that the costs are not affordable, and that South Sudan should concentrate on taking small steps in the right direction, rather than attempting a great leap forward. I do not accept these arguments."