Ms Ana Tenorio:

I thank Deputy Stanton for that question. I want to affirm Ireland's moral authority in advocating for education as a pillar for development. I understand that many other factors come into the equation but education is foundational for any prosperity to really take hold. In as much as Ireland made a valiant decision and commitment to education, there are other countries like South Korea that had a similar impact when they made a decision to invest in education for prosperity and economic growth. We have an aspiration for many countries in the world that those commitments are made, understanding that they might be long-term investments. Some of those investments take time to take hold but they are sustainable, especially when we are investing in the youngest children. Many times, those investments are not done because of the short cycles and expectations of prosperity when we know that sometimes prosperity takes time to build.

Covid-19 absolutely had a detrimental effect across all SDGs. My fellow speakers have eloquently shared some of those perspectives. That is not the only crisis. It is the multiple crises that have hit the world in unprecedented ways that have really eroded much of the progress we had made, not only in education but in other areas of importance for development. It is because of this that we need to be very creative and very decisive in how we partner with countries in the global south as partners. We must understand that while many solutions need to be national and driven by policy, and the SDGs go from the global to the national, we cannot forget the local aspect, especially in terms of crisis when governance may be weaker and, therefore, the only people who are best placed to support the first behind are on the ground closer to communities, such as local civil societies and organisations. Partnering with many others who are in support of their own goals and empowerment is critical.

One agenda that it is important that we align to, in preparation for the SDGs, is that Transforming Education Summit. There must be a recognition of the fact that we have made a lot of progress in education, but now the situation is different and, therefore, we need to consider solutions that are more flexible and that are really catered to reach the children that may be outside of the formal system. While we still need to strengthen formal systems, we need to go beyond them and find other pathways for children to learn. That requires the commitment and investment that we discussed at the beginning, which Ireland can exemplify in its history.

I also want to address the question of investments. It may be a bit of a controversial question in terms of Russian and Chinese influences and their investments in education. I do not have any concrete information on their investments in sub-Saharan Africa. I think I mentioned that I am from Honduras. There has also been a strong presence in Latin America and Central America, specifically from China and other foreign countries. Most of the investments have been in infrastructure. It is more dependent on the needs or the articulation from national governments on where that investment is directed. It is important that all multilateral countries are aligned in human development. I would encourage lining up this dialogue so that we are looking at development holistically. While I am advocating for education here, it is really about holistic support. That is transversal across what we discussed in respect of girls and children with disabilities, and ensuring that we are looking at those different lenses of the furthest behind. However, it does require commitment and long-term commitment. While we can look at addressing crises in the short term, we also need to look at how we are building more resilient societies.