UK & Ireland: UN Secretary-General appoints former British PM Gordon Brown as UN Special Envoy for Global Education

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the position of United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education.

The appointment builds upon Mr. Brown’s impressive commitment to education as a fundamental right of every child. He has demonstrated unquestionable passion advocating extensively with world leaders, civil society, and the business community to keep the promise of quality education for all by 2015.

As Special Envoy, Mr. Brown will devote himself to working closely with all key partners to help galvanize support for the Secretary-General’s Global Initiative on Education (Education First), which aims to achieve quality, relevant, and inclusive education for every child. He will focus on countries with the highest burden of children out of school, recognizing that nearly half of out of school children are in countries affected by conflict. He will help bring about change, mobilize resources and generate additional and sufficient funding.

The Secretary-General is confident Mr. Brown will be a genuine champion for the world’s most poor and that his passion and conviction will re-energize international action for everyone’s right to opportunity through education.

Source: UN Press Release - New York, 13 July 2012