Global Goal #4 is about one thing: quality education for all! Last week, one of my colleagues did an excellent job of covering what that really means and how it can be achieved.

A good education is the key to better lives and stronger economies. A person’s earnings increase by 10 percent with each year of school they complete. Women with higher levels of education have healthier children. And increasing the average level of higher education in a country by just one year can add half a percentage point of growth to GDP.

All of this is good to know, but countries have to make sure the resources needed to make it happen are there.

I’m excited to say that the United States is stepping up as a leader to ensure the Global Goals are successfully implemented, particularly when it comes to education.

Last week, in support of the 2015 Global Citizen Festival, USAID Acting Administrator Alfonso E. Lenhardt and Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom filmed a video emphasizing the United States’ commitment to expanding access to quality education for all children.

As Lenhardt states, humanity can end poverty, but “to achieve such a lofty goal we have to make sure children receive the inclusive education they need to lift themselves and their family out of poverty.” Higginbottom follows up with the statement that we all have a role to play “whether it’s through individual action as Malala Yousafzai has so powerfully demonstrated or through strategic investments like the one billion dollars the U.S. invests each year to improve education around the world, including through the Global Partnership for Education.”

The United States pledged $45 million to the Global Partnership for Education in 2015, $5 million over the initial request. This is tremendous progress, but there is still so much to be done. The global learning crisis is affecting the poorest and most marginalized children, which hampers their ability to have meaningful employment and lead productive lives. This is especially true for the growing number of refugee children that do not have access to the school system of the country they’ve migrated to. They need our help! 

Let’s continue to encourage U.S. leaders and policymakers to step up as USAID Acting Administrator Alfonso E. Lenhardt and Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Heather Higginbottom have in the fight to provide quality education for all!