Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development

The Problem: Currently, 59 million primary school-aged children globally do not attend school while 250 million do not have access to quality education. Gender discrimination in school contributes to the illiteracy of over 500 million women in adulthood as well. These issues, along with frequent global conflict and attacks upon schools, undermine the benefits of education.

The Solution: The Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act or READ Act is a bipartisan initiative that will further advance quality basic education for all, while protecting U.S. national security interests by:

• Leveraging United States capabilities through technical assistance, training and research.

• Designating a Senior Coordinator of United States International Basic Education Assistance to promote basic education within USAID to organize the national and international response.

• Improving the quality of education by supporting educational goals in developing countries, replicating successful education interventions and measuring learning outcomes in students especially for girls and young women.

• Amending previous goals of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 in order to develop a coordinated, sustainable and aid-effective plan to promote universal basic education, with assistance priority to underserved, marginalized and conflict-afflicted populations.

The implementation of this bill would also promote and contribute to an overall increase in economic growth for underdeveloped countries, improve democratic institutions of government, encourage empowerment for women and young girls and likely decrease extremism in politically vulnerable underdeveloped countries. The bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 24, 2017. About The Borgen Project The Borgen Project believes that the leaders of the most powerful nation on earth should be doing more to address global poverty. It is an innovative, national campaign that is working to make poverty a focus of U.S. foreign policy.