The GSF has held a voting seat on the GEMR Advisory Board since 2022. The former representative prior to Ellen being appointed to the Board, was Dr Musarrat Maisha Reza, a former Steering Committee Member.
This year the GSF welcomed the appointment of Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships at the European Union, as the newly appointed Chair for the Board. Urpilainen is a former Finance Minister for Finland and a former teacher who has championed young people extensively following the Transforming Education Summit, including at the European Union’s Global Gateway High-Level Event on Education in Brussels, Belgium which was attended by former GSF Executive Director, Sebastian Berger.
At this GEMR Advisory Board meeting, several areas were discussed including the upcoming release for the Pacific and youth editions of the 2023/24 report on education and technology, and the 2024/25 report on leadership to be released in November 2024. Additional topics were discussed for the GEMR thematic areas from 2026 to 2030, given their current mandate and the evolution of their role.
During this meeting, Ellen gave some specific statements in relation to the importance of the youth report, methodological analysis with the benchmarking process, and ideas from the technology breakout group. Ellen also presented thoughts on the proposed GEMR Strategy 2026-2030, as she was an appointed member of the Strategy Reference Group alongside other constituents, including donors and civil society actors.
Following the Board meeting, Dr Manja Klemenčič - a recent appointee to the GEMR Advisory Board and former editor of “The Bloomsbury Global Handbook of Student Representation and Politics” - met with Ellen and several members of the GEMR team to discuss the creation of the Global Youth Indicator (GYI).
The GYI is an outcome of the TES as a way of monitoring youth engagement in education policy in nation state progress towards SDG 4. The creation of this Indicator has been appointed to GEMR, with Ellen and Dr Klemenčič aiding in the mapping and consultation development for initial research, and will call on input from young people across the world in time.
The GSF aims to reconnect with the GEMR team in person at the Global Education Summit in Fortunzela, Brazil in November 2024, following the G20 meetings.
