The Global Campaign for Education-US (GCE-US) commends the House Foreign Affairs Committee for unanimously passing the Global Child Thrive Act of 2019 (H.R. 4864) and the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act (H.R. 4508) out of committee on December 18, 2019.

Proper interventions in child development and education are critical for children to reach their full potential. The Global Child Thrive Act, introduced by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), strengthens existing policies on early childhood development and directs USAID to integrate related efforts into its existing foreign assistance programming. Among other initiatives, the bill supports the design, implementation, and evaluation of pilot projects in partner countries, with the goal of taking them to scale. 

The bipartisan Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act, introduced by Rep. Hakeem Jefferies (D-NY) and Rep. Wagner (R-MO), expands the number of scholarships available to Pakistani women under the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program and encourages the Department of State and USAID to continue their support for initiatives to promote education for women in Pakistan, in accordance with USAID’s 2018 Education Policy.  

GCE-US encourages the full House of Representatives to pass the Global Thrive Act and Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act as soon as possible.