Acting in his role as UN special envoy for global education, Brown said the fund is aimed at reaching the estimated 20 million school-age refugees and displaced persons around the globe who are being denied an education.
The fund, entitled "Education Cannot Wait," will be formally launched at next week's World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul and seeks to raise USD 3.85 billion from 100 donors in the public and private sectors over the next five years.
Speaking by telephone to reporters at the UN today, Brown said the number of children who are missing out on schooling due to displacement is becoming a global crisis that will haunt the world for generations.