The study detailed in this paper examines the role of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in the transnational policy-making landscape in relation to African fragile and conflict-affected states. Data collection was based on content analysis of a corpus of documents -- Education Sector Plans (ESPs)/Transitional Sector Plans -- examining to what extent the main categories identified in the literature concerning global education policy and international development, emerge from the documents. We conclude that certain terms and constructs that emerge from global education discourses recur frequently in the ESPs. The article argues that there is a depoliticisation strategy in the development of the ESPs, making it possible to identify a façade of precision, a façade of rationality and a façade of universality.