Many partner countries are facing one of the most challenging economic periods in a generation. This has a direct impact on funds and resources available for education. In fragile and conflict-affected contexts, the stakes are even higher.

Funding shortage stemming from multiple factors such as demographic pressures, tightening of global monetary conditions, declining official development assistance and ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world, are contributing to significant economic hardships globally. These factors, underpinned by rising inflation, are worsening domestic fiscal conditions.

Furthermore, the debt crisis is crippling governments’ ability to deploy much-needed capital to key human development sectors like education. For example, debt servicing in Africa has been at an all-time high due to external shocks, with the continent paying out nearly US$163 billion to service debts in 2024, up from $61 billion in 2010.

All of this is taking place while countries continue to grapple with the entrenched impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their economies, communities and livelihoods. Most are yet to return to their pre-pandemic levels of economic productivity and output.

The also must design new approaches to catalyze more education financing and ensure continuity of education, especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized children living in fragile contexts.

Scaling finance through innovative approaches

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has long recognized the power of innovative finance to not only catalyze additional and more predictable financing, but also to spend these funds efficiently and effectively.

GPE’s innovative financing instruments work to raise more efficient and more equitable education financing. They leverage additional funding, diversify funding sources and bring in new partners, and transform debt or debt repayment into investments in education.

The GPE Multiplier provides an incentive and financial resources to bring in more and better investments in education. This innovative financing instrument works alongside external financing across a range of cofinancing options.

GPE’s ability to deploy its innovative finance portfolio in fragile situations (currently 34 partner countries experience fragility and conflict) has allowed the partnership to ensure continuity of education in these very challenging environments.

Haiti

Haiti ranked 10^th out of 178 countries in the 2022 Fragile States Index (FSI). Armed violence and insecurity have resulted in frequent and prolonged school closures, leaving many children unable to access education.

This unrest compounds the learning crisis already faced by the country, where the cost of education and lack of public provision pose a barrier to children accessing quality education.

A $19 million financing envelope from the GPE Multiplier leveraged $57 million in cofinancing from the World Food Programme, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Education Above All to support Haiti in working on its priority reforms: revising the curriculum; addressing the significant food insecurity through school feeding to help at least 30,000 children enroll and stay in school. These objectives are aligned with those set out in Haiti’s 10-Year Education and Training Plan 2020-2030.

South Sudan

South Sudan’s protracted conflict has taken a heavy toll on the education system, which faces a severe shortage of teachers. The country has one of the world’s highest proportions of out-of-school children, with about 3 in 5 children outside of the classroom.

Responding to the shortage of qualified teachers and to improve education provision to refugees and refugee-hosting communities, a GPE Multiplier grant of $12.33 million has catalyzed $40 million in cofinancing from the World Bank (of which $29 million is from IDA and $11 million from the Window for Host Communities and Refugees).

This funding will help South Sudan establish the minimum skills base needed to accelerate school-to-work transitions, including through education and agriculture training, and will strengthen teacher training and management of the education system.

South Sudan also suffers severely from the climate crisis (extreme drought, migration, flooding), placing education continuity and investments at risk.

Therefore, GPE, Save the Children, UNESCO and UNESCO IIEP will support climate adaptation in South Sudan’s education system, aiming to mobilize $12 million cofinancing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in the first ever education-focused application to GCF alongside a GPE Multiplier grant and support from GPE’s Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative.

Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has devastated the lives of families and children and brought massive destruction to vital infrastructure. Nearly 7 million people have fled the country, and 3.7 million are internally displaced.

The war is having a significant impact on children’s mental health, with nine out of 10 children recently surveyed (2024) experiencing at least one or more psychological effects of ongoing conflict.

Responding to the urgent needs to keep education going, a $25.55 million GPE Multiplier grant crowded in $25.65 million in cofinancing from Microsoft, Google and UNESCO.

The funds respond to the immediate crisis needs, including mental health and psychosocial support, as well as the Ministry of Education’s longer-term pursuit of education system strengthening through digital transformation and continuous teacher capacity development.

Raising more funding for education in crisis is essential

In the current global context, a financing “as usual” architecture is not enough to give all children a quality education by 2030—the remit of Sustainable Development Goal 4.

Over the next decade, a dramatic increase in financing is needed to meet the estimated $20 trillion required to address development challenges in GPE partner countries.

In a challenging financial context, where traditional forms of development aid are under pressure, innovative finance has emerged as a transformative and complementary approach to established financing options.