Fifty-four grants, totaling US$13.5 million, have been allocated to national education coalitions to support their involvement in education planning, policy dialogue, monitoring and accountability through the Global Partnership for Education's (GPE) Education Out Loud initiative.

Implemented by Oxfam IBIS, Education Out Loud is the world's largest fund dedicated to supporting civil society's role in shaping education policy to better meet the needs of communities, with a focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized people.

Individual grants, ranging from US$100,000 to US$300,000 for a duration of up to two years, will allow a diverse range of coalition partners to strengthen transparency, accountability and civic participation in education. They will also enable the coalitions to be more inclusive, particularly of marginalized groups, and to have better capacity to engage in policy dialogue and effectively influence policy processes through research and advocacy.

In light of the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, programming will be adapted to support national responses that address the disruptions to education systems that have left millions of children out of school.

Following a call for proposals in mid-2019, submissions from 54 national coalitions were reviewed by panels comprising experts from around the world. Twenty-seven of the proposals were approved for immediate implementation while the remaining 27 will undergo further enhancements before initiating activities in the next three months.

The national education coalitions are former recipients of Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) grants based in GPE partner countries or actively seeking to join the partnership.