Washington, DC, May 28, 2019 --- With 37.2 million euros in new funding, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) continues its longtime support to strengthen Senegal’s education system and help millions of Senegalese children go to school and get a quality education.
The grant was approved by GPE’s Board of Directors to help Senegal’s government improve equitable access of all Senegalese children to quality education in primary schools across the country, focusing on the most marginalized children in deprived areas. The funding will also improve the management and oversight of schools, increase the number of qualified teachers, drive more student enrollment and improve learning outcomes.
The majority of the funding is results-based, and only becomes available when Senegal meets agreed-upon targets and outcomes in line with the ambitions of the program such as improved reading and math levels at the end of grade 3 and a new vulnerability mapping to improve education services for the most disadvantaged.
The grant includes 8.7 million euros from the GPE Multiplier, which is mobilizing an additional 35 million euros in co-financing from Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
“Senegal has made it a national priority to provide quality schooling to all its children – especially the most marginalized, such as girls,” said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer, Global Partnership for Education. "GPE will continue to support Senegal’s efforts as we have for nearly a decade. With the leveraging of the GPE Multiplier, the total amount available to Senegal will be more than 70 million euros thanks to the additional co-financing of the French government.”
The GPE Multiplier is an innovative financing instrument that provides US$1 for every US$3 countries raise in new and additional funding, from other sources – in this instance AFD which is also the GPE grant agent in Senegal. Since 2018, 13 countries have secured more than US$110 million in Multiplier allocations, which has mobilized more than US$475 million in co-financing from other donors to support quality education.
The combined GPE and AFD contributions of 72.2 million euros will support Senegal’s national education strategy 2018-2030 which coordinates all domestic and external funding for education. The funding will help improve the accountability and transparency of public expenditure for education with more effective oversight of reforms and improve the efficiency of public expenditure by reducing the dropout rate in the early grades.
For many years, Senegal has achieved a steady rise in the number of children who enroll in and complete their schooling, particularly at the primary and lower-secondary levels. The progress has been striking among girls, who are now going to and finishing school in higher numbers than boys at the primary and lower-secondary levels.
However, the number of children not enrolled in formal schools and those who drop out is still high and learning assessments show lagging performance nationwide. Nearly two-thirds of out-of-school children come from rural and poorer areas. GPE works with the government toward increasing the domestic funding for primary education to ensure that the most vulnerable children can go to school and learn.
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