New grants bring total GPE 2020 funding to $1.5 billion for education in world’s lowest-income countries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic
WASHINGTON DC, December 17, 2020 - The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has approved US$300 million in new grants to transform education systems in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Mozambique.
The three new grants bring GPE’s total approved funding in 2020 to nearly $1.5 billion for improving children’s education in lower-income countries. This record level of approvals includes more than $500 million to help countries respond to COVID-19. Mozambique’s $140 million grant is the single largest grant ever provided by GPE to a partner country.
The grants will help strengthen the education sector in the three countries, including funding school construction and rehabilitation, textbook distribution, teacher training, learning assessments, school meals and improvements in management practices.
The World Bank is the GPE grant agent in all three countries.
“GPE is committed to transforming education so that it serves the most vulnerable children in the world’s lowest-income countries and those affected by conflict,” said Alice Albright, GPE Chief Executive Officer. “These funds will help the Central African Republic, Ethiopia and Mozambique maintain critical investments in education amid the economic pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, helping assure a brighter future for millions of children.”
The Central African Republic will receive $31.6 million over four years to improve access to education for vulnerable and displaced children – especially girls. Through training and other incentives, the grant aims to increase the number of qualified teachers in schools, particularly in rural and conflict-affected areas. The funding will also contribute to setting up a national learning assessment system and strengthen the country’s capacity to generate disaggregated data so that programs can better support displaced children, children with disabilities and girls. A pilot initiative will introduce Sango language instruction in early primary levels.
In Ethiopia, the three-year $125 million grant will expand universal access to pre-primary, primary and middle school in the country’s most disadvantaged areas, including by enhancing the quality of pre-primary education in 16,000 schools and constructing 500 new classrooms in underserved areas. The grant will also establish 600 new Inclusive Education Resource Centers to promote special education, and a comprehensive gender analysis will help improve girls’ access to education. Ethiopia will also use the funds to strengthen the use of educational technology solutions to accelerate equitable access to school and to improve learning outcomes.
Mozambique will receive $140 million over five years to expand early childhood development programs including public preschools in the poorest areas of the country, improve learning achievement in grades 1-3 and provide support to teachers. The grant will also help increase girls’ enrollment in school and support them to transition from primary to lower secondary school. A national learning assessment will measure the effectiveness of monolingual and bilingual education programs.
The grant for Mozambique includes $15 million from the GPE Multiplier. For every dollar invested, this innovative mechanism leverages nearly four times the funds in external financing from development partners including regional and multilateral development banks, bilateral donors and philanthropic foundations.
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Notes to editors
GPE’s recently launched replenishment campaign, “Raise Your Hand” calls on world leaders to pledge at least $5 billion for the next five years to help GPE transform education in up to 87 countries, which are home to more than 1 billion children.
The campaign will culminate in a pledging conference in mid-2021 co-hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta.
About the Global Partnership for Education
GPE is a shared commitment to ending the world’s learning crisis. We mobilize partners and funds to support 76 lower-income countries to transform their education systems so that every girl and boy can get the quality education they need to unlock their full potential and contribute to building a better world.
Media contact
Tamara Kummer – @email, + 33 7 82 26 07 18