Washington DC, December 17, 2021 – The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has approved US$580 million in new grants to transform education systems in 20 countries, bringing the total amount of GPE funding in 2021 to $740 million.
The grants will help improve access to education, strengthen teacher training, provide school meals and support analyses of sector progress in Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Republic of Congo, Dominica, Eswatini, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, Togo, Yemen and Zambia.
COVID-19 continues to impact education around the world. School closures and economic hardship from the pandemic risk shutting millions of children out of the classroom forever. The grants will help countries strengthen their education systems and make them more resilient to future crises.
“These new grants provide GPE partner countries with catalytic funding to transform education at scale”, said Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of GPE. “Building back from COVID-19 will require a strategic shift and focus on strengthening the entire education system, so that all children can get a quality education and reach their full potential.”
Nigeria will receive $125 million over five years to expand access to education for the most marginalized children. The grant will help reduce the number of out of school children by increasing access to basic education, particularly in rural areas, and boost literacy rates by increasing teaching quality. To strengthen accountability, the funding will also improve data collection and build capacity around monitoring and evaluation for education activities.
In Syria, GPE funding will help provide educational programs for out-of-school children and those at risk of dropping out, focusing on the most vulnerable, including children with disabilities. The grant will also support teachers helping students cope with trauma from violence and conflict.
In the Caribbean, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will receive a $10 million grant to advance regional coordination and resilience. The funding will help refurbish classrooms in underserved communities, improve services for children with special needs and strengthen learning assessments and teaching quality.
Cambodia, Eswatini, Malawi, Pakistan Sindh province, Yemen and Zambia will all receive funding 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.
Bangladesh, Burundi, the Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Togo will all receive grants to implement their Education Sector Plans. These grants will help countries increase access to quality education, provide learning materials, improve school retention, enhance teacher quality, implement learning assessments, develop inclusive education policies and strengthen institutional capacity.
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Notes to editors
In July 2021 in London, the Global Education Summit co-hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, raised a record US$4 billion for GPE from donors. The fundraising total puts GPE firmly on the path to achieving its target of at least $5 billion, which will enable up to 175 million children to learn and help get 88 million more girls and boys in school by 2025.
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, GPE media lead, @email, + 33 7 82 26 07 18