Domestic financing

GPE helps partner countries improve the volume, equity and efficiency of domestic financing for education.

Countries are facing challenging economic conditions due to a series of shocks including COVID-19, several conflicts around the world, and climate-related stressors.

Many partner countries are unable to ramp up education spending due to worsening debt burdens and limited fiscal space. Over a third of partner countries with available data spend more on debt servicing than they do on education.

Domestic financing is the most significant and sustainable source of financing for education.

GPE focuses on leveraging more and better domestic financing as the most significant and sustainable form of financing for education.

GPE also uses incentives and results-based financing to support governments to both increase domestic spending and ensure that the available resources are spent equitably and efficiently.

Our results

60%
of partner countries
increased their share of education expenditure or maintained it at 20% or above.
$200 billion over 5 years
committed by 21 Heads of State to ensure children have access to quality education.
$6 billion
saved through more efficient education spending in partner countries since 2022.

Sources

GPE in action

A holistic approach to domestic financing is a key component of GPE 2025 to enable education system transformation. Action around domestic financing is built around three pillars:

  • Volume: Allocating adequate resources to education to accelerate progress towards quality education for all.
  • Equity: Ensuring financing is allocated and spent to reach the most marginalized.
  • Efficiency: Ensuring that funds go as far as possible for improving learning.

GPE’s approach supports a robust review of domestic financing as a key enabling factor of system transformation, including ensuring that financing reaches the most marginalized children. This includes:

  • Ensuring allocating 20% of domestic budgets to education remains central in country level dialogue, as well as analyzing the adequacy of planned spending to achieve education results for the most disadvantaged children.
  • Reviewing how inefficient and/or inequitable spending impedes progress toward system transformation and progress on sector priorities.

GPE advocates for:

  • More equitable and efficient domestic financing of education and doing so at the highest levels.
  • Increased fiscal space for education through more equitable taxation regimes (supported through the Education Out Loud grant to the TaxEd Alliance), and reduction of debt burdens on the poorest countries through Debt2Ed.
  • Increased social sector spending.
  • Stronger systems through harmonization and alignment of external education financing.
  • Improved accountability for spending and demonstrating convincing results, to strengthen dialogue between ministries of education and of finance.
  • Inclusive sector dialogue to promote civil society participation in budget tracking and monitoring to improve transparency and accountability in education spending.
  • Collecting and deploying better data to inform equitable resource allocation and monitor efficiency of spending.

GPE domestic financing campaign

At the 2021 Global Education Summit, there was high-level support from GPE partner countries for domestic education financing. In an unprecedented action, 20 Heads of State have made a clear commitment to prioritize the education sector, pledging to work towards spending at least 20% of national budgets on education over the next five years by rallying behind a declaration on education financing led by then President Kenyatta.

25 additional countries submitted individual commitments to prioritize and protect the volume of education financing and improve its efficiency and equity.

GPE advocacy on domestic financing connects political advocacy and country programming to help drive political will and translate signatories to the Heads of State declaration into budget action.

Latest blogs and news

July 06, 2021
Heads of State declaration on education financing
Call to action by President Kenyatta on behalf of GPE partner countries about their commitment to financing education to strengthen education systems and secure a stable and prosperous future for all...