OSF’s Education Support Program publishes two studies on innovative education financing

The Open Society Education Support Program has recently published two papers in its ESP Working Paper Series:

Impact Investing in Education: An Overview of the Current Landscape

Innovative Financing for Global Education

Both papers are the result of Education Support Program’s ongoing efforts to identify innovative financing mechanisms and approaches that can increase the availability and allocation of resources for education systems.

 

Impact Investing in Education: An Overview of the Current Landscape

Although governments maintain the responsibility to provide education opportunities to citizens and the global development community has pledged to provide funding to support them in their efforts, many low-income countries still lack the resources and capacity to provide universal basic education of quality. Despite the fact that access to education has dramatically increased over the past decade, 57 million children do not currently have access to education, and many of those who do receive limited, low-quality services. Recent estimates have shown that the stagnation of aid and inflation has meant that the funding gap needed to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults has increased from US$16 billion to US$26 billion. In this context, impacting investing which uses the tools of commercial capital deployment for social good has emerged as a potential tool to support education access, equity, and quality. Education impact investing could mobilize new funding, enable private sector engagement in both public and private education service delivery and introduce and scale approaches or tools to improve efficiency of service delivery, promote innovation in teaching and learning methods, and monitor outcomes and systemic effectiveness.

This study maps the emerging landscape of education impact investing, with a view to identify potential areas for intervention by impact investors. It describes the characteristics of impact investment, including sources of capital, investor profiles and preferences, and areas of investment. Its focus is on investments that broaden access to quality education, especially for the most vulnerable populations.

The study was conducted by D. Capital Partners

 

Innovative Financing for Global Education

Innovative financing has made a significant difference in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in health, by generating more than US$7 billion in additional financial resources through a range of new institutions and partnerships. It is a growing prospect and priority in the education sector, where over 57 million children and youth do not have access to schools and the funding gap for achieving basic education for all is estimated at $26 billion.

This paper presents a comprehensive and practical analysis of the current state of innovative financing in global education. The report argues that education is a complex sector characterized by significant barriers to investment. But the report also suggests how to break through these barriers using innovative financing such as solidarity levies and private sector investments through a global education investment bank.

The research was carried out by the Innovative Finance Foundation

 

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