KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
SPOTLIGHT EduFinance in Marginalized Communities March 2024
SUMMARY The Challenge: Millions of children are out of school or not reaching adequate levels of learning. Opportunity’s EduFinance program has yet to serve marginalized communities at scale. Features Solution: The EduFinance program has set a goal of having 30% of children reached be living in extreme poverty. To achieve this, it has adapted its approach to better serve marginalized communities. u ETAF: Adaptations include financial solutions (guarantees, grants), partnerships (government, school association, NGOs, more diverse FIs), additional staff, school segmentation, and calibrated expections. u EduQuality: Adaptations include use of paper for material distribution, intro seminars, partnerships (for curricular alignment, mobilization, and additional resources), adjusted communication approaches, and adjusted curricula for school leadership and teachers. Lessons Learned: u Partnerships are key u Dedicated staff are needed u Blended finance leverages more capital u More technical support is required u Greater reliance on cluster leaders and teacher mentors delivers more TA u Managers need to adjust expectations and accommodations
THE CHALLENGE: MILLIONS OF CHILDREN ARE OUT OF SCHOOL, OR NOT REACHING ADEQUATE LEVELS OF LEARNING Quality education is a critical sustainable development goal (#4), yet 617 million children around the world are either out of school, or are in school but not achieving adequate levels of learning.1 Opportunity International’s Education Finance Program (EduFinance), invests in schools, parents, and teachers so that more children will be learning and have access to quality education, in an inclusive, enabling environment. In the EduFinance model, Opportunity increases access to education through its EduFinance Technical Assistance Facility (ETAF) and by facilitating access to capital for financial institutions (FIs) looking to expand financing in the education sector. ETAF identifies and builds capacity of these FIs to offer school fee loans to parents and school improvement loans to schools. The target schools – non-government, affordable schools – then use loans for infrastructure and materials that expand the number of students they serve and make the schools more welcoming to girls. In the second component of the EduFinance model, Education Quality (EduQuality), Opportunity conducts professional development for school leaders and teachers in order to improve the quality of education. EduQuality establishes peer learning clusters, and identifies and supports teacher mentors to cultivate a sustainable culture of continuous improvement in education quality. The EduFinance footprint is extensive, but has yet to reach marginalized communities at scale. ETAF works in 31 countries and EduQuality in 13 countries. Altogether, EduFinance works with 164 FI partners, and has facilitated $793 million in investments into the education sector. The program has benefitted 13.1 million children to date. So far, EduFinance has operated primarily in urban and peri-urban areas. The program’s next challenge is to serve more marginalized communities. To reach that goal, the EduFinance program aims to have 30% of children reached be from communities of extreme poverty.2 Some of the key challenges facing the EduFinance program when working in marginalized communities include— u Geography: In rural communities, the distances between schools and between schools and FIs makes operations more time consuming and costly. Roads are often challenging to navigate during inclement weather. Some locations pose security threats. u Smaller FIs: Often, larger FIs do not operate in more marginalized communities, leaving the EduFinance program to work with smaller, less well-financed FIs.
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