Global Education Program

Our goal
To improve reading and math skills—also known as foundational literacy and numeracy—for children in sub-Saharan Africa and India.
A government primary school in a village in Bihar, India
A teacher interacts with students during a phonics lesson at the Nal'uxolo Primary School in Cape Town, South Africa.

At a glance

  • When children learn foundational skills in reading and math, they unlock lifelong opportunities—while helping to fuel economic growth, reduce inequality, and break cycles of poverty.
  • Structured pedagogy and targeted instruction are proven, cost-effective approaches to strengthen foundational learning, but too few countries are implementing them on a broad scale, leaving millions of children without the skills they need to succeed.
  • Improving foundational learning is essential to helping children realize their full potential. We focus on closing the gap between evidence and action to improve foundational learning outcomes.
  • In collaboration with our partners, we spur innovation to accelerate improvements in learning, close research gaps, and test bold ideas that can lead to practical, effective solutions.
  • We build scaling pathways through government systems to serve as regional exemplars of how to achieve rapid progress. We work with governments and funders to improve and expand financing for foundational learning and ensure it remains central to national, regional and global development agendas.

Featured updates on global education

Our strategy

Our strategy

The Global Education team works to improve reading and math skills for children in sub-Saharan Africa and India.

We develop innovative solutions rooted in data and evidence to accelerate improvements in learning outcomes, close research gaps, and test bold ideas that can lead to solutions that rapidly improve foundational learning on a broad scale.

Primary school students in KwaMashu, a township outside of Durban, South Africa.
Primary school students in KwaMashu, a township outside of Durban, South Africa.
Areas of focus

Areas of focus

To make meaningful progress in improving learning outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and India, we focus our grantmaking in four key areas: spurring innovation to accelerate progress, building scaling pathways through government education systems to serve as regional exemplars of how to achieve rapid progress; collaborating with funders to expand and improve efficiency of education financing; and building an enabling environment in which foundational learning is better funded and a higher priority for governments.

We collaborate with partners to spur innovation and adopt effective, evidence-based solutions that can improve foundational learning faster, close evidence gaps, integrate effective artificial intelligence and education technology tools into existing education programs, and support learning transitions for bilgungual students and those in upper primary.

We collaborate with partners to spur innovation and adopt effective, evidence-based solutions that can improve foundational learning faster, close evidence gaps, integrate effective artificial intelligence and education technology tools into existing education programs, and support learning transitions for bilgungual students and those in upper primary.

To move the foundational learning agenda forward globally, we need more regionally influential exemplars in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to demonstrate that improvement in foundational learning is achievable.

To move the foundational learning agenda forward globally, we need more regionally influential exemplars in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to demonstrate that improvement in foundational learning is achievable.

We work with local partners to create a roadmap for how to sustainably scale up foundational learning programs through government systems.

We encourage more efficient use of donor funds and domestic budgets to support foundational learning and accelerate specific areas of innovation.

We encourage more efficient use of donor funds and domestic budgets to support foundational learning and accelerate specific areas of innovation.

We also work with other philanthropies and donors to tap new funding sources to spur governments to scale up foundational learning interventions that can deliver measurable, transformative results.

Our work is underpinned by advocacy for building an enabling environment that increases demand for foundational learning and makes it a high priority for sustained policy and funding action.

Our work is underpinned by advocacy for building an enabling environment that increases demand for foundational learning and makes it a high priority for sustained policy and funding action.

We work with partners to improve data coverage and use for advocacy, decision-making, and accountability while also encouraging governments and local partners to work together to improve systems and scale up foundational learning solutions.

Why focus on global education?

Why focus on foundational learning?

Education has the power to create opportunity and reduce inequity, but only if children are actually learning. We believe that education without learning is a broken promise. Foundational reading and math skills are the building blocks for a bright and healthy future, helping children learn more specialized skills and unlock their full potential. Every child, no matter where they live, deserves a fair shot at quality learning.

Foundational learning solutions exist, but too few countries are implementing what works at scale—leaving millions of children in sub-Saharan Africa and India without the reading and math skills they need to succeed. We’re facing a foundational learning crisis that has ripple effects for an entire generation and beyond, and we need to accelerate progress.

The crisis is solvable. With scaled-up implementation of high-impact, evidence-based interventions, we can enable millions of children to acquire the foundational skills they need to succeed.

Strategy leadership

Strategy leadership

Our partners

Featured partners

Our partners work to spur innovation, build sustainable scaling pathways, find efficient solutions, increase demand for improved foundational skills, and ensure that countries place a high priority on achieving concrete progress in learning outcomes.
Association for the Development of Education in Africa

We collaborate with ADEA to support African countries in developing high-quality education systems and achieving sustainable social and economic transformation. ADEA is a key network of education ministries that advocates for quality education and training in Africa.

Funda Wande

We work with Funda Wande to improve foundational learning through innovative teacher training approaches and use of high-quality materials. Funda Wande aims to ensure that all learners in South Africa can read for meaning and calculate with confidence in their home language by age 10.

Human Capital Africa

We work with Human Capital Africa to improve foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes for children in sub-Saharan Africa. Human Capital Africa is an accountability and advocacy organization that uses evidence to mobilize governments to take actions that improve learning outcomes.

Central Square Foundation

We collaborate with CSF to improve learning through transformative programs across India. CSF works enable school education systems to adopt solutions that are scalable, sustainable, and effective.

Prevail Fund

We partner with the Prevail Fund, a promising initiative that aims to raise funding to strengthen implementation of structured pedagogy for grades one through three.

Engeza

We work with Engeza, a fund that provides governments and partners with targeted, high-quality technical assistance to support the design, implementation, and impact of foundational learning programs.

uBoraBora

We partner with uBoraBora, a fund that provides technical assistance to help generate and use evidence to support scaling up foundational learning programs in sub-Saharan Africa.

Conference of Ministers of Education of the States and Governments of the Francophonie

We support CONFEMEN’s efforts to promote education and vocational technical training. Comprising over 40 member states and governments, CONFEMEN advocates for improved learning outcomes across the French-speaking world.

Fab Inc.

We work with Fab Inc. to provide knowledge, data, and analytical tools to improve foundational learning. Fab Inc. works to ensure equitable access to AI that can improve learning, making it accessible to children and teachers around the world.

Associates in Research and Education for Development

We support ARED’s efforts to scale up a national, subject-based bilingual curriculum and new remediation program, also referred to as targeted instruction, in Senegal. ARED’s Ndaw Wune program uses national languages, small class sizes, and level-based groups determined through learning needs assessments to improve foundational learning outcomes.

People’s Action for Learning Network

We partner with the PAL Network, a south-south partnership of 17 member organizations that works to promote children’s foundational learning across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

World Bank

We work with the World Bank’s Foundational Literacy Compact, a multi-donor trust fund that supports foundational learning in sub-Saharan Africa.

Global Coalition for Foundational Learning

The Global Coalition for Foundational Learning—whose members include the Gates Foundation; the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; UNICEF; UNESCO; the World Bank; and the Global Partnership for Education—works to advance progress toward the Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning, which aims by 2030 to reduce by half the global share of children unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10.

Key resources

Key resources

To support improved foundational learning outcomes, the following key resources provide valuable insights and evidence-based interventions: