The Education Outcomes Fund has launched the first of three programmes targeting early childhood education Africa, in partnership with the government of Rwanda and the LEGO Foundation as outcomes funders.
The Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) has partnered with the government of Rwanda to launch the country’s first national outcomes-based financing programme for early childhood care and education (ECCE). It is the first of three major outcomes-based education programmes being launched targeting ECCE.
A second programme is due to launch in South Africa in December and in Sierra Leone in early 2026, with all three programmes representing over $57m in outcomes funding for ECCE.
The €13m Rwandan programme aims to reach more than 25,000 children aged 3 to 5 years in 390 community-based early child development (ECD) facilities across Rwanda.
The four-year programme aims to improve child development and school readiness outcomes, bridge the gap in quality between formal and community-based ECDs, and generate robust evidence on the most effective interventions that lead to real results for children in Rwanda. Children with disabilities have been placed at the centre of the design.
Outcomes contracts have been signed with three grantees including Help a Child, working in consortium with the African Evangelistic Enterprise and Bridges Outcomes Partnerships; Plan International, working in consortium with Caritas and Bridges Outcomes Partnerships; and Save the Children, who are tasked with delivering the programme.
“We have encouraged the education delivery partners to form consortiums so they can leverage the expertise of other organisations,” Milena Castellnou, EOF’s chief programmes officer, told Impact Investor, explaining that Bridges Outcomes Partnerships is acting as the impact investor supporting Help a Child and Plan International by providing up-front capital and ongoing support. Save the Children are using their own capital to pre-finance the programme and shoulder the risk.
The grantees will be paid by the outcomes funders, which include the Rwandan government, which is contributing 10% of the funding value and the LEGO Foundation, which is contributing the bulk of the financing, contingent upon achieving pre-determined and independently verified results. EOF operates as the fund manager and intermediary, acting on behalf of the funders to convene and contract all the partners and design the programme.
“We have been working with the LEGO Foundation since 2022 and with the governments of all three African countries on how best to implement outcomes-based financing in early childhood care and education and that work has informed the programme. It’s been a great learning journey and we will continue to share the knowledge we collect,” she added.
Early childhood care and education
EOF says the Rwandan programme will support inclusive enrolment, upgrade ECD facilities infrastructure to meet accessibility needs, build caregiver capacity, and strengthen referral pathways to drive progress towards ensuring that every child, regardless of ability or background, can access quality early learning.
Across the duration of the programme an independent evaluation, measuring both impact and cost-effectiveness, will be conducted in order to provide evidence and learnings on the interventions delivered by the three grantees. The findings of this evaluation will inform government policy, shape national planning, and influence how early learning is financed across Africa and globally.
A similar programme and evaluation methodology will be applied in Sierra Leone and South Africa.
“Each of these programmes is very tailored to the local context but they also have a lot in common, especially with regard to ensuring there is a focus on access as well as on quality and children being on track to reach development outcomes, which is the ultimate impact we care about,” said Castellnou.
Learning poverty
According to a 2022 report on global learning poverty, seven out of ten children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read with understanding by age 10. Meanwhile, a review of 71 programmes by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel found that almost half had no impact on learning and employment.
“EOF was founded in response to the learning crisis, which has deteriorated since COVID, recognising that the development funding that is going towards education is not achieving the desired impact. Outcomes-based funding ensures we continue to invest in education and achieve impact by moving the accountability to outcomes,” Castellnou said.
“There is a wealth of research that demonstrates the potential of investing in early years and the huge return on investment that this has. If we want to solve the learning crisis, one of the best ways to do that is by focusing on early years education,” she added.
Castellnou explained recent advances in early childhood education measurement and assessment tools have also been a motivating factor for launching the programme, which will measure three outcomes.
“One of the outcomes we’re looking at is structural quality, making sure classroom infrastructure and learning equipment is adequate. The second is around the quality of pedagogical interactions, looking at what happens in the classroom between the teacher, the caregivers and the children. The third is around checking the children are developmentally on track,” said Castellnou, explaining the latter included assessing fine motor skills, socio-emotional skills and early numeracy and literacy skills, among others.
“The tools we are using, such as BEQI (Brief Early Childhood Quality Inventory) and IDELA ( International Development and Early Learning Assessment), allow us to measure that,” she added.
