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Mobilizing Capital in the Low-Cost Private School Sector: Key Insights Two Years into an Innovative Partnership
One in five children in sub-Saharan Africa are out of school, and without scalable solutions, the region — like other emerging markets — won’t meet SDG 4’s goal of education for all. Mauricio Rincon and Mathieu Fourn at Opportunity International, and Alvaro Ma at Oikocredit argue that affordable non-state schools can help address this need — but only if they're supported by financial institutions and impact investment. They share learnings from a partnership between Opportunity and Oikocredit that is directing millions of dollars in capital to these schools, along with capacity building and other support.
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Analysis: The Fight to Save the SDG Indicator for Foundational Learners
The race is on to save a key SDG education indicator measuring foundational learning that could be dropped due to a lack of data. Debate flares over inclusion criteria, cautioning against perfectionism at the expense of progress.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- Global
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Breaking Barriers, Building Futures: How Supporting Women-Led MSMEs Can Boost Empowerment and Drive Job Growth in India
Small businesses — especially women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) — are emerging as pivotal drivers of economic growth in India. According to Umesh Singh at Tara Candles, these MSMEs can play a key role in boosting employment — but to do so, they’ll require more support. He explores how women-led MSMEs are creating jobs and promoting inclusive growth, and discusses how the government and other stakeholders can help women entrepreneurs overcome the challenges they face in starting and running a business.
- Categories
- Education
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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Invest over $75 Million in African Universities for Disease Research
Stellenbosch University, the University of Ghana, and the University of Pretoria are among the benefiting universities.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- public health, research, vaccines
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Aligning Empowerment with Profitability: Three Business Practices That Support Both Women and the Bottom Line
Women are more career-focused than ever, but their representation in global business leadership is not keeping pace. Verónica Lawson Vilches at The Word on Record argues that empowering women in the workplace shouldn’t be viewed merely as a social goal. She highlights three business practices at Girl Power Talk, an India-based social enterprise that provides women and other young people with job skills and work opportunities, to show how efforts to boost women's empowerment can also give businesses a competitive edge.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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An African Approach to Online Education: An Innovative Platform Aims to Prepare the Continent’s Youth for the Jobs of the Future
By 2050, one in every four individuals in the world will be African. In response to this demographic shift, it's essential to ensure that young Africans possess the necessary skills to compete in the global job market. But according to Adewale Yusuf at AltSchool Africa, conventional educational approaches have failed to meet these students' unique needs. He explains how AltSchool Africa developed an online platform based on African approaches to learning, and how the platform provides young students with the job skills they need to succeed in an increasingly global economy.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Nigerian Edtech Startup Klas Secures $1 Million to Empower Aspiring Educators Globally
Nigerian edtech startup Klas has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to fuel its mission of making online education accessible and empowering content creators worldwide.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa’s Ed-Tech Sector Has Unlimited Potential, but Lack of Funding Holds It Back
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion of the six developing world regions, according to the World Bank.
- Categories
- Education, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- edtech, scale, venture capital, youth