More children in class by improving affordable schools

Children around in the world now have a better chance of going to school, thanks to an ongoing partnership between Oikocredit and Opportunity International.

The two organisations entered into an education-specific collaboration at the end of 2021. The agreement involves a strategic infusion of capital and technical assistance to help financial institutions lend to non-state schools, enhancing education sector lending and narrowing the investment gap.

The collaborative initiative targets 16 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and is poised to improve education for an estimated 2.2 million children across 6,600 schools in some of the world’s most vulnerable and underserved populations.

As of 30 September 2023, the partnership had invested in 15 financial institutions that received technical assistance from Opportunity International. They will receive a combined total of USD 20 million in funding to direct toward loans for schools.

The two organizations reported on the status of the partnership in an in-depth article on the development forum nextbillion.org.

Billions needed to improve affordable schooling

Opportunity International’s Education Finance team estimates there is a USD 10.1 billion market need for school improvement loans for affordable non-state schools in low- and middle-income countries around the world in its 5th annual State of the Affordable Non-State School Sector report. Filling that gap could provide hundreds of thousands of schools with the finance they need to accept more children, offer more extracurricular opportunities and increase the quality of their services.

Besides capital, there is also a serious need for training and capacity support to help schools make the most of these investments, the report said.

Locally run non-state schools, including private or nonprofit entities, ensure that access to learning reaches underserved regions. They support overstrained government systems by filling critical gaps where state education is unavailable or insufficient.

However, without sufficient support from financial institutions and the impact investment sector, their ability to meet this need can and will stagnate.

See how our work is progressing

To find out more, head to the article on nextbillion.org.

Its authors are Mauricio Rincon, who leads Opportunity International’s impact investing and capital solutions efforts; Alvaro Ma, Global Senior Investment Officer in Oikocredit International’s Innovation Hub; and Mathieu Fourn, EduFinance Technical Assistance Manager at Opportunity International EduFinance.