Participating in the International Education Funders Group (IEFG) community in Edinburgh, with its unforgettable experiences like hiking Arthur’s Seat and dancing Ceilidhs at the National Museum of Scotland, was truly remarkable. The “IEFG Together 2023” conference brought together education funders to discuss the top issues of the day, showcasing the pivotal role philanthropy can play in advancing education equity through systems change. One key takeaway from the event is the vital importance of cross-sector collaboration, with Brazil offering a promising success case for the Global South.

Throughout the conference, the discussion centred around the role and legitimacy of philanthropy in driving systemic change to address pressing educational challenges. IEFG Together, one of the world’s largest conferences exclusive for education philanthropies, brought together more than 70 organisations, fostering an environment of trust and open dialogue. This platform allowed us to share our vulnerabilities, deepen the understanding of our contributions to advancing educational systems, and explore collaborations with other sectors, particularly government. The consensus that emerged after three days of insightful dialogue and spirited exchange is that nurturing trustful relationships among stakeholders and fostering cross-sector collaborations are vital for effective systems change.

Among the numerous examples of trust-based, systems-change collaborations presented at IEFG Together, Co-Impact, a global collaborative for systems change, stood out for its fundamental approach of supporting locally rooted coalitions to achieve impact at scale in partnership with governments. Co-Impact has mobilized over US$ 685 million in collaborations in the Global South to date, with two of their largest partner programs serving as remarkable examples of systems change at scale.

One such program, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa developed by Pratham, one of the largest and most successful non-governmental education organizations in India, has been acknowledged as one of the most cost-effective approaches to Improve Global Learning for its contributions across different regions to address the learning poverty challenge, which has worsened considerably due to the pandemic. The World Bank estimated that learning poverty increased from 60% to 70% among children in low and middle-income countries, depriving them of the opportunity to acquire even minimal proficiency in literacy by age 10. While TaRL had been successfully implemented in primary schools in India and Africa prior to the pandemic, it has also played a crucial role as an evidence-based program to address the massive learning losses post-pandemic.

Read the full article about education systems by Guilherme Barros at Alliance Magazine.