IFFEd targets the massive gap in education financing for LMICs – home to 1.2 billion children and youth – nearly half of the world’s young population. The vast majority are not gaining the basic skills to thrive.
Addressing the learning and skills crisis where the needs are greatest
From India to Pakistan, Nigeria to Kenya, some of the world’s most populous countries are LMICs caught in the “missing middle”: they are no longer eligible to receive grants but find non-concessional financing unaffordable. With limited domestic resources, LMICs’ investments in education and skills are often hit the hardest, as countries choose to prioritise more “economic” investments like infrastructure.
The financing gap in LMICs is much too large to be solved by traditional grant aid, which is not even enough to address the needs of the poorest countries. Total global aid for education is currently only around $17 billion, leaving a staggering $71 billion annual financing gap to deliver quality education for all in LMICs.
IFFEd is designed to address this enormous need. By maximizing scarce donor resources in an unprecedented way, IFFEd allows donors to better meet the financing needs of LMICs affordably, without having to reduce allocations for low-income countries or humanitarian crises.
Amidst competing needs for climate, health, and infrastructure , IFFEd enables LMICs to prioritise investments to educate their children and youth – and create a generation of possibilities.
How are lower-middle income- countries eligible?
IFFEd is accessible to lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) that have access to the non-concessional financing windows of IFFEd’s partner multilateral development banks (MDBs).
To be eligible, countries must meet the four key criteria below and demonstrate a commitment to providing quality education for all, especially the most marginalised children and youth. This includes increasing their domestic education budget to meet international standards.
What lower-middle-income countries are eligible?
Asian Development Bank
Asia: Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam
World Bank
Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo, Rep., Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Eswatini, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zambia
Europe: Ukraine
Middle East: Jordan and Lebanon
Latin America: Bolivia, Honduras, and Nicaragua
Why countries choose IFFEd?
IFFEd’s financial mechanism makes critical investments in quality education and skills development more affordable for lower-middle incomes (LMICs).
Countries set their own education and skills programmes.
- IFFEd does not come tied to a specific education agenda
- IFFEd projects can be tailored to country-specific needs and priorities
- IFFEd can also finance education-related cross-sector investments, for example in health and nutrition
More affordable than traditional debt financing
- IFFEd grants will soften the interest rate on multilateral development bank loans and provide substantial savings to borrowing countries over the loan period
- IFFEd doubles financing delivered by the MDBs to LMICs, provide at least $10 billion in additional education financing.
Can be paired with other global education initiatives
- IFFEd financing can be paired with complementary initiatives and instruments, such as Global Partnership for Education (GPE) grants, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) funding or GIGA financing for connectivity as part of a comprehensive response to the country’s
education needs
High level of technical support and well-established processes
- Lending uses standard MDB processes. IFFEd will have limited additional approval requirements to avoid duplication.
- IFFEd funding can be applied to projects in development with a participating MDB
IFFEd is always looking for new partners and is in conversation with other multi-lateral development banks to broaden the coalition and increase the number of lower-middle-income countries it can support.
