What is IFFEd?

The International Finance Facility for Education (IFFEd) is a powerful new financing engine for global education and skills development. It is specifically designed to tackle the education and skills crisis in lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) which are home to more than 1.2 billion children and youth, nearly half of the global total.

Photo: ADB

Drawing upon global consultations and new research and analysis from more than 300 partners in 105 countries, the Education Commission recognised the critical education finance gap for LMICs and put forward the proposal for a new international finance facility in its groundbreaking 2016 report The Learning Generation. The report highlighted an urgent and ever-worsening learning and skills crisis that, if left unaddressed, will leave half of the world’s children and youth out of school or failing to learn by 2030.

 

IFFEd was developed by four multilateral development banks and a number of bilateral donors. It benefited from extensive consultations with larger audiences including an online consultation with 50+ organisations. It has been endorsed in a number of global meetings and received the support of a diverse range of global experts and champions.

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The UN Secretary-General took forward the recommendation of the Commission and called for IFFEd’s operationalization during the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022 – thus helping to transform education and skills development for 1.2 billion children and youth in LMICs.

IFFEd was established in Switzerland in 2023 as a foundation based in Geneva. It will fund its first projects in 2025 and is expected to be self-sustaining in its first five years by financing operational costs from investments and other sources of income.

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