Over the past two decades, great strides have been made in expanding access to education for children worldwide, ensuring that both boys and girls have the opportunity to attend primary school. However, access alone is not enough. Today, millions of children, especially in the world’s Least Develop Countries, are going to school but are not learning essential foundational literacy, numeracy and socioemotional skills. These skills are crucial for all further learning. Without foundational learning, children cannot progress. This affects not only their education but also their ability to contribute to society and live empowered lives.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 9 out of 10 children are unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10. This alarming reality is what the World Bank has termed "learning poverty".
These high rates of learning poverty poses a significant barrier to sustainable social and economic development and creates an urgent call for educational systems to prioritize foundational skills as a core component of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4, which calls for universal quality education by 2030.
Research shows that the economic returns from investing in primary education are high. Each additional year of quality primary education can increase an individual’s future earnings by approximately 10%. In low-income countries, this return can be as high as 20% for every year of learning. This data underscores the need for concerted efforts to reduce learning poverty, especially through cost-effective and scalable interventions focused on foundational skills. Yet, over the past two decades, international funding for education in low-income countries has steadily declined, leaving a substantial funding gap.
However, solving the learning crisis isn’t just about increasing funding—it’s about using existing resources efficiently and prioritizing investments in proven, impactful interventions. By leveraging data and evidence, we can identify effective strategies and guide decision-makers to allocate resources toward basic interventions that work.
Our approach - Addressing the learning crisis through targeted investment and evidence-based interventions
Tackling the global learning crisis requires interventions that are not only targeted and scalable but also cost-effective.
This viewpoint forms the foundation of the Hempel Foundation’s education strategy.
Our approach is twofold: 1) We support organisations in accelerating the implementation of effective learning methods at the country level; and 2) We back regional and global initiatives that strengthen government capacity and knowledge, equipping policymakers to prioritize and invest strategically in foundational learning.
At country level, our engagement is aligned with government priorities for advancing foundational learning. We identify and assess partner organisations and interventions based on their impact potential, cost-effectiveness, scalability of intervention and organisational capacity and strategy for delivering on government priorities. Our country specific programmes span Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: Madagascar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Bangladesh and Nepal.
At global level, our engagement is guided by opportunities to strengthen governments' ability to ensure system wide improvements in the delivery of foundational learning. We prioritize initiatives where our support catalyzes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and awareness-raising to mobilize and sustain efforts to combat learning poverty.
