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international

Foundation in Nigeria—and are doing
important work, their reach typically extends
to tens or hundreds of thousands of people. But
the kind of change we aim to drive must a ect
hundreds of millions. Only by working at the
country level, and in close collaboration with
national ministries, can we create systemic
and sustainable improvements in education and
skills development.
2. Government Engagement – Education reform
at scale requires deep engagement with public
systems. Without the involvement of ministries
and governments, even the best-designed projects
may not reach the scale needed to create lasting
national impact. at’s why MDBs are critical—
they work hand-in-hand with governments and
bring both nancing and technical capacity to
large-scale development e orts.

IFFEd o cially launched operations in
September of last year, making us a relatively
is is where IFFEd steps in with concessional new player in this space. However, we launched
nancing. For every $100 million project, we with strong momentum: an initial commitment
contribute 10% in the form of a grant—in this of $1.5 billion in funding to support education
case, $10 million. is grant either reduces across our partner countries.
the cost of borrowing or lowers the amount a
country needs to borrow, making it far more How did all of this start?
attractive for them to invest in human capital e inspirational force behind IFFEd is Gordon
development, particularly in education and Brown, former Prime Minister of the UK and the
skills training. longest-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer in
European history, having submitted 16 national
Our mission remains the same: to help countries budgets. Today, he serves as the United Nations
move their populations from learning, to earning, Special Envoy for Global Education and has
to thriving—through strategic, sustainable long been a passionate advocate for the rights
investments in education. and futures of young people around the world.

Which countries do you work with? Gordon Brown had the vision to create a
We currently target 29 lower-middle-income nancial mechanism that could radically scale up
countries across the globe. ese are the countries investment in education, particularly in lower-
we believe are at a crucial in ection point—where middle-income countries. Our team worked
strategic investment in education can have the closely to bring that vision to life. Because this
most transformative, long-term impact. model functions as a nancial instrument,
it required extensive structuring—including
At this stage, we operate exclusively through undergoing a rigorous credit rating process.
multilateral development banks (MDBs).
Our rst and primary partner is the Asian We’re proud to share that in September of last
Development Bank (ADB), through which year, we received a Aaa rating from Moody’s
we are already actively supporting projects in and a AA+ rating from Standard & Poor’s
approximately 10 countries in Asia. (S&P)—a remarkable achievement for a brand-
new organization. ese ratings re ect the
ere are two key reasons why we’ve chosen to strength and integrity of the nancial model
work through MDBs. we’ve built.
1. Scale – While many excellent local foundations
exist—such as Pratham in India or the Dangote Our initial founding country partners include
the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Canada,

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