A significant issue with getting political buy-in for investing in inclusive education that works for children with disabilities is that national education budgets are generally quite limited, at an average of $55 per child per year in low-income countries, which cannot support quality education for all learners.[1] Allocations have to increase, but to achieve this requires a way to incentivise equitable distributions so that, even when overall allocations are limited, it is still possible to account for diversity. Funding priorities are a good reflection of intent, much more so than global commitment statements, and there are opportunities here for new and innovative financing which are more deliberately focused on inclusion and better coordinated to achieve the significant levels required to effect real systemic change.
In part, the education sector has lacked awareness and engagement around financial instruments and how to leverage funding in the way health and climate resilience have been able to do. But with falling levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA), increasing interest in education is now coming from foundations and private equity facilities looking to make a real impact. For Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) initiative was a big influence on helping them make inclusion an explicit internal policy. ECW, established during the World Humanitarian Summit 2016, is the first global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises. It has been an important mechanism for keeping education on the humanitarian radar and helping bridge gaps between financing for immediate needs and longer-term sustainable programmes. It is administered by UNICEF but has its own governance structure and is a collaborative of humanitarian, development, public and private donors. In 2022, partly influenced by the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS), it produced the first Policy and Accountability Framework on Disability Inclusion, which is being implemented in parallel to its 2023-26 Strategic Plan. It now commits to having 5% of its funding going to support equitable access, participation and achievement of people with disabilities, and commits to reach 10% of children with disabilities across its investment portfolio, through both mainstreaming and with specific interventions to support inclusion needs.
Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2030 is also significant in that, for the first time, it will link future grants to holistic learning outcomes for learners with and without disabilities. Foundations and private equity investors are interested to see how this might translate into improved outcomes and not just focus on outputs. GPE2030 is a clear route through which foundations can make investments and leverage further capital to work more effectively. Since GPE is hosted by the World Bank (WB), there is potential for these funds to leverage resources for programmes at scale.
There are examples of funds which can be leveraged for more financial investment in system transformations. A key current financing mechanism is the International Development Association. This is the part of the World Bank that is specific to aiding low-income countries. The International Development Association has 175 member countries and provides grants and low interest loans which help governments to make investments in programmes and plans. It is one of the largest sources of assistance for 78 low-income countries and the single largest source of donor funds for support to essential social services. The International Development Association gets its funds from contributions made by government member countries. Donor countries meet every three years to replenish International Development Association resources and review the policy framework. Around $93 billion was generated during the last replenishment (2022-2025) with the current cycle aiming to leverage up to $100 billion in total financing by 2028. The next round of negotiations will happen in 2027.
Around 25% of investments go toward human capital in education, health and social protection and it is an important leverage point for disability inclusion. But this depends on the extent to which Inclusive Education is prioritised as an issue within International Development Association financing, and this can be a point at which backsliding happens. The WB is demand driven, so countries have to express interest in Inclusive Education investments which means there may need to be a lot more done at national level to win political attention.
A significant reality is that very few heads of state pay much attention to education. Sometimes, framing this too much in relation to a learning crisis can create issues because it is difficult for a Minister for Education to argue for more funding if the system is deemed to be failing. In this sense, talking about how Inclusive Education can improve education for all, and by making education systems a better fit for the modern world, could see increased political support. Being able to use improved outcomes as a measure of success to show what differences spending on Inclusive Education is going to make may prove more engaging.
A key message here is that for Inclusive Education to be successful it requires both a technical and a political focus.
Co-financing, whilst not new, can help avoid fragmentation and create more opportunities for coordination and lower transactional costs. It can also make it easier to fund work at scale and with a cross-section of stakeholders, especially in relation to different ministries.
A useful example of co-financing is the Disability Inclusive Education in Africa Trust Fund, established by the WB and USAID in 2017, where a $3 million investment was able to leverage much larger existing WB financed education projects in seven sub-Saharan Africa countries. The layering of small inputs within larger operations and co-financing created real opportunities for more significant systemic impact. This also generated evidence at scale because the numbers of children involved meant that it was possible to start seeing where gaps in outcomes exist. Research showed that primary school completion rates for children with disabilities across Africa are 10-13% lower than for their peers without disabilities.[2]
And at country level, a small investment of $200k in Gambia, co-financed by a longer-standing WB programme, enabled system level changes to happen beyond the initial funding. A partnership with UNICEF enabled the project to cost-share technical assistance and training on Inclusive Education that was able to reach WB and UNICEF staff and ministry representatives from seven African countries.
The key message here is that collaborations help reduce transaction costs and enable small, targeted investments to have broader impact and produce evidence at scale. The main challenge remains that, whilst these initiatives have existed for some time, the broader landscape is changing only very slowly.
[1] See World Bank’s Education Finance Watch 2024 https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099102824144527868/pdf/P50097819250a00ce1812018168df2deaa3.pdf
[2] Wodon, Q., Male, C., Montenegro, C., & Nayihouba, A. (2018). “The Challenge of Inclusive Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Price of Exclusion, Disability and Education.” World Bank, Washington, D.C