Project: Making Education Finance Accessible: A Custom Online Course for the US State Department

The Funding the Future: Public and Private Finance for the Education Sector course was developed by Integra Government Services and Limestone Analytics under the USAID-funded Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP III), with funding from the Africa Bureau. The course is a follow-on from an education finance pilot series offered in 2019-early 2020.

The course was designed in close collaboration with the Africa Bureau along with other colleagues across the agency to offer broad perspectives on USAID education finance entry points including the DRG Center, mission staff, and select external experts. It comprised 20 modules covering public and private education finance, special application topics, and a capstone. These fell under five broad themes:

• Section 1 (3 Modules): Overview of Education Finance
• Section 2 (6 Modules): Public Finance of Education Systems and Projects
• Section 3 (5 Modules): Non-State Actors and Private Finance
• Section 4 (2 Modules): Beyond Traditional Development Assistance
• Section 5 (4 Modules): Special Topics including Non-State Schools, Education Finance in Crisis and Conflict Settings, Financing Inclusive Education, and COVID-19

Participants ended the course with a Capstone study where they applied their learning on a real-life education finance case study.

The course piloted a ‘semi-self-paced’ delivery approach. In this model, participants completed coursework at their own pace and were offered support through weekly emails, a proposed pacing guide, and three live sessions with the facilitators. The course was made available to USAID Education Officers and other interested USAID staff – worldwide. Participants who completed the course earned 40 CLPs. 

The course centred on offering USAID education officers practical tools and entry points to support the evolving engagement with partner governments. Self-reported knowledge increased for all topics with the greatest improvement was on self-reported knowledge of domestic revenue mobilization, followed by innovative financing tools.

The course was sponsored by the Africa Bureau, in collaboration with DDI’s Center for Education and Office of Economic Policy.