About | EOF

Education is underfunded and underperforming.

We build partnerships to change that.

The Challenge: The world needs more and smarter education finance.

Education is one of the most powerful drivers of progress, yet seven out of ten children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read with understanding by age 10. Meanwhile, half of education programmes show no measurable impact on learning or employment.

Global spending on education is falling short by an estimated $100 billion each year. Traditional approaches have not delivered the transformation required to meet Sustainable Development Goal 4.

EOF was created to address these challenges — by shifting how education is funded, how success is measured, and how systems are held accountable. We are part of a global movement to turn education financing into real learning and employment outcomes, especially for the most disadvantaged children and youth.

“The failure to convert funding into outcomes effectively means that children and young people are denied foundational skills and decent jobs. That is a huge human cost.”

Sir Ronald Cohen, Chair, EOF

Our Solution:
Results driven education and skills funding and systems

The Education Outcomes Fund (EOF) is a global initiative transforming how education and skills are financed and delivered. We partner with governments, donors, investors, and implementers to make education systems more effective, equitable, and accountable.

Through our Outcomes Partnership model, funding is tied to measurable results, aligning incentives across all actors to ensure that resources lead to real improvements in learning and employment outcomes.

EOF’s approach is grounded in systems change: we align incentives, strengthen data and delivery capacity, and foster collaboration across public, private, and social sectors. By embedding results-based principles within national systems, we help governments shift from inputs to outcomes, ensuring that every investment leads to measurable, lasting impact for learners.

Since launching the first fund in Sierra Leone in 2022, and across five new Outcomes Partnerships in Tunisia, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, EOF has mobilised over $130 million, improving education and skills opportunities for more than half a million children and youth. Through this growing portfolio, EOF is building a global movement for smarter education spending — unlocking potential and transforming lives at scale.

“EOF is much more focused than traditional ways of financing. It is done in a way where you are actually seeing results.”

Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania; Chair, Global Partnership for Education

EOF Approach: Turning funding into impact.

Education is one of the most powerful levers for human progress, but too often, funding fails to translate into learning or jobs. EOF changes that by focusing on what truly matters: results.

We apply Outcomes-Based Financing (OBF), a model where governments and donors pay for verified results, not activities. Impact investors and implementing partners deliver programmes, taking on performance risk and gaining flexibility to innovate. This creates a shared focus across the system — where everyone is accountable for outcomes.

EOF drives three layers of systems change:

Mindsets

Shifting public spending towards results and value for money.

Mechanisms

Embedding contracting, data, and performance management into national systems.

Movements

Building coalitions of governments, funders, and implementers to sustain change and drive transformation at scale.

Our Work: From proof to scale.

EOF’s programmes span a learning journey — from early childhood to school to work. Each Outcomes Partnership is co-created with governments to ensure national ownership and sustainability.

Following the first fund in Sierra Leone in 2022, EOF is scaling rapidly. In 2025, five new Outcomes Partnerships are being launched in Tunisia, Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, mobilising over $130 million to reach more than 500,000 learners.

EOF's three focus areas:

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): expanding access and quality for young learners.

Rwanda

South Africa

Sierra Leone

Basic Education: improving foundational learning and inclusion.

Sierra Leone

Nigeria

Skills for Employment: aligning training with real job opportunities and retention.

Tunisia

The Impact:
Real gains, lasting change.

EOF’s work is already demonstrating that smarter financing delivers measurable results.

In Sierra Leone, the world’s largest Outcomes Partnership for education is showing remarkable progress. Two years in, 134,000 children are learning at a pace equivalent to an extra year of schooling, and the gender gap in literacy and numeracy has narrowed from 15 points to just 4.

By 2030, EOF aims to reach 2 million children and youth, support 10 governments and 3 development partners in adopting results-based financing, and help education systems worldwide become more effective, equitable, and accountable by design.

EOF and partners deliver in Sierra Leone:

134k

children learning better.

Two years in, students in supported schools are achieving learning gains in maths and English that exceed global benchmarks for comparable education programmes.

73%

reduction in gender gap. Girls in Sierra Leone have nearly closed the learning gap — shrinking the difference in literacy and numeracy from 15 points to just 4. Girls numeracy gains are 124% higher compared to Year 1.

extra year of learning. Independent evaluation shows that children are progressing at a rate equivalent to an additional year of schooling in the best performing sub-Saharan African education systems.

“What makes SLEIC standout is not just its scale, but its sustainability. EOF team have designed a programme that is both effective and affordable. Through rigorous evaluation and an outcomes-based payment structure, SLEIC is proving that innovation and accountability in education finance can deliver unprecedented results.”

David Sengeh, Chief Minister of Sierra Leone

2030 Strategy:
A roadmap for global systems change.

EOF’s 2025-2030 Strategy defines two complementary objectives designed to scale outcomes-based financing and strengthen education systems.

1. Develop Outcomes Partnerships as a lever for transformative systems change

EOF works directly with governments to design and implement large-scale Outcomes Partnerships in education and skills. These partnerships improve learning and employment outcomes while helping countries embed results-based approaches into their own systems.

By 2030, EOF aims to:

Support 15 active Outcomes Partnerships, reaching 2 million children and youth.
Achieve 20% more outcomes per dollar spent than comparable programmes.
Mobilise $350 million for outcomes-based programmes.

2. Build the evidence, tools, and partnerships for outcomes-based financing

EOF is also investing in the broader ecosystem — generating evidence, codifying tools, building communities of practice, and influencing development partners to adopt outcomes-based approaches.

By 2030, EOF aims to:

Demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of OBF.
Streamline and codify the OBF process.
Enable 10 governments and 3 major development partners to integrate OBF into their own financing frameworks.

Join the movement for results-driven education.

Partner with EOF

EOF is looking for champions of innovative financing — from governments and development agencies to investors and philanthropic actors — who believe in smarter, fairer, and more effective ways to fund learning.

Get in touch with our team to learn more!

Three ways to make an impact with EOF:

Outcomes Funding

Support programmes that pay for results, committing funds only when outcomes are independently verified.

Impact Investing

Provide upfront capital to finance delivery. Investors are repaid, with a return, when outcomes are achieved.

Ecosystem Building

Partner with EOF to strengthen the outcomes-based ecosystem — co-creating knowledge, building capacity, and advancing the global movement for smarter education financing.

Education is underfunded and underperforming.

We build partnerships to change that.

The Challenge: The world needs more and smarter education finance.

“The failure to convert funding into outcomes effectively means that children and young people are denied foundational skills and decent jobs. That is a huge human cost.”

Sir Ronald Cohen, Chair, EOF

Our Solution:
Results driven education and skills funding and systems

“EOF is much more focused than traditional ways of financing. It is done in a way where you are actually seeing results.”

Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania; Chair, Global Partnership for Education

EOF Approach: Turning funding into impact.

EOF drives three layers of systems change:

Our Work: From proof to scale.

EOF's three focus areas:

The Impact:
Real gains, lasting change.

EOF and partners deliver in Sierra Leone:

David Sengeh, Chief Minister of Sierra Leone

2030 Strategy:
A roadmap for global systems change.

EOF’s 2025-2030 Strategy defines two complementary objectives designed to scale outcomes-based financing and strengthen education systems.

1. Develop Outcomes Partnerships as a lever for transformative systems change

EOF works directly with governments to design and implement large-scale Outcomes Partnerships in education and skills. These partnerships improve learning and employment outcomes while helping countries embed results-based approaches into their own systems.

By 2030, EOF aims to:

Support 15 active Outcomes Partnerships, reaching 2 million children and youth.

Achieve 20% more outcomes per dollar spent than comparable programmes.

Mobilise $350 million for outcomes-based programmes.

2. Build the evidence, tools, and partnerships for outcomes-based financing

EOF is also investing in the broader ecosystem — generating evidence, codifying tools, building communities of practice, and influencing development partners to adopt outcomes-based approaches.

By 2030, EOF aims to:

Demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of OBF.

Streamline and codify the OBF process.

Enable 10 governments and 3 major development partners to integrate OBF into their own financing frameworks.

Join the movement for results-driven education.

Partner with EOF

EOF is looking for champions of innovative financing — from governments and development agencies to investors and philanthropic actors — who believe in smarter, fairer, and more effective ways to fund learning.

Get in touch with our team to learn more!

Three ways to make an impact with EOF:

Established in 2018 by:

Hosted by:

Education is underfunded and underperforming. We build partnerships to change that.

The Challenge: The world needs more and smarter education finance.

“The failure to convert funding into outcomes effectively means that children and young people are denied foundational skills and decent jobs. That is a huge human cost.”

Sir Ronald Cohen, Chair, EOF

Our Solution: Results driven education and skills funding and systems

“EOF is much more focused than traditional ways of financing. It is done in a way where you are actually seeing results.”

Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania; Chair, Global Partnership for Education

EOF Approach: Turning funding into impact.

EOF drives three layers of systems change:

Our Work: From proof to scale.

EOF's three focus areas:

The Impact: Real gains, lasting change.

EOF and partners deliver in Sierra Leone:

David Sengeh, Chief Minister of Sierra Leone

2030 Strategy: A roadmap for global systems change.

EOF’s 2025-2030 Strategy defines two complementary objectives designed to scale outcomes-based financing and strengthen education systems.

​

1. Develop Outcomes Partnerships as a lever for transformative systems change

​

EOF works directly with governments to design and implement large-scale Outcomes Partnerships in education and skills. These partnerships improve learning and employment outcomes while helping countries embed results-based approaches into their own systems.

​

By 2030, EOF aims to:

​

Support 15 active Outcomes Partnerships, reaching 2 million children and youth.

Achieve 20% more outcomes per dollar spent than comparable programmes.

Mobilise $350 million for outcomes-based programmes.

2. Build the evidence, tools, and partnerships for outcomes-based financing

​

EOF is also investing in the broader ecosystem — generating evidence, codifying tools, building communities of practice, and influencing development partners to adopt outcomes-based approaches.

​

By 2030, EOF aims to:

​

Demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of OBF.

Streamline and codify the OBF process.

Enable 10 governments and 3 major development partners to integrate OBF into their own financing frameworks.

Join the movement for results-driven education.

Partner with EOF

EOF is looking for champions of innovative financing — from governments and development agencies to investors and philanthropic actors — who believe in smarter, fairer, and more effective ways to fund learning. Get in touch with our team to learn more!

Three ways to make an impact with EOF:

Established in 2018 by:

Hosted by:

Education is underfunded and underperforming.

We build partnerships to change that.

Our Solution:
Results driven education and skills funding and systems

The Impact:
Real gains, lasting change.

2030 Strategy:
A roadmap for global systems change.

EOF is looking for champions of innovative financing — from governments and development agencies to investors and philanthropic actors — who believe in smarter, fairer, and more effective ways to fund learning.

Get in touch with our team to learn more!