In many developing countries like Ghana, access to quality education remains a limited public service. As a result, poor households are unable to access public education usually because they are non-existent, too far away or expensive. In many of these situations, poor parents in Ghana are choosing to send their children to low-fee private schools (LFPS). These schools are owned and operated by local private school proprietors who charge an affordable tuition to parents who demand access to quality education. However, despite the critical need LFPS address within the market, many of the school proprietors lack access to the much needed credit and support.
The IDP Foundation’s (IDPF) keystone program, the IDP Rising Schools Program, was started in 2008 with the goal to create a sustainable, replicable, and scalable model. During a trip to Ghana to look at microfinance initiatives, Irene Pritzker, President and CEO of IDPF, had identified the untapped low-fee private school market – a sector that was totally ignored but desperately needed support. Irene saw that owners of existing LFPS, who were essentially grassroots social entrepreneurs, lacked access to capital to grow and improve their schools. This was because banks considered them “too risky”.
That’s when she set upon forging a unique partnership with local Ghanaian financial institution, Sinapi Aba, by providing catalytic philanthropic capital to create a program designed to provide loans and training in financial literacy and school management to local school proprietors. The program has reached almost 600 schools and nearly 140,000 students with expansion plans in process. Irene strongly believes in partnering with and empowering communities to strengthen the resources they already have and improve upon those while moving away from aid dependent solutions.
