Throughout the developing world large numbers of young people, particularly girls and young women, do not have the opportunity to receive basic or secondary education. To address this problem, the Hewlett Foundation supports the millennium goal of universal access to quality education.
The Hewlett Foundation's
Education for All Strategic Plan Development
In 2004, three Hewlett program areas - Education, Population, and Global Development - began to create a comprehensive strategic plan for future investments in education in developing countries. The Foundation commissioned a paper summarizing the latest research on education in developing countries and describing key barriers to improving access and quality (see Executive Summary). In addition, Foundation program officers interviewed more than twenty-five experts on universal education (from both developing and developed countries) for advice on how to have the largest impact in the field. Their comments were boiled down into a working document, the Synthesis of Feedback.
The strategic plans for the Education, Global Development and Population Programs all propose deepening the Foundation's commitment to universal basic and secondary education in the developing world. In the last several years, each program area has awarded exploratory grants to support research and advocacy in this area.
In September 2005, the Board of Directors approved a recommendation to spend the next two years actively exploring the Foundation’s potential to have a longer-term impact in ensuring universal education, particularly in some of the most resource-poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In the early future, the time of one staff member will be devoted to narrowing and refining these areas of work into a specific set of strategies for investment.
If the Board ultimately makes the decision to establish the African Education Initiative as an ongoing collaborative program at the Foundation, we will publish guidelines and strategies for funding in this area.
In a related matter, the Hewlett Foundation has joined the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in a $200 million initiative to strengthen higher education in seven African nations over the next five years. (see September 16, 2005 news release)
Previous Grant Highlights
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
African Population and Health Research Centre
Basic Education Coalition
Council on Foreign Relations - Center for Universal Education
Equal Access
Development Gateway
AVU