NSI 12 – Innovative Financing for Education: Potentials, Challenges and Learnings
Spending on education globally remains insufficient despite long-standing promises. In this context, Innovative Financing for Education (IFE) has evolved from a niche set of tools into a broader arena of practices that are reshaping how education is funded, with significant implications for how education is governed and may be valued.
The articles in this issue navigate a crucial systemic tension. On one hand, advocates argue that blended finance, results-based mechanisms, and impact bonds can mobilise private capital, mitigate risks, and enhance efficiency. On the other, sceptics warn that these instruments risk commodifying students and learning and privatizing public goods; undermining governments’ role as duty bearers for the right to education and distracting from necessary public reforms; replacing accountability to learners and local communities toward investors; and shifting finance away from sustainably funding future educational needs to shorter time horizons.