The international education sector is complex and diverse. Further below we have mapped out some of the actors in this ecosystem, including thematic and philanthropic networks, education data and statistics, and several resources that may be useful to your grantmaking. These links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the International Education Funders Group of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

Resources in Response to COVID-19

• Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic – information by the WHO.
• Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) – interactive maps and data tracking.
• Global monitoring of school closures caused by COVID-19 and the impact on education by UNESCO.
• Funding the Response to COVID-19 – interactive analysis of funding opportunities by Devex.

• Foundations react to COVID-19:
  • Firelight Foundation put together a number of suggestions for all donors as to how they can help their grantees in the face of COVID-19 – no matter what they fund.
  • Imaginable Futures’ open letter to their partners.
  • EdelGive Foundation’s open letter to all funders.

• Joint statements and pledges:
  • Joint PSO Statement by the United Philanthropy Forum.
  • European Philanthropy Statement on COVID-19 by the European Foundation Centre and Dafne.
  • Joint statement by London Funders on COVID-19.
  • Joint Statement Calling for Increased Giving In This Time of Crisis by Grantmakers for Effective Organization.
  • Philanthropy’s Commitment During COVID-19 Pledge by Council of Foundations.
  • Joint pledge by Covid-19 Funders (UK).

• What can foundations do? – Information, reports, tools,…
  • “INEE Technical Note on Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic” is designed as a living document that will be updated in response to changes in the learning and wellbeing needs of children, adolescents, youth, teachers, caregivers and other education personnel affected by COVID-19.
  • “Leadership in Difficult Times: Guidance for Donors and Giving FamiliesResponding to the Emerging COVID-19 and Economic Crises” by National Center for Family Philanthropy.
  • Open letter: Donors and supporters must act to ensure civil society resilience against COVID-19 pandemic by CIVICUS.
  • “How will COVID-19 impact foundation grants?” by William Worley, Devex.
  • “5 Steps the Best Boards Are Taking Right Now” by Joan Garry.
  • Nonprofit AF has published some useful guidelines for foundations and other donors to ensure that support is not jeopardised by COVID-19.
  • “Seven Things Philanthropy Can Do” by Lauren Smith, FSG.
  • The NPC Resource Hub published this coronavirus  guide: “How philanthropists should respond to coronavirus: Consequences, crises and opportunities for charities“.
  • “Responding to the Coronavirus Outbreak: Resources to Help Nonprofits” – Margie Fleming Glennon (The Chronicle of Philanthropy).
  • Philanthropy University has developed new courses with experts to help communities navigate safely through the COVID-19 crisis and provides a dynamic database of articles on the topic. This might be especially interesting for grantees and partners.

• Thematic Resources:
  • Persons with disabilities:
    • COVID-19 and Education for children with disabilities — A resource list compiled by GLAD Network.
    • Call to Action for an Inclusive Covid-19 Response on Education in Africa — By ICEVI Africa.
    • Principles and Statement to Governments on Disabled People and the Impact of COVID-19 — By Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum, which includes calls to action on education (more examples of DRF/DRAF grantees engaged in COVID-19 advocacy can be found here).

• Home learning support:
  • Home learning support for parents and guardians in eight different languages collated by Education Above All. EAA’s also provides project based resources for home schooling, i.e. a bank of educational projects that are across subjects, interdisciplinary, engaging and do not require any technology to be implemented. The projects are designed for different age groups and have low resource requirements.
  • Aga Khan Foundation provides support for families to help children learn at home during COVID-19:
    • Resource 1 – Supporting Families to Help Children Learn and Grow at Home during COVID-19: An overview and introduction to key tips and learning resources that families may consider to help their children continue to learn and grow while schools are closed during COVID-19.
    • Resource 2 – 12 Tips to Support Families to Help Children Learn and Grow at Home – An abbreviated set of 12 tips to provide parents and caretakers with a quick guide of suggested ideas and reflections to consider during COVID-19.
    • Resource 3 – 75 Suggested Online and Offline Learning Activities to Help Children Learn and Grow at Home – A curated set of 75 suggested offline and online learning activities and resources to support families to help children learn and develop during COVID-19.
  • The Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) provides a database of resources to support the provision of education in places affected by COVID-19, with particular focus on distance learning, alternative education, e-learning, and psychosocial support.
  • The World Bank has curated this list of resources and related documents collected and prepared by the World Bank’s edtech team in support of national dialogues with policymakers around the world.
  • Girls Who Code is making CS educational activities available for download free of charge. The organisation will release activities weekly — some online, some offline, of varying levels of difficulty—over the course of the next few months.
  • BookSmart gives parents and caregivers access to a library from their mobile phones so they can support their children’s learning while physical schools are out of session.
  • Ubongo is Africa’s leading producer of kids’ edutainment and provides educational videos on maths, science, and life skills for 7 to 14-year-olds.
  • Think Equal launched a Free Home Kit series of 6 sets of narrative picture books and activity sheets designed for parents or caregivers and children at home.
  • Commercial publishers respond to COVID-19:
    • Resourchers will appreciate Oxford University Press making some of its learning resources freely accessible for an extended period.
    • Cambridge University Press has also made a lot of resources available, a lot of them for teachers and parents.
    • Bloomsbury Early Years is making its online library of activity ideas to do with children aged 0-5 free of charge during the coronavirus pandemic.

• Teaching support for educators and practitioners:
  • Aga Khan Foundation has put together the following resources for educators during COVID-19 to help children and young people continue to learn and thrive:
    • Resource 1 – Supporting Educators’ Wellbeing and Professional Development during COVID-19 –  A curated collection of 11 tips, 32 offline and online resources to support educators’ wellbeing and professional development, and 10 recommendations for teacher support.
    • Resource 2 – Supporting Pre-School Educators to Help Children Learn during COVID-19 –  A curated collection of 12 practical teaching tips for pre-primary teachers, 25 offline and online teaching resources to help young children’s learning and psychosocial wellbeing, and 10 recommendations for pre-primary learning improvement programming during COVID-19.
    • Resource 3 – Supporting Primary School Educators to Help Students Learn during COVID-19 –  A curated collection of 11 practical teaching tips for primary school teachers, 50 offline and online teaching resources to help primary school-aged students’ learning and psychosocial wellbeing, and 12 recommendations for primary school education improvement programming during COVID-19.
    • Resource 4 – Supporting Secondary School Educators to Help Students Learn during COVID-19 –  A curated collection of 10 practical teaching tips for secondary school teachers, 50 offline and online teaching resources to help older students’ learning and psychosocial wellbeing, and 10 recommendations for secondary school education improvement programming during COVID-19.
  • Aga Khan Foundation developed the Inclusive Learning Environment Guide and the three Online Video Courses prior to COVID-19. However, these courses are even more relevant during these challenging times. The three online courses are open and available free of charge on AKF’s Blended Learning Initiative platform.  Anybody is welcome to create an account and self-enrol in the courses:
    • Course 1- Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment: This course will help educators to deepen their knowledge and skills in creating an inclusive learning environment, reflect on their teaching practices and integrate new instructional strategies into their classrooms. The course intends to help educators to identify: a) how best to build positive student-teacher relationships; and b) how best to use instructional strategies and assessment methods to support the development of students’ 21^st century growth mindset skills, pluralistic values and respectful attitudes. The course will give the participants the opportunity to observe a series of real-life classrooms from several countries that demonstrate best practices.
    • Course 2 – Developmental Dialogues: This course will introduce educators to the purpose of ‘developmental dialogues in education’ and the importance of classroom observation experiences. It will also introduce participants to the role of the teacher as a mentee and the role of the mentor. It will give the participants the chance to observe a series of real-life development dialogues from several classroom contexts across a variety of countries. Participants will improve their mentorship and ‘menteeship’ skills through ‘developmental dialogues in education’. 
    • Course 3:  Facilitating an Inclusive Learning Environment Workshop: This course will introduce the participants to the role of being a workshop facilitator and how to conduct face to face training sessions of the Inclusive Learning Environment Guide.  It will help participants to improve their facilitation skills and understand how best to contextualize the guide and its components to their contexts. 
  • The UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education joined forces with UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) to produce a new Handbook on Flexible Learning during COVID-19 and released a special publication entitled “Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning During Educational Disruption: The Chinese Experience in Maintaining Undisrupted Learning in COVID-19 Outbreak”.
  • HundrED in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report on “Quality Education For All During COVID-19” that documents 30 resources and initiatives that have the potential to help parents, teachers and children navigate through the plethora of challenges facing education during the pandemic. The accompanying website is compiling stories, tools and ideas to support student learning and wellbeing.
  • The EdTech Hub provides information and insights about the appropriate and effective use of EdTech in low and middle-income countries in response to COVID-19.
  • Trello Business Class (for educators K-12 and beyond), provided for free by Atlassian over the coming year.
  • The Whole Education Blog collated a list of resources to support schools during the Coronavirus crisis.
  • This micro-course by the Carey Institute for Global Good supports new online teachers with the design, development, and implementation of an online module, workshop, course or program by introducing instructional processes and strategies for online learning.
  • Edward Elgar Publishing is offering free access to a library of resources for teaching in the fields they publish via their Elgaronline platform.

Organisations, tools and resources recommended by members over the years. Please feel free to email us new suggestions.

• Education Equity Research Inititiave – A collaborative partnership that connects organizations and individuals committed to building stronger evidence and knowledge for improving solutions for equity in and through education and how to mainstream equity in your programme.
• Philanthropy University – The initiative by Philanthropy U, Inc. powered by Berkley-Hass, offers a number of free online courses that will allow participants to earn a certificate in social sector leadership from Haas School of Business, Berkeley. The courses are predominantly geared towards NGOs and others in the social change sector who want to grow their capacity in leadership and management.
• Grantcraft – GrantCraft develops and curates resources across different strategies, issues, languages, and formats.
• Geofunders – Since 1997, GEO has provided opportunities for grantmakers to come together to share knowledge and inspire each other to act.
• 360Giving GrantNav – 360Giving supports organisations to publish their grants data in an open, standardised way and helps people to understand and use the data in order to support decision-making and learning across the charitable giving sector.
• Foundation Center / Online Directory – A database of US foundations based on tax information.
• Pro Bono Economics – PBE charity projects help organisations to measure performance, improve their services and better track outcomes. For 2017, PBE will be focusing its work on areas where improved well-being is a central purpose: Education, employment, mental health, and complex needs.
• Bond – Bond is the UK membership body for non-governmental organisations working in international development.
• mySociety Research programme – The mySociety Research team investigates the impact of Civic Technology tools: those they produce themselves, and those from the wider community. As the field matures, it is important to understand whether tools are creating genuinely positive outcomes for as many people as possible. To that end, the Research Team pursues the following lines of enquiry:
  • What is the impact of our tools? Who feels that impact? How beneficial is it?
  • Are we reaching all demographics? If not, what can we change to improve that?
  • What effect does it have when we make small modifications to the way our technology works?
• The Center for Effective Philanthropy – CEP is a non-profit organisation that aims to improve philanthropy through the development of data and insight to enable higher-performing funders.
• Reos Partners – Reos Partners is a consultancy to think through ‘big’ problems.
• Investing in Knowledge Sharing to Advance SDG4 – This report helps you as a grantmaker think through how your program can contribute to building a Global Education Ecosystem of knowledge.
• Explore SEL – The site serves as a navigator for the field of social and emotional learning—providing information and tools that summarize and connect the major frameworks and skills in the field to support transparency and informed decision-making.

Disclaimer: The IEFG bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.