After eight years of partnership, Liberia’s Education Advancement Program (LEAP), formerly known as PSL (Partnership Schools for Liberia), is graduating from the LGT Venture Philanthropy portfolio this year. LEAP is a partnership between The Government of Liberia and non-state school operators to improve public school quality.
LGT VP supported LEAP since its inception in 2016 and collaborated closely with three Ministers of Education, as well as with a variety of reputed philanthropic funders such as Mulago Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and AKO Foundation at different stages of the partnership. Over the years, our role in LEAP expanded from a co-funder to a multifaceted partner — serving as a resource mobilizer, international advocate and voting member of the Local Education Group, which aligns education reforms with government priorities.
By contributing to locally led non-state school partners, LGT VP’s co-funding was a decisive factor for LEAP to grow into a national education reform initiative, improving the quality of education for 125,000 students in 475 schools per year and engaging about 20% of all public schools in the country today. We congratulate the Ministry of Education of Liberia and the LEAP partners for the significant milestones the program achieved, reaching its independently verified impact, cost-effectiveness and scale targets and gaining strategic relevance in Liberia’s education sector plan.
The recently published LEAP report provides valuable insights from the program's perspective. As we transition out of the consortium of partners, we would like to take this opportunity to look back on the journey of the past eight years and complement it with additional reflections from a philanthropic funder's viewpoint.
Back in 2016, former Minister of Education George Werner was mandated to address the significant challenges Liberia’s education sector was facing after decades of civil war and the devastating Ebola epidemic in 2013 and 2014. 42% of children were out of school, only 20% of girls in fifth grade could read a sentence and less than 20% of primary schools had solid physical structures. 50% of children were entering school 3 to 6 years late.
LEAP was launched by the Government of Liberia as part of several strategic initiatives to radically improve the situation. From the get-go, LEAP was designed as a public-private partnership providing 100% tuition-free education from early childhood through grade 9. The Government of Liberia partnered with non-state school operators to improve public school quality by enhancing management, teacher training, supervision and integrating technology, to build capacity in public schools without having permanent staff stationed there.
“The teacher training has changed the way the teachers teach and come up with new ways to use technology in the classroom. Students’ performance and grades have gotten a lot better”
LGT VP’s strategic focus is to combine philanthropic capital with non-financial support such as business expertise and network access to scale solutions that deliver quality, are locally led, and where our engagement can play a crucial role in the journey toward sustainable funding.
As to LEAP, we were impressed by the Government of Liberia’s commitment to scaling LEAP significantly if the pilot proved successful, demonstrating improved learning outcomes at sustainable costs. The plan was to expand the program to more than 500 schools (about 20% of all public schools in Liberia) over the first five years and use the insights gained to influence policy decisions affecting all public schools in the country.
Recognizing LEAP's potential to improve school quality in low-resource settings, we provided foundational funding to proven organizations (UMovement, Streetchild of Liberia, Bridge Liberia, Rising Academies) as one element in laying the grounds for the program’s impact. A joint goal of the LEAP partners was to help LEAP secure long-term funding from bi- and multilateral as well as domestic sources, ensuring its financial stability.
Our decision to engage in the LEAP consortium was grounded in its innovative approach, which included the following:
“Ultimately, we expect all operators to run their schools at the government price point, but we know that takes time.”
By 2024, LEAP had successfully mobilized a total of USD 44.9 million since its inception in 2016, of which LGT VP contributed USD 6.3 million, or about 14% of the total. Additionally, LGT VP made significant efforts to mobilize further funding for the partnership, securing at least an additional USD 2 million beyond its own contributions.
In line with our principles as engaged partner, our commitment extended beyond philanthropic funding. Over the years, our role in LEAP evolved into a multifaceted partner—acting as a connector, an international advocate for LEAP and an active voting member (representing philanthropic funders) of the Local Education Group, the key committee responsible for aligning education reform initiatives with government priorities.
Also, we supported the initiative by providing resources to independently evaluate LEAP, share best practices from other partnership models, and advise the Ministry of Education on future design opportunities. Additionally, we engaged a consultant to enhance LEAP’s communication strategies, support fundraising efforts, and mentor the civil-servant LEAP coordinator in leadership and management skills.
Moreover, LGT VP funded Social Finance UK to manage and coordinate a UK-based pool funding mechanism and keep track of regular reporting, cost transparency, accurate data collection at school, teacher, and student levels, and the compliant deployment of resources to LEAP partners in Liberia.
LEAP’s impact is impressive: achieving gender balance with dropout and progression rates between genders showing no difference is a significant achievement in a context where girls often face barriers to education. LEAP expanded quality education nationwide across urban and rural areas from 94 (2017) to 475 schools (2024), accounting for nearly 20% of all public primary schools in the country of which 28% are located in the poorest four counties.
Most importantly, LEAP improved learning outcomes with LEAP supported students outperforming peers by 1⅓ to 2½ years. Per-student costs dropped by 85% from USD 304 in 2017 to USD 45 in 2024. Another critical achievement is that all LEAP partners have established comprehensive school safety standards, protocols, and responsibilities, aligned with International Child Safeguarding Standards. Please refer to the LEAP report for more details.
As an international program partner, we are proud to have accompanied LEAP’s journey to scale and to have worked with the Ministry of Education of Liberia and the group of LEAP partners over the past eight years. We witnessed how important implementation at national level was to garner stakeholder support and integrate LEAP into the government's reform agenda, sustaining the program’s impact beyond our engagement. LEAP is owned by the democratically elected Government of Liberia and supported by local expertise, with all four Country Directors being Liberian nationals and over 90% of the staff being Liberian.
Long-term, flexible funding ensured continuity through two government transitions, positioning LEAP for inclusion in Liberia’s 2024-2028 education strategy. One example for LEAP’s impact to improve decision-making is its focus on up-to-date school data to facilitate decision-making at county and district levels, which allows allocating resources more efficiently and more effectively. This allows policy makers to address schools needing attention, for example due to low teacher attendance or student dropouts.
However, we also acknowledge the challenges and barriers LEAP and its diverse partners have been facing throughout the years. Notably, financing strategies for the public-private partnership remain disputed, partly due to ideological differences about the role of for-profits in providing equitable public education, political complexities and diverging objectives. Overall, LEAP is recognized as a key initiative in Liberia’s current Education Sector Plan and the GPE Compact, which are crucial prerequisites for securing future sustainability through multilateral and domestic funding.
Our philanthropic engagement with LEAP evidenced the importance of long-term commitments when aiming for sustainably funded systemic change. It requires financial planning certainty for actors when going from pilot to scale, and to allow for space to create the evidence base, work with different administrations, build capacities within local public and private partners and rapport, and collaborate with local education stakeholders.
We extend our best wishes to the Ministry of Education of Liberia in building on these insights to roll out innovations introduced through LEAP across more public schools. We also wish the LEAP partners continued success as they work to enhance the quality of education and drive education outcomes for more children in the country. We encourage other funders to support the Ministry of Education in amplifying the impact of LEAP and other critical education reforms by matching their funding. Most importantly, we wish the children of Liberia a bright and prosperous future.
