The Accelerator Program 2.0 is a World Bank initiative aimed at supporting governments in low- and middle-income countries to strengthen foundational learning and reduce learning poverty. The program focuses on improving interactions between teachers, students, and learning content—the instructional core—through technical assistance that enhances early-grade teaching and learning. Its overarching goal is to demonstrate that substantial improvements in foundational skills can be achieved at scale within a few years when there is strong political and financial commitment, evidence-based policies, and a focus on measurable learning outcomes.
Launched in 2020 in partnership with the Gates Foundation, the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, UNICEF, and USAID, the first phase of the program (2020–2023) helped countries advance foundational learning by embedding learning goals into sector plans, mobilizing domestic and external financing, and strengthening institutional commitment. During this period, governments implemented or expanded early-grade reading and numeracy programs, developed teacher coaching systems, and improved learning assessments. Notable examples include Sierra Leone’s national literacy initiative, Pakistan’s enhanced assessment framework, Mozambique’s integration of foundational skills into curricula and teacher training, and Nigeria’s Edo State strengthening of teacher support and digital learning under the EdoBEST program. Across participating countries, strong political leadership and increased partner alignment helped accelerate visibility and momentum for educational reform.
Accelerator 2.0 expands the scope and ambition of the program, providing flexible, evidence-based technical and financial support to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with additional engagement in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. The program focuses on improving teaching quality and learning outcomes at the classroom level, strengthening delivery systems, and embedding foundational learning more deeply into education policy. Key interventions target the instructional core, including structured pedagogy programs, literacy and numeracy curricula aligned with evidence, quality textbooks with teacher guides, practical teacher training, and improved learning assessments.
The program is implemented through the Foundational Learning Compact (FLC), a Multi-Donor Trust Fund housed in the World Bank’s Education Global Practice. Accelerator 2.0 provides country grants that strengthen foundational learning through structured pedagogy, instructional materials, teacher training and coaching, assessments, and system-level mechanisms to maintain instructional coherence. These grants are closely linked to ongoing or planned World Bank-financed education projects to maximize impact. In 2024, a new cohort of countries joined the program, including the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone. Support is tailored to the context of each country, reflecting national priorities and system needs.
Examples of country-specific support demonstrate this context-responsive approach. In Ghana, the program aligns instructional time and curriculum for early grades while strengthening teacher professional development and classroom observation tools. Côte d’Ivoire focuses on documenting foundational learning reform scale-up and enhancing teacher coaching. Senegal is updating Grade 3 language arts curricula across multiple languages, improving access to teacher guides and student books, and introducing a track-and-trace system for materials. In Tanzania, early-grade teacher guides in reading and arithmetic are being reviewed and digitized based on user-centered research to improve usability.
Accelerator 2.0 also emphasizes regional expertise and high-level stakeholder engagement. Experienced experts are recruited to work directly with country teams, while regional convenings and events, such as the Africa Foundational Learning Exchange (FLEX), promote knowledge sharing and collaboration. The program supports knowledge creation and exchange by producing global public goods—toolkits, technical notes, and guidance documents—that distill lessons learned and provide solutions to technical challenges in foundational learning. It also connects countries to complementary initiatives, including Read@Home, the What Works Hub, and Engeza, a Gates Foundation-supported technical assistance hub.
Through these multifaceted efforts, Accelerator 2.0 aims to accelerate improvements in foundational learning, strengthen teaching quality, and create sustainable gains in educational outcomes across participating countries.
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