Diana Zacharia, a primary school teacher in Arusha, Tanzania, manages a classroom of 90 pupils — a challenge she has learned to navigate with support from the Swiss development organization Helvetas. Through a two-year training program, she and other teachers were taught innovative methods such as involving students in lesson preparation and peer learning to boost engagement and understanding. The training improved both her confidence and student performance, with pupils of trained teachers achieving better grades in mathematics.
While countries like Tanzania have expanded school enrollment, global education challenges persist — including overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages, and inadequate training. Now, progress in basic literacy and numeracy is at risk as foreign aid budgets face major cuts. UNICEF warns that education aid could drop by $3.2 billion by 2026, potentially leaving six million children out of school. The reductions follow policy changes such as the dismantling of USAID’s education programs, Switzerland’s decision to stop funding basic education, and the UK’s planned aid cuts of about £6 billion by 2027.
As government aid declines, attention has shifted to philanthropic organizations to bridge the funding gap. In 2020, global foundations contributed $9.6 billion to development aid, with around 1,000 Swiss foundations active in this field. Helvetas, for example, has received funding from the Liechtenstein-based Medicor Foundation for its teacher-training initiatives in Tanzania. Experts such as Fritz Brugger from ETH Zurich note growing expectations that private philanthropies will fill the void left by reduced government funding.
Leading organizations like the Gates Foundation and Jacobs Foundation are stepping up their commitments. The Gates Foundation is investing over $240 million to support foundational learning in sub-Saharan Africa and India, while the Jacobs Foundation, which has already invested more than CHF1 billion in children’s education, plans to expand its partnerships and long-term philanthropic efforts. UNICEF highlights that investing in basic literacy and numeracy offers the highest returns, with an IMF study estimating that universal basic education could boost global economic output by $700 trillion by the end of the century.
Despite these benefits, Switzerland’s SDC has stopped funding foundational learning, prioritizing vocational training and emergency education instead. However, experts warn that philanthropies cannot fully replace government funding — their total grants represent only 6% of global development aid. While Bill Gates has pledged to donate his entire fortune by 2045, the Gates Foundation’s annual $9 billion budget is still far below USAID’s former $40 billion education spending.
The Jacobs Foundation is exploring ways to increase its resources, adopting an investment strategy to expand future commitments and currently funding basic education programs in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Colombia. Still, experts stress that funding alone is not enough — quality teaching, manageable class sizes, and teacher presence are critical to achieving real learning outcomes.
In Tanzania, Helvetas’s training has shown measurable impact, with participating students performing significantly better in national exams. The organization emphasizes the need for a diverse funding base to sustain and expand its work, having already trained teachers in 160 schools. For teachers like Zacharia, these initiatives make a tangible difference. By incorporating interactive lessons and experiments, she has made learning more engaging and effective. “If the children know that today we are doing an experiment, they want to come to school instead of staying home,” she said. “They enjoy it a lot. And the lessons are sticking.”
