Over the next four years, the Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP) aims to get 70,000 children back into the classroom and improve the learning outcomes of 98,000 children in 600 primary schools.
Most of the work is being carried out in districts in northern Ghana, although the project also aims to target pockets of out-of-school children living in the cities of Accra and Kumasi.
With about five years of development, the innovative program is structured as a results-based financing mechanism, as implementers are only paid if they achieve certain verified results.
“Although some of these programs have been tested in education, this is the largest to date”, says the Government.
However, as with all results-based funding programs, there are risks.
The Government of Ghana has pledged US$4.5 million for the programme, with the other part (US$25.5 million) being allocated to the UK Office of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development.
First mooted in 2018, the show has seen delays due to Covid-19, fundraising shutdowns, and a complicated design and structuring process.
At the launch, Ghana's presidential adviser, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, considered it a "remarkable milestone" and pride for the country to "host the largest results-based educational project in the world".
The Government was inspired to carry out the project after realizing that the country had a “problem” with an increasing number of out-of-school children and poor learning outcomes, explained Osafo-Maafo.
The country's 2021 census revealed that an estimated 1.2 million school-aged children in Ghana were not attending school, and 940,000 of them had never set foot in a classroom.
Furthermore, World Bank statistics show that children who go to school do not learn much.
The project brings together government officials, international donors, social investors and service providers, said Osafo-Maafo, “with the sole aim of getting our children back to school, as well as collectively supporting our schools and teachers to improve learning".
