As traditional donors cut back, the Gates Foundation is investing big in foundational education across India and Africa. The focus is on proven, low-cost solutions such as structured pedagogy. Local demand is high — and governments are leading the way.
Also in today’s edition: We serve up the power of powdered eggs, explore Village Enterprise, and look at the need for agricultural investment.
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In 2014, just 6% of third graders in Uttar Pradesh, India, could read a second-grade text. By last year, that jumped to nearly 28% — the best in 20 years. The Gates Foundation sees that kind of leap as proof that targeted, low-cost interventions work.
While there’s concern that traditional donors, including the United States, will cut global education aid, the foundation is going the other way. In April, it launched a $240 million strategy for India and sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to reach 15 million children over the next four years.
“There’s less donor money, but you can use that donor money to have higher leverage if it is closer connected and more targeted on the evidence-based solution,” says Benjamin Piper, director of global education at the Gates Foundation.
Their bet? Structured pedagogy — clear lesson plans, materials, and teacher coaching. Piper calls it “common sense.” At just $10 per child per year, it’s proven cost-effective, thanks to decades of data, writes Gabriella Jóźwiak for Devex.
The foundation’s not covering everything. “A lot of countries are already paying for the key elements,” Piper says. “They’re just paying for the key elements of products that aren’t quite as good.”
India’s push is backed by strong demand. “The reason why we’re doubling down? There’s real demand,” he says. “The problem is huge, but we actually know what to do.”
And in Africa? Ministers are pushing hard despite shrinking aid. “They’re really gung-ho about making this thing still happen,” he says.
The foundation is also exploring AI for teacher support — but Piper says the real driver is political will. “They are the ones leading the way,” he says. “It’s up to us to find the right mechanisms, evidence, support, and innovations that respond to their passion and prioritization.”
Read: Gates Foundation doubles down on education as other donors scale back
When Joel Guma, a mechanical engineer, launched Pristine Foods Limited in 2019, he wasn’t thinking about child malnutrition. His liquid egg products served hotels and bakeries across Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But after seeing just how far off Uganda’s stunting targets still were, he pivoted.
“There’s a lot of food grown in Uganda, but why we became so interested in eggs is because eggs have more protein, pretty much more than any food you can find around here,” Guma tells Devex contributor Amy Fallon.
That realization led to powdered eggs — shelf-stable, easy to transport, and packed with nutrients. Now, under a three-year deal with UNICEF and Uganda’s government, Pristine’s egg powder is being fed to nearly 50,000 children. The aim: Reach 6.8 million children by 2030 through the Egg Powder Initiative for Children, backed by Norad, the Norwegian development agency.
Laura Ahumuza Turinawe, senior nutritionist at the Ugandan Ministry of Health, says the country has cut child stunting from 45% in 2001 to 26% today — but more protein is critical to hit its 2030 goal of 12.5%.
Christiane Rudert, UNICEF’s regional nutrition adviser, adds that most food aid ignores young children’s specific needs. “The protein gap isn’t really something that has been widely pursued or addressed by others,” she says. “This is why we have come in with this innovative model.”
In Karamoja, a three-month trial with 340 children significantly reduced malnutrition rates. Next up: Potential scale-up through UNICEF’s First Foods Africa and new markets in Kenya and Tanzania.
Esther Omosa, senior nutrition specialist at the International Livestock Research Institute, says Pristine’s sachets offer real advantages: “Eggs are very delicate to transport, but you can throw the sachets in your luggage and move along with them easily.”
Guma’s goal? Keep growing — and keep feeding. “I can’t fix everything,” he says. “But this can go a long way in helping this problem.”
Read: Can a powdered egg a day keep malnutrition away? Uganda thinks so
When Village Enterprise lost a quarter of its budget due to USAID cuts, CEO Dianne Calvi knew it was time for a bold shift: Finding the nonprofit’s first African CEO.
“It’s a really difficult time, and it’s a painful time,” says Calvi, who announced her departure in June. “But ... that was a really important transition. ... That was the right time to do it.”
Founded to help Africans escape extreme poverty through entrepreneurship, Village Enterprise now has 94% African staff, including Chief Operating Officer Winnie Auma — once a volunteer. “Leadership has to be centered here,” Auma says.
Under Calvi, the organization grew from $1 million to $20 million, launched the first development impact bond on poverty, and proved its model works — generating $5 in income for every $1 invested. But after losing $10 million in aid, it also had to shut down a successful child malnutrition program, writes my colleague Elissa Miolene.
For both Calvi and Auma, this moment makes the case for African-led development. “As an African continent, this is the moment for our leadership,” says Auma.
Read: After rapid growth, US nonprofit seeks African CEO for its next chapter
+ Listen: For the latest episode of our weekly podcast series, Devex’s Rumbi Chakamba, Anna Gawel, and Adva Saldinger discuss the top global development stories of the week, including the Trump administration’s plans for key U.S. development agencies.
If U.S. President Donald Trump wants a “trade, not aid” approach, slashing global agriculture programs is self-defeating, experts warned at a recent Devex Pro briefing.
“You need to invest in helping those farmers become more productive,” said Stephanie Mercier, senior policy adviser at the Farm Journal Foundation. “In order for us to generate more trade, we need to make sure that those economies are strong.”
But Trump’s budget cuts have gutted key programs such as Feed the Future. The team “never had an opportunity to brief anybody ... on what Feed the Future was,” said Dina Esposito, former USAID assistant to the administrator. Other programs such as Food for Peace Title II and the Millennium Challenge Corporation are also on the chopping block, writes Senior Editor Tania Karas.
Even U.S. farmers are worried. “There is a core of support for food aid amongst farmers and ranchers,” said DaNita Murray, executive director of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association.
Maintaining some programming, such as emergency food for crises, while cutting longer-term agricultural investment is a little bit like keeping the wing of a plane and getting rid of the rest, Esposito added.
“It doesn’t fly if you don’t include all the parts.”
Read: A successful US food aid program needs agriculture investment, experts say (Pro)
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The long-awaited discussions on a United Nations Convention on International Tax Cooperation will kick off on Monday in New York. Global south countries have been calling for the tax discussions to move from the global north-dominated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and into an equitable U.N. format, for more than a decade now.
The global south wants a fairer, transparent, and more inclusive tax convention that tackles issues of illicit financial flows and tax avoidance. If these governments can crack down on multinational corporations avoiding tax and track money moved offshore, they can keep more of it in their countries, providing a crucial boost to their own resource mobilization efforts.
“This is a truly historic moment,” says Tove Maria Ryding, policy and advocacy manager for tax justice at the European Network on Debt and Development. “At long last, it is time to start rewriting the deeply flawed and unjust global tax rules. It is a unique opportunity to fight inequalities, stop tax havens, and make sure the world’s wealthiest individuals and multinational corporations start paying their share of tax.”
This first round of negotiations will last two weeks and focus on the legally binding commitments governments would be expected to make if they sign on.
France faces pressure to stop the U.S. from destroying $9.7 million worth of unused USAID contraceptives stored at a warehouse in Belgium. [The Guardian]
Jeremy Lewin, the former Department of Government Efficiency official currently serving as deputy head in charge of foreign assistance at the U.S. State Department, talks about his career and how he’s helping shift U.S. aid toward an America-first approach. [New York Times]
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