The IDP Rising Schools team embarked on their first 2015 trip to Ghana to sit down and speak with school proprietors and tour the grounds at both schools from the initial pilot program and from the recent expansion.

When Eric Ansah Yirenki of Good News International School enrolled in the IDPRS Program, he was trying to figure out how he could increase the number of students able to obtain an education, while also increasing income to ensure teachers were paid on time and in full.

The education sector is experiencing a teacher crisis that if left unaddressed could prevent some United Nations member states from meeting the universal primary education and quality goals put forth.

Every September, the international community descends on New York City to participate in the United Nations General Assembly. The month alone signifies change as we start to see flickers of the seasonal shift, but it also means something for the global landscape as we see so many world leaders come together to discuss the greatest needs around the globe.

Taking out a loan with IDPRSP increased David’s effectiveness in his ability to lead his staff, manage the state of the school, strengthen the community, handle repayments responsibly, and even open a savings account through Sinapi Aba Savings and Loan.

Across Africa people face the challenge of securing land tenure. Ghana is just one example of a country where land rights are governed by legal pluralism, whereby customary, statutory and religious laws overlap in governing a single territory.

The IDP Foundation, Inc. is committed to collecting data from the low-cost private schools participating in the IDP Rising Schools Program and welcomes the contribution of additional research that highlights the important role this sector plays in providing Education For All.

In their recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, “The Re-Emerging Art of Funding Innovation,” Gabriel Kasper and Justin Marcoux provide a thoughtful analysis of the exponential social impact made possible by philanthropists who are willing to take risk and incubate innovative programs through their grantmaking.

The IDP Rising Schools Program has proven that through carefully tailored loan products accompanied by specialized training in financial literacy and school management, very poor private schools in Ghana are bankable. Now, the IDP Foundation, Inc. has turned its attention to improve the quality of teaching in these low-cost private schools, whose teachers are largely untrained and have little access to professional development opportunities.

Every year several hundred thousand Junior High School students take the Basic Education Certificate Examination in Ghana. This highly competitive exam largely determines their educational future as it selects the students who qualify to attend Senior High School as well as which school they will attend. With such high stakes, the IDP Rising Schools Program is thrilled to highlight two schools that did particularly well on the exam.