Who Will Pay for Africa’s Education Future?

By Dr. Martha R. L. Muhwezi, Executive Director, FAWE Africa

Africa has spent decades discussing the importance of education. The question now is whether we are prepared to pay for it.

Across the continent, governments are investing in infrastructure, industrialization, digital transformation, and economic growth. These investments are necessary. But there is one investment that will ultimately determine whether Africa achieves its ambitions: education.

The challenge is not that Africa lacks vision. The challenge is that our ambitions for education are growing faster than our investments in it.

This is happening at a time when Africa is experiencing the largest youth population surge in its history. By 2050, one in every three young people globally will be African. This demographic shift presents an extraordinary opportunity for economic growth, innovation, and prosperity. But demographics alone do not create development. Young people need access to quality education, relevant skills, and pathways into meaningful employment.

The uncomfortable reality is that Africa’s education systems are already under immense pressure.

According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) data, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest rates of educational exclusion globally. Nearly 60 percent of young people aged 15 to 17 are out of school. UNESCO further estimates that nine million girls of primary-school age in the region will never enter a classroom. These figures represent not only a learning crisis but also a development crisis. When millions of children are excluded from education, the consequences extend far beyond schools and classrooms. They affect economies, labour markets, governance systems, and future growth prospects.

The challenge becomes even more significant when viewed through the lens of girls’ education.

A recent report by the World Bank, the Center for Global Development, and the Population Council found that more than half of African girls aged 15 to 19 are either out of school, married, or have children. The report further notes that Africa is currently home to approximately 145 million adolescent girls and will host one-third of the world’s adolescent girls by 2050. These numbers should force us to confront a difficult question: are we investing at a scale that matches the scale of the challenge?

The answer, unfortunately, is no.

While discussions on education often focus on access, quality, learning outcomes, and innovation, far less attention is given to the issue that underpins all of them: financing.

Who will finance the schools, teachers, digital infrastructure, learning materials, scholarships, technical and vocational training programmes, and tertiary education pathways required to support Africa’s growing population?

According to the 2024 Education Finance Watch, produced jointly by the World Bank and UNESCO, education spending has increased globally over the past decade. However, in many low-income countries, spending per child has stagnated or even declined because population growth is outpacing investment. In simple terms, more children are entering education systems than current financing levels can adequately support.

This trend is particularly worrying for Africa.

Governments are simultaneously responding to rising debt obligations, climate-related shocks, health emergencies, security concerns, and infrastructure demands. Development assistance continues to play an important role, but aid alone cannot finance Africa’s education future. As global funding priorities shift and resources become increasingly constrained, African countries must strengthen domestic solutions while mobilizing broader partnerships to support education.

The financing challenge is even more critical when it comes to girls. For decades, evidence has consistently demonstrated that investing in girls delivers some of the highest social and economic returns available to governments. Educated girls are more likely to participate in the labour force, earn higher incomes, delay early marriage, improve family health outcomes, and contribute to economic growth.

The economic case is compelling.

According to the World Bank’s 2024 report Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Africa, every US$1 invested in adolescent girls can generate more than US$10 in economic returns. The report estimates that investments in girls’ education, health, and economic empowerment could generate as much as US$2.4 trillion in economic gains across Africa by 2040.

Few infrastructure projects, industries, or economic programmes can claim such returns.

Yet despite this evidence, financing for girls’ education remains insufficient and often fragmented. Too many programmes rely on short-term project funding. Too many successful models struggle to move beyond pilot stages. Too many marginalized girls continue to face barriers that prevent them from completing secondary education and transitioning to tertiary education or employment.

The question before us is therefore not simply whether we need more funding.

The question is whether we are financing education differently enough to meet the demands of the future.

Governments must continue increasing domestic investment in education while embedding gender-responsive budgeting into national planning processes. Development partners must support solutions that strengthen national systems rather than create parallel structures. Financial institutions and philanthropic organizations must explore innovative financing mechanisms capable of unlocking new resources. The private sector must recognize education as a strategic economic investment rather than solely a corporate social responsibility activity.

Equally important, young people themselves must be part of the conversation. Decisions about education financing should not be made exclusively in ministries, boardrooms, and donor meetings. Young women and young men must have a voice in shaping the systems that will determine their futures.

These are precisely the conversations that Africa must have now.

This is why the 4th FAWE Triennial International Conference on Girls’ Education in Africa, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 17–18 November 2026, comes at such an important moment.

Under the theme “Investing in Her Future: Accelerating Gender-Transformative Education for African Girls through Sustainable Financing and Innovation,” the conference will bring together policymakers, development partners, youth leaders, educators, researchers, civil society organizations, and private sector actors from across the continent.

The objective is not merely to discuss girls’ education.

It is to confront one of the most important questions facing Africa today: how do we sustainably finance the future we envision for our girls?

How do we move from fragmented interventions to scalable solutions? How do we strengthen accountability for education investments? How do we ensure that financing reaches the girls and communities who need it most? And how do we build education systems capable of preparing Africa’s young people for the opportunities and challenges of the future?

Africa’s future will not be determined solely by the policies we adopt or the declarations we sign. It will be determined by whether we are willing to invest in the people who will shape that future.

The continent’s greatest resource is not found beneath its soil. It is found in its young people.

And if education is truly the foundation of Africa’s future, then financing education is a responsibility we can no longer postpone.