OC3: Transnational alliances

Education Out Loud (EOL) provides grants to transnational civil society alliances, i.e. alliances of civil society organisations within a region or, in one case, civil society organisations across the world but working together with a common goal. With these grants EOL supports the alliances to carry out innovative multi-country advocacy and thereby influence transnational and national policy frameworks.

Operational Component 3 (OC3) aims to create an enabling transnational environment for civil society policy advocacy and transparency efforts in education. The OC3 component thus supports projects seeking to:

Open up transnational policy debates to citizens’ voices and engage more civil society representatives so that a wider range of opinions and lived realities are heard.
Contribute to the democratization and responsiveness of transnational policymaking.
Promote policy agendas that are more responsive to citizens’ interests as rights holders.
Develop more conducive transnational and regional conditions for relevant national policy setting.

In this way, OC3 aims to support civil society alliances to collaborate on transnational initiatives and campaigns that influence education policy at country level, particularly in the areas of equity, aid effectiveness, financing, and cross-sectoral synergies.

The OC3 projects will contribute to:

Creating space and ways for national actors to collaborate and share knowledge and experiences across borders.
Interventions connecting national strategies and advocacy in a multi-country approach to influence global and regional policies.
Interventions to promote policy agendas that are responsive to citizens’ interests and developed in democratic ways.

OC3 grantees

Discover more below about the alliances that are supported under Operational Component 3. A number of projects have been extended under EOL’s extension phase covering 2024-2026.

1. Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage

Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo

Alliance partners: Girls Not Brides, La Coalition Nationale Contre le Mariage des Enfants au Burkina Faso (CONAMEB), and Plateforme vers la fin du mariage des enfants au Niger

The project: The project is addressing the interlinked problems of high levels of early child marriage and girls out-of-school in countries in Francophone West Africa. Read more about the project here.

2. Global Campaign for Education (GCE)

Countries: Global

Alliance partners: Global Campaign for Education Secretariat (GCE), Arab Campaign for Education for All (ACEA), Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE), and Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE)

The project: The project focuses on holding states and the international community accountable for education financing and provision of education for all, including during times of emergencies and crises. Read more about the project here.

3. The South Asian Assessment Alliance (SAAA)

Countries: Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal

Alliance partners: Street Child (lead organization) and a network of national organisations including IID (Bangladesh), Ashoka (Myanmar) and ASER (Nepal) – with specialist support from the Pratham Education Foundation.

The project: The South Asian Assessment Alliance advocates for citizen-led assessments as a powerful tool to identify, communicate, create constituencies and catalyse change around childrens education. This project has been completed. Read more about the alliance here.

4. The Tax Education Alliance (TaxEd)

Countries: Nepal, Senegal, and Zambia

Alliance partners: Action Aid, Tax Justice Network (TJN), Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), Centre for Economic and Social Rights, and Educational International

The project: The TaxEd Alliance is working to ensure adequate domestic financing of education sectors in Nepal, Senegal, and Zambia, and hold duty-bearers accountable to their commitments. Read more about the project here.

5. Transnational Networks Advocacy Capacity Strengthened for Improved ECDE Legislation, Policies and Measures in Southern Africa (TRANAC)

Countries: Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Alliance partners: Zimbabwe Network for Early Childhood Development (ZINECDA), Early Childhood Development Coalition (ECDCM) Malawi, and Network for Early Childhood Development Lesotho (NECDOL)

The project: The project seeks to strengthen Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) networks and improve ECDE legislation, policies, strategies, and services in Southern Africa. Read more about the project here.

6. Girls Education Advocacy in the Region (GEAR)

Countries: Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Alliance partners: SAYWHAT Zimbabwe, Girls Activists Youth Organization (GAYO) Malawi, National Action for Quality Education in Zambia (NAQEZ), and Farming Communities Educational Trust (FACET) Zimbabwe

The project: The GEAR project is working to create inclusive and equitable education systems for girls and young women in rural and farming communities in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Read more about the project here.

7. Pamodzi for Inclusive Education in South-East Africa (PIESA)

Countries: Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania

Alliance partners: Rays of Hope Ministries, Fount For Nations, Kesho-Kenya, and Shule Direct

The project: The PIESEA project aims to reduce the policy implementation and awareness gaps that exist between inclusive education policies and programming in Malawi, Kenya, and Tanzania. Read more about the project here.

8. Civil society partnership for advocacy for non-formal education (by GRADE)

Countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger

Alliance partners: Groupe de Recherche et d'Action pour le Développement (GRADE), Association pour la promotion d l’éducation non formelle (APENF), l’Organisation d’appui aux populations rurales (AAPPOR), and l’Amicale Université Populaire (AUP)

The project: The Sahel region which is experiencing increasing population as well as unrest and a dire security situation. The project aims to find solutions to this social crisis by promoting literacy and non-formal education. Read more about the project here.

9. Adolescent Mothers’ Education Initiative (AMEI)

Countries: DRC, Uganda, Zimbabwe

Alliance partners: World Vision UK, Education Coalition of Zimbabwe (ECOZI), Coalition Nationale de l’Education Pout Tous (CONEPT), World Vision Zimbabwe, World Vision DRC, and ISER

The project: The AMEI project will bring together local, national and transnational actors for change in girls' education by challenging policy and practice barriers to access to education for Pregnant Girls and Adolescent Mothers. Read more about the project here.

10. The Kuyenda Collective

Countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe

Alliance partners: Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM), South AfricaForum for African Women Educationalists Malawi (FAWEMA), Policy Forum Tanzania, Centre for Learning and Capacity Building’s (CESC) Mozambique, Teach for Zimbabwe, and Stimulus Africa Zimbabwe

The project: Read more about the project here.