"Basic Education" refers to the foundational knowledge, skills, and perspectives that children generally acquire in pre-primary through secondary school. The U.S. has helped low-income countries provide basic education to their children since the 1970's. Read the rationale and impact of this investment.
U.S. Government funding is available for international basic education programs through two primary sources within the Function 150 (International Affairs) account: Development Assistance (DA) and the Economic Support Fund (ESF). These funds are administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State (DoS), and the programs they support are implemented by nongovernmental organizations (many of whom are BEC members).
The primary purpose of programming in education by the U.S. Agency International Development (USAID) under the 2018 Education Policy is "to achieve sustained, measurable improvements in learning outcomes and skills development. USAID’s investments support country-level partners to measurably improve key learning and educational outcomes, and do so in a way that promotes quality, equity, sustainability, and advances self-reliance. This policy applies to education programming across all levels (from preprimary through higher education), contexts (stable contexts to crisis and conflict-affected environments), settings (formal and non-formal), and providers (state and non-state).
Banner photo: Students learning to read in a Georgian primary school. Chemonics International.