The Luminos Fund is a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

helping children in

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

excluded from school due to

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

, or conflict to have access to

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. The fund was launched by

Legatum Legatum Limited, also known as Legatum, is a private investment firm, headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Legatum was founded in 2006 by Christopher Chandler. Legatum owns the British broadcaster GB News. History and business activ ...

in 2016.

History

In 2007, Legatum partnered with the

Strømme Foundation The Strømme Foundation () is a Norwegian volunteer development organization that was established on September 21, 1976. The foundation provides assistance to poor people in the Global South to pull themselves out of poverty through microfinancin ...

to launch accelerated learning initiatives in West Africa and later launched its own 'Speed School' programme in Ethiopia in September 2011. Following the success of these programmes, The Luminos Fund was founded by Legatum in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, with Caitlin Baron being appointed as its first

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

2017–2020

In 2017, the Luminos Fund launched a programme to help refugee children in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. During that same year, the fund was among six winners of the Qatar Foundation's World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) Awards. In February 2020, British auction house

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

partnered with the Luminos Fund and held a silent auction titled ''Educate: A Charity Exhibition at Christie's'', with all proceeds going to the fund.

2021–present

In 2021, The Luminos Fund was the winner of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Lipman Family Prize. The following year, the fund was awarded the 2022 Klaus J. Jacobs Best Practice Prize from the Jacobs Foundation. The award recognises companies globally for working to ensure children have access to education. In March 2023, with backing from The Luminos Fund, The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education in

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

launched The Gambia Classes for Open Learning Programme (GCOL) in the town of Kerewan. In August 2023, The Luminos Fund was announced as a finalist for the 2023 P3 Impact Award.

Impact

Since 2011, The Luminos Fund has commissioned a series of external evaluations by The University of Sussex Centre for International Education to understand the impact of the fund's Second Chance programme. One longitudinal study from 2018 tracked 625 children who participated in Luminos' 10 month Second Chance programme in 2011, completed the curriculum and transitioned to government schools. The findings from The University of Sussex concluded that Luminos children continue to fare better than their government counterparts, with primary school completion rates being nearly twice as high compared to their peers. More recently, a randomised controlled trial conducted by IDInsight between 2021 and 2022 in

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

demonstrated that pupils who enrolled in the Luminos Fund's programme for out-of-school children from marginalised communities could read three times more words per minute by the end of the programme versus the control group.

Partnerships

Since 2016, the fund has worked in partnership with ministries of education in each of the countries they operate in. The fund works alongside community-based organisations in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, and

. This includes the following governmental bodies: *

Ministry of Education (Ethiopia) The Ministry of Education () is an Ethiopian government department responsible for the governance and policies of education. It is headquartered in Arada Sub-City, Addis Ababa. It is responsible for overseeing the teaching and learning process th ...

* Ministry of Education, Ghana * Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanon * Ministry of Education, Liberia * Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Gambia The fund receives financial support from a number of donors, including, but not limited to: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Beverly Sherck Education Charitable Corporation, Cartier Philanthropy, The LEGO Foundation,

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

, and

.{{Cite web , title=Our Funding Partners , url=https://luminosfund.org/funding-partners/ , access-date=2024-03-19 , website=Luminos Fund , language=en-US

References

External links

Official website
Funds International charities International non-profit organizations