Roundtable on smart subsidies for early years

The problem

Across East Africa, demand for quality childcare is growing. Yet most families cannot afford it, and most providers cannot deliver it at prices families can pay. Financing is a critical missing piece. Without the right instruments, providers cannot invest in quality, and the affordability gap persists.

About the roundtable

Global Schools Forum and Open Capital Advisors, with support from the Hilton Foundation, are convening a 90-minute virtual roundtable bringing together a selected group of funders, financial intermediaries, and childcare providers. This is the first in a series of sessions under a broader Community of Practice focused on co-designing practical financing tools for the childcare sector in East Africa — starting with smart subsidies and revolving debt before expanding to other instruments in subsequent sessions.

For this first session, we want to explore three practical questions together:

• What has worked in subsidy design for childcare — and where have models fallen short?
• How do we tie financing to quality and outcomes without the verification process becoming an administrative barrier in itself?
• How can we better connect capital with last-mile providers? What does the right intermediary role look like/ what specific risk covenants do FSPs need to see?

We will bring an initial strawman to the session and ask participants to critically assess it. During our planned interactive breakout sessions, we will ask participants to challenge our assumptions, and help us pressure-test the strawman — with the goal of producing a public good the wider sector can learn from and build on.

Join us: We look forward to discussing this with you. To confirm your place, please register for the event by Friday, April 10th.