In the News Archives - Luminos Fund

Amid Global Learning Crisis, New RCT Shows Dramatic Learning Gains for Luminos Students in Liberia

Nov 28, 2023 | Luminos Fund | Data, In the News, Press Release

A new randomized controlled trial (RCT) shows children in the Luminos catch-up education program in Liberia achieve dramatic learning gains: a country where more than one in three children are out of school. In just one school year, Liberian children enrolled in the Luminos program learn 90% of what the average Liberian will learn in their lifetime.

Boston, Massachusetts – The Luminos Fund, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education opportunities to the world’s most vulnerable out-of-school children, is pleased to announce new results from a randomized controlled trial (RCT), confirming dramatic learning gains among children in the Luminos catch-up education program.

In just one school year, Liberian children enrolled in the Luminos program learn 90% of what the average Liberian will learn in their lifetime. Read the full report and executive summary here.

“In the midst of a global learning crisis, with millions of children either out of school or attending without gaining foundational reading skills, there is an urgent need to make quality education a reality for every child,” said Caitlin Baron, CEO of the Luminos Fund. “The RCT results prove that children can learn a remarkable amount in a short period of time with the right support. Luminos students go from not recognizing all the letters in the alphabet at the start of the program to reading short stories by the end. This is truly transformative and establishes a solid foundation for lifelong learning.”

IDinsight, a global research and advisory organization, conducted the RCT during the 2022-23 school year in Liberia. The data shows Luminos students progressed from reading an average of 4 words per minute (WPM) at the start of the program to 29 WPM by the end, compared to 7 WPM for children in the control group.

Jeffery McManus, Senior Economist at IDinsight, said, “The Luminos Fund is demonstrating that there is a way to reach the most marginalized children and to run an accelerated program that, within 10 months, can give them the building blocks that will prepare them to transition to and succeed in the mainstream education system.”

In a review of external evaluations conducted in the global education sector, forty percent show no effect on student learning. Among the programs showing an impact, the Luminos program stands out as both transformational and cost-effective for children’s learning.

LEARN MORE:

To read the RCT in its entirety, click here.
To read a summary of the RCT, click here.
To learn more about the Luminos Fund, visit www.luminosfund.org

For media inquiries, please contact Michael Stulman at michael@luminosfund.org or via WhatsApp at +1-667-289-7534.

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About the Luminos Fund: The Luminos Fund runs catch-up education programs for some of the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach children in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In just one school year, out-of-school children learn how to read, write, and do math – to learn how to learn – through a joyful, activity-based curriculum. As an international education nonprofit, our mission is to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. To date, Luminos has helped over 277,541 children secure a second chance to learn.

Measuring Transformative Learning Gains: Key Findings from the IDinsight RCT of Luminos’ Liberia Program

Sep 21, 2023 | Luminos Fund | Data, In the News, Liberia

Since 2016, the Luminos Fund’s one-year catch-up education program in Liberia has reached more than 17,660 out-of-school children. Luminos is always laser-focused on data to measure our program’s impact on children’s learning and, today, we are delighted to share the excellent results of a new IDinsight randomized controlled trial (RCT) of our Liberia program.

The RCT confirms that children make dramatic learning gains during our program. In the 2022-23 school year, Luminos students read three times more words per minute (WPM) and showed a two-times increase in addition and numeracy skills by the end of our one-year program, compared to the control group. Data from the RCT also shows that the Luminos program is one of only three education programs that is both transformational for children’s learning and cost-effective. Our team is immensely proud of these findings, which are a testament to our tireless focus on helping the most vulnerable children learn.

The Luminos Fund presented key findings from the RCT during our seventh annual U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) week luncheon in New York on September 19, 2023.

1. Luminos students achieve substantial learning gains year over year, even as the program reach has doubled in scale.

During the 2022-23 school year in Liberia, Luminos students progressed from reading an average of 4 WPM at the start of the program to 29 WPM by the end of the program. This remarkable increase is 21 WPM more than students in the control group gained. This finding mirrors external evaluation data from our two prior program years in Liberia when children achieved similar results. In this same three-year period, our program doubled from serving 2,400 students in the 2020-21 school year to 5,010 students in the 2022-23 school year. The RCT also finds that Luminos students achieve substantial gains in numeracy skills compared to the control group.

2. In one year, a child in the Luminos Liberia program learns 90% of what the average Liberian will learn in their lifetime.

The learning that Luminos students achieve in just one school year is almost as much as the average Liberian achieves over their entire life. No other externally evaluated program in Liberia has come close to the learning gains that IDinsight documented through the RCT of the Luminos program. [1]

This statistic not only highlights the remarkable impact of the Luminos program but also underscores the significant challenges facing the education system in Liberia. Luminos is honored to have such a strong presence in Liberia, including our partnership with government, to help more children achieve similarly remarkable results in the years ahead.

3. Uniquely, the Luminos program is both transformational and cost-effective.

The RCT results confirm that the Luminos program is one of only three education programs that have been shown to be both transformational for children’s learning and cost-effective. This is measured using data from the 2020 Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel “Smart Buys” report on learning gains and USAID cost-effectiveness metrics.

Why these two variables? An intervention’s cost is vitally important: even the most transformative education program may have limited ability to scale if the cost per child is extremely expensive. Equally, the total amount of learning achieved in a given intervention is vitally important. Foundational literacy interventions only become catalytic if they enable children to reach the threshold of fluent reading. A program that moves children from 3 to 6 WPM could appear cost-effective if it was delivered for a low cost, but would not have any deep or meaningful impact on that child. Thus, we mapped interventions by how they performed on these two variables.

The Luminos program is one of only three education programs that has been shown to be both transformational for children’s learning and cost-effective. Source: USAID, Early Grade Reading Barometer

(A grim side note that makes us all the more proud of the rarified results Luminos is achieving: A staggering 40% of evaluations in the education sector show no effect on student learning. Lots of work remains in the global community’s quest to ensure every child is receiving a high-quality education.)

Looking Ahead: Expanding Our Reach

The Luminos Fund’s impact on children’s learning is only possible thanks to the generosity of our supporters, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dubai Cares, Echidna Giving, Legatum, The LEGO Foundation, Mulago Foundation, Pousaz Philanthropies, UBS Optimus Foundation, USAID, and others. Luminos is scaling our model as broadly as possible, funding permitting, advancing our unwavering mission to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. We are grateful to our global community of supporters, partners, and advisors for joining us on this important journey.

Read the full IDinsight RCT report.

Learn more about the Luminos program in Liberia.

[1] The Learning Adjusted Years of School expresses learning in comparison to what would be achieved in a high-quality education system within a year. This enables the comparison of learning outcomes across different contexts.

Board of Directors Spotlight: A Q&A With Chair Philip Vassiliou

Sep 8, 2023 | Luminos Fund | In the News

The Luminos Fund is delighted to introduce our new Board of Directors Chair, Philip Vassiliou, Chief Investment Officer and Partner of Legatum. Philip has been a dedicated member of the Luminos Board of Directors for more than four years, bringing with him a strategic perspective and an unwavering commitment to our mission: ensuring all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination.

Continue reading to learn more about Philip, his vision for Luminos, and his new role as Board Chair.

Why is education important to you?

I’m deeply passionate about the role that education can play in unleashing a child’s potential. At an early age, my father frequently spoke with me about the importance of education, and indeed what a gift it is to receive. Having grown up in a very poor community in Greece, he was the beneficiary of a scholarship that allowed him to pursue higher education. This ultimately ended up changing the trajectory of his life, and indeed that of our family. Fast forward several decades, now as the father of three children, I’m acutely aware of the impact that a great education can have on a child’s development. So, at its core, the meaning of Luminos is deeply personal for me: to try and bring joy, hope, and life-change to children in some of the most challenging environments of the world.

Philip Vassiliou_new Legatum headshot_square

Philip Vassiliou, Chief Investment Officer and Partner of Legatum

What excites you about the Luminos Fund’s mission to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning?

Giving children a second chance and access to high-quality, joyful learning has the potential to unlock the tremendous potential that lies within every child. This life-change doesn’t just take place within the child, but also impacts their families and communities. The compounding effect of this life-change over generations has the ability to lift millions of people out of poverty and create long-term prosperity in some of the poorest and most challenging areas of the world.

At Legatum, to borrow from the famous business author Jim Collins, we often talk about the “Good” and the “Great.” The “Good” comes from the joy of engaging with each child that Luminos has the privilege of serving. Their smile and love for learning are a wonderful reminder of what is possible, even in the most difficult of circumstances. The “Great” comes from the longer-term potential of lifting entire communities out of poverty working alongside local governments and our partners to help them truly own the solutions and outcomes.

How were you first connected to the Luminos Fund?

My partners at Legatum and I have long cared about education, and seen its importance in children’s lives in terms of both individual and societal prosperity. Back in 2007, we invested in an innovative model for out-of-school children built around a ten-month accelerated learning program in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Having seen the success of the program, in 2011 we decided to move the project to Ethiopia, with the University of Sussex as a long-term evaluation partner, to test if the model was both transportable and scalable – i.e., was it “just” good, or could it actually be great!

With the answer to that question being a resounding “yes,” we decided to create the Luminos Fund in 2016. At Legatum, we believe in the power of collaborative philanthropy working in concert with community-based organizations, and we had seen the impact of this through our founding of the END Fund and the Freedom Fund. It therefore was a natural step to build on the lessons of our past experiences and set up a fund vehicle to partner with other investors to scale a program that we had empirical proof helped to significantly accelerate the learning of children in some of the most marginalized populations in Africa and the Middle East. My fellow partner, Alan McCormick, served as the original chair of Luminos and identified Caitlin Baron to serve as its inaugural CEO.

On a personal level, although my professional background is in investing, I’ve had a long-standing passion for being involved in nonprofit organizations involved in education. I previously served on the Board of The Ubuntu Pathways, a nonprofit organization that provides an integrated support system of health, education, and social support in the townships of Gqeberha, South Africa, previously known as Port Elizabeth.

Luminos has had the privilege of hosting you to see our programs. Can you share more about that experience? What was most memorable for you?

I have had the privilege of being out in the field and seeing the Luminos programs in both Lebanon and Ethiopia. Both visits were amazing and a powerful reminder of the joy that exists in the classrooms where Luminos serves. The Lebanon visit was particularly memorable as I got the chance to visit with my wife who is Lebanese, along with our eldest son.

Can you describe your first memory from your education?

My first memory really comes from my nursery education. I remember a fun, colorful, safe, and stimulating classroom environment where I discovered the joy of learning, making friends, and helped open my mind to the outside world. At its core, Luminos seeks to offer the same experience to children everywhere, no matter how challenging the circumstances or the environment.

What is your vision for the Luminos Board moving forward?

The Board of Luminos has the responsibility to support Caitlin as the CEO, set the long-term vision, mission, and culture of the organization, ensure good governance, wise stewardship over the organization’s resources, and continue to scale the Luminos progams to serve more children and communities.

To learn more about the Luminos boards and read member biographies, click here.

Education is a Humanitarian Imperative for Children in Tigray, Ethiopia

Aug 22, 2023 | Luminos Fund | Ethiopia, In the News

This blog was originally posted on the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) website and can be viewed here.

On World Humanitarian Day, we turn our focus to the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, where children have endured devastating consequences of conflict and the upheaval caused by COVID-19. A new independent study commissioned by the Luminos Fund reveals profound learning loss and trauma, reinforcing the urgent need to prioritize education as a humanitarian imperative.

By: Dr. Alemayehu Hailu Gebre (Luminos Fund) and Dr. Belay Hagos (Addis Ababa University)

Civil war in northern Ethiopia affected over 20 million people, closed over 7,000 schools and shut almost 1.5 million children out of school. The conflict came directly on the heels of earlier school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After three years of being out of school and enduring the traumas of war, children now face a challenging journey to catch up on education. However, Luminos’ accelerated education program shows that every child is capable of learning a remarkable amount in a short period of time, if given the chance. We have seen this to be true across all our country programs, including in Ethiopia where Luminos is successfully reaching more than 189,768 out-of-school children. In one school year, our program teaches children to read, write and do math.

Following the historic peace agreement in Ethiopia, Luminos returned to the Tigray region and faced an alarming reality: over 1 million people are currently displaced, and schools are badly damaged. Both government and civil society shared an urgent call to restart the Luminos program.

Recognizing that the core aspects of the program would need to be customized to the unique needs of children in Tigray, we commissioned an independent study examining the levels of learning loss, trauma and resilience in children, parents and teachers.

Dr. Belay, at Addis Ababa University, led a team of senior researchers from Mekelle University in surveying 600 internally displaced children, 450 parents and 400 teachers. The findings offer the first comprehensive view into the harrowing experiences of children, parents and teachers in Tigray since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Findings from the Report

Infographic depicting six key findings from the the summary report on learning loss, trauma, and resilience in Tigray, Ethiopia.

The survey revealed that 70% of children thought they would die of hunger, and 72% of children experienced shooting at a very close distance. Teachers were also deeply affected as 4 out of 5 reported experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

We also wanted to understand how the context of conflict may also impact learning and foundational skills in primary-school-aged children, as we were already concerned about losses caused by education disruptions due to COVID-19.

Children who were enrolled in Grades 2 and 3 at the time of school closures in March 2020 were assessed using the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) to measure potential learning loss. The results were benchmarked against the regional averages for Grade 2 and 3 students from the 2018 national EGRA, which was the last national EGRA before the conflict to include students from Tigray.

Study findings indicated that Grade 2 students’ oral reading fluency had declined by almost 13%.

Oral Reading Fluency of Grade 2 Students in 2018 vs. 2023.

Beyond these alarming findings, the loss incurred by children, not only in terms of losing what they had learned prior to the conflict and pandemic, but also missing out on school is possibly the greatest setback.

As the region rebuilds education must be a humanitarian priority, as it can be a lifeline to communities offering hope, resilience and a path toward a better future.

A Luminos student in Ethiopia sits at his desk during class. (Credit: Michael Stulman/Luminos Fund)

A Holistic Strategy for School Re-Opening

Out of almost all children surveyed, 98% expressed their eagerness to return to school.

As Luminos is re-establishing its program in Tigray after 3 years, there are several urgent steps being taken to ensure an effective learning environment that prioritizes trauma healing as an essential component of helping children achieve their full potential.

1. Providing Psychosocial Support Services

At Luminos, we recognize that there is an urgent need for comprehensive psychosocial support services and interventions to address the emotional and psychological needs of children, their families and teachers. These interventions are vital in helping them cope with trauma and creating a conducive learning environment. But we also know that in the context of Tigray, there is a significant shortage of trained professionals capable of delivering such services.

We believe that by equipping community teachers with specialized training and resources, teachers have the potential to serve as a valuable short-term solution in bridging this gap.

2. Mainstreaming Accelerated Learning

Children need and deserve a well-crafted and well-designed accelerated learning program that builds foundational skills within a positive learning environment.

These programs must be customized to the unique needs and context of children to maximize their impact. When we tap into what is culturally relevant for students in a given context and use an activity-based and engaging curriculum, evidence shows that it can boost social-emotional skills. For example, we are adapting our core approach in Tigray to include traditional music, dance, games, poetry and art, and we will invite parents and community leaders into the classroom to play active roles in children’s learning journeys.

3. Developing Strategic Partnerships

The education crisis in Tigray can be reversed, but only if we act together. As Luminos builds strategic partnerships in Tigray and beyond, our collaboration with educators, parents, community-based organizations, funders and government is essential. Partnerships enable us to shape a program that not only responds to the unique context of each region, but also brings forth strategies for meaningful learning recovery and lasting transformation.

Building Hope and Resilience

Looking ahead, we at the Luminos Fund mark World Humanitarian Day with a commitment to ensuring all children have equal access to joyful foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty or discrimination.

To read the full report summary, including further data on learning loss, trauma and resilience, click here.

The Luminos Fund (www.luminosfund.org) provides transformative education programs to thousands of out-of-school children, helping them to catch up to grade level, reintegrate into government schools, and prepare for lifelong learning. Working in partnership with community-based organizations, Luminos is scaling up its accelerated learning program to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. To date, Luminos has helped over 218,541 children secure a second chance to learn. A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Luminos is working in Ethiopia, Ghana, Lebanon, Liberia and The Gambia.

Cover Photo: A primary school classroom destroyed during the conflict in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia. (Credit: Tekalegn Kelemu Abreha)

New Summary Report: Examining Levels of Learning Loss, Trauma, and Resilience in Children, Parents, and Teachers in Tigray, Ethiopia

Jun 29, 2023 | Luminos Fund | Data, Ethiopia, In the News

The Luminos Fund commissioned an independent study to examine learning loss, trauma, and resilience among primary-school-aged children in Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, in the wake of COVID-19 school closures and two years of civil war.

The study, led by Dr. Belay Hagos from the Institute for Education, Health, and Development (IEHD) in collaboration with a team of researchers from Mekelle University, surveyed 600 internally displaced children who were enrolled in Grades 2, 3, and 4 at the time of school closures in 2020. It also included 450 parents and 400 teachers. Due to ongoing security concerns in various parts of Tigray, participants were selected from temporary shelters located in and around Mekelle.

The following findings are deeply alarming, indicating that children have experienced significant learning loss, and there is evidence of substantial psychological trauma affecting children, parents, and teachers. Our latest report, “Examining Levels of Learning Loss, Trauma, and Resilience in Children, Parents, and Teachers in Tigray, Ethiopia,” summarizes the findings of this independent study.

Download the summary report

“The findings of our study are a stark reminder of the devastating toll that war takes on children. It’s not just the physical destruction and loss of life – it’s the psychological trauma.”

Dr. Belay Hagos Hailu, Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Institute of Educational Research, Addis Ababa University

Key Findings

Context

Over the past two years, the war between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) devastated the education of millions of children in Ethiopia. The conflict affected over 20 million people, closed over 7,000 schools, and shut almost 1.5 million children out of school. The World Health Organization’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, referred to the war as “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.” It came directly on the heels of earlier school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Map of Ethiopia depicting the Tigray region in the north of the country.

After the Ethiopian government and TPLF announced a peace agreement, Luminos moved to re-establish our education program in Tigray, in partnership with communities and government. In early 2023, Luminos commissioned this study to inform a variation of our core program model that is customized to the unique needs of children in Tigray.

Key Recommendations

Based on the comprehensive findings of this study, several key recommendations emerge:

Provide comprehensive psychosocial support services for children, their families, and teachers to address the emotional and psychological needs resulting from the crisis.
Implement an accelerated learning model that targets missed or disrupted learning and embeds Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) approaches, offering tailored interventions to facilitate catch-up and bridge the learning gap.
Create and maintain conditions that encourage and support children’s continued attendance and engagement in learning, addressing potential barriers to ensure their sustained participation.
Prioritize collaboration between relevant stakeholders, including educators, parents, community-based organizations, and policymakers, to collectively address the challenges and develop effective strategies for educational recovery.

By implementing these recommendations, it is possible to address the critical needs identified in the study and work towards mitigating the impact of the pandemic and war on children’s education and well-being.

To read the full report summary, including further data on learning loss, trauma, and resilience, and a more detailed overview of the evaluation and methods used, click here. The full independent study is available upon request.

Luminos is mobilizing support and making urgent plans to relaunch our accelerated education program in Tigray in autumn 2023. To learn more, please email tigray@luminosfund.org.

To learn more about our Ethiopia program, click here.

Luminos Publishes 2022 Annual Report

May 31, 2023 | Luminos Fund | In the News

The Luminos Fund is pleased to publish our 2022 Annual Report.

Our mission at Luminos is to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. Thanks to our generous supporters, Luminos is serving 45,584 out-of-school children in the 2022-23 school year — more than double our reach last year.

To date, we have enabled 218,541 formerly out-of-school children to get a second chance at education and experience joyful, foundational learning.

2022 was a year of remarkable growth at Luminos. We launched two new country programs in Ghana and The Gambia and signed working agreements with governments in all our African country programs. The Ethiopian and Ghanaian ministries of education participated in an educational exchange organized by Luminos in Ghana, and our programs in Ethiopia scaled to new geographies and populations as we continued to strengthen our partnership with the government. In Liberia, our program expanded to serve nearly twice as many students with transformative education, and we launched additional projects centered on girls and keeping children safe.

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out-of-school children served in the 2022-23 school year

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total out-of-school children served across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East

Read our 2022 Annual Report!

We also launched the Luminos Method: a collection of best practices derived from our experience working in some of the hardest-to-reach communities. The Luminos Method is available to the broader education sector as a means to accelerate our vision of helping all children achieve foundational learning across the globe.

“Hope has motivated us to curb pessimism. This hope is reflected in the students’ faces. When we see the learners’ diligence and interest in discovering knowledge, our confidence in the coming days is boosted.”

Amal, Luminos teacher in Lebanon

Hope amidst the learning crisis

The World Bank estimates that 92% of children in low-income countries cannot read by the age of 10. However, amidst this staggering statistic, in Luminos classrooms, we are proving what is possible in some of the world’s most challenging contexts and helping children triumph. Amidst a series of global crises that are upending learning, we are filled with hope and determination. Luminos has a proven solution to help children gain the foundational learning skills to catch up and thrive.

In the words of Amal, a Luminos teacher in Lebanon, “Hope has motivated us to curb pessimism. This hope is reflected in the students’ faces. When we see the learners’ diligence and interest in discovering knowledge, our confidence in the coming days is boosted.”

Explore the 2022 Annual Report to learn more about our program, key accomplishments, partnerships with governments and community-based organizations, and more!

Meet some of our students, alumni, and teachers

The 2022 Annual Report also highlights the following stories from each of our country programs:

Thank you for your support. Together, we can ensure that every child can catch up and thrive.

The Luminos Fund's 2022 Annual Report spread on a wooden table.

Explore our 2022 Annual Report!

Click here to download a print-friendly version of the Annual Report.

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