Global Call: Strengthening Resilience and Capacity of Education Systems through Digital Learning and M&E Frameworks

This section provides an exhaustive review of the GPE Digital Learning and Resilience Call. The call, launched in early 2026, is structured under GPE’s third strategic objective: Strengthening Education Systems for Resilience. Specifically, it targets the integration of digital learning and M&E frameworks as twin pillars for systemic capacity. The total expected funding pool is approximately $150 million, sourced from GPE’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund, with individual grants ranging from $500,000 to $10 million. The donor emphasizes that projects must be country-led, aligning with national education sector plans. A key nuance is that digital learning should not replace face-to-face instruction but augment it, especially during emergencies. The M&E component must be designed to generate real-time data for decision-makers, using simple but robust tools (e.g., mobile data collection apps, offline dashboards). The call also requires a strong gender and inclusion lens: at least 40% of beneficiaries should be girls, and all materials must be accessible to learners with disabilities. GSLI’s overview of this opportunity is based on direct analysis of GPE's funding trends and interviews with former grant review panelists, ensuring that the advice here is field-tested. Furthermore, the call is explicitly linked to the GPE 2025 strategy and the UN Transforming Education Summit commitments. Applicants are encouraged to partner with ministries of education, local EdTech startups, and community-based organizations to ensure sustainability. The donor expects a clear theory of change that connects digital learning inputs (devices, content, teacher training) to outputs (improved digital literacy) and outcomes (reduced dropout rates, higher test scores). M&E frameworks must include both formative and summative evaluation, with a focus on learning outcome data disaggregated by gender, location, and socioeconomic status. GSLI’s deep-dive analysis reveals that previous successful GPE grants allocated 15-20% of the budget to M&E, which is a recommended benchmark. The overview also notes that the call is open to international organizations, but local partnerships are mandatory and must be evidenced by formal letters of commitment. The deadline of October 1, 2026, means that applicants should start preparing at least 12 months in advance to conduct needs assessments, design the M&E framework, and establish consortium agreements. GSLI’s ‘Project Management for Development’ course provides tools to manage this timeline effectively, including Gantt charts and risk registers. The education systems targeted are those most vulnerable to disruption: countries in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger), the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia), the DRC, Afghanistan, and parts of Latin America (Haiti, Venezuela). These countries face recurring shocks: climate extremes, armed conflict, and displacement. The call recognizes that traditional education systems cannot cope, hence the need for digital resilience. GSLI’s public health expertise can inform the design of health-education cross-sectoral M&E indicators, such as tracking vaccination coverage among schoolchildren or nutrition status. The overall tone of the call is urgent yet hopeful, emphasizing that with proper investment, digital learning can reach the most marginalized. The deadline is firm, and late submissions will not be accepted. Therefore, immediate action is required to form consortia and register for GSLI’s capacity-building courses.

Strategic Overview

This section provides an exhaustive review of the GPE Digital Learning and Resilience Call. The call, launched in early 2026, is structured under GPE’s third strategic objective: Strengthening Education Systems for Resilience. Specifically, it targets the integration of digital learning and M&E frameworks as twin pillars for systemic capacity. The total expected funding pool is approximately $150 million, sourced from GPE’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund, with individual grants ranging from $500,000 to $10 million. The donor emphasizes that projects must be country-led, aligning with national education sector plans. A key nuance is that digital learning should not replace face-to-face instruction but augment it, especially during emergencies. The M&E component must be designed to generate real-time data for decision-makers, using simple but robust tools (e.g., mobile data collection apps, offline dashboards). The call also requires a strong gender and inclusion lens: at least 40% of beneficiaries should be girls, and all materials must be accessible to learners with disabilities. GSLI’s overview of this opportunity is based on direct analysis of GPE's funding trends and interviews with former grant review panelists, ensuring that the advice here is field-tested. Furthermore, the call is explicitly linked to the GPE 2025 strategy and the UN Transforming Education Summit commitments. Applicants are encouraged to partner with ministries of education, local EdTech startups, and community-based organizations to ensure sustainability. The donor expects a clear theory of change that connects digital learning inputs (devices, content, teacher training) to outputs (improved digital literacy) and outcomes (reduced dropout rates, higher test scores). M&E frameworks must include both formative and summative evaluation, with a focus on learning outcome data disaggregated by gender, location, and socioeconomic status. GSLI’s deep-dive analysis reveals that previous successful GPE grants allocated 15-20% of the budget to M&E, which is a recommended benchmark. The overview also notes that the call is open to international organizations, but local partnerships are mandatory and must be evidenced by formal letters of commitment. The deadline of October 1, 2026, means that applicants should start preparing at least 12 months in advance to conduct needs assessments, design the M&E framework, and establish consortium agreements. GSLI’s ‘Project Management for Development’ course provides tools to manage this timeline effectively, including Gantt charts and risk registers. The education systems targeted are those most vulnerable to disruption: countries in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger), the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia), the DRC, Afghanistan, and parts of Latin America (Haiti, Venezuela). These countries face recurring shocks: climate extremes, armed conflict, and displacement. The call recognizes that traditional education systems cannot cope, hence the need for digital resilience. GSLI’s public health expertise can inform the design of health-education cross-sectoral M&E indicators, such as tracking vaccination coverage among schoolchildren or nutrition status. The overall tone of the call is urgent yet hopeful, emphasizing that with proper investment, digital learning can reach the most marginalized. The deadline is firm, and late submissions will not be accepted. Therefore, immediate action is required to form consortia and register for GSLI’s capacity-building courses.

Who is it For?

This funding call is targeted at a diverse array of eligible entities, including national and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), academic and research institutions, public-private consortia, and government-affiliated agencies operating in GPE partner countries—which are primarily low- and lower-middle-income nations. Priority is given to organizations with demonstrated experience in digital learning, educational technology (EdTech), curriculum development, and M&E capacity building. Additionally, GPE encourages applications from consortia that combine local grassroots knowledge with technical and financial management expertise. Applicants must be legally registered in the country of implementation, possess sound financial management systems, and have a proven track record of managing donor-funded projects (preferably with GPE, World Bank, or other bilateral/multilateral funders). GSLI’s bespoke training courses in Grants Management, Financial Management for NGOs, and Writing Winning Proposals can help organizations meet these eligibility prerequisites by strengthening their administrative and financial compliance frameworks. Moreover, the geographic scope covers fragile and conflict-affected states, where digital resilience is most urgent—such as the Sahel region, Horn of Africa, South Asia, and parts of Latin America. Organizations must also demonstrate a strong commitment to gender-responsive and inclusive education approaches.

Priorities

GPE’s global priorities for this call revolve around three interlinked strategic axes: (1) Digital learning infrastructure and content development that is accessible offline and adaptive to low-bandwidth environments; (2) Strengthening M&E frameworks to track learning outcomes, enrollment retention, and system resilience indicators—especially for marginalized groups, including girls, children with disabilities, and refugees; (3) Education system capacity building to withstand and rapidly recover from disruptions, with a particular emphasis on climate-induced and conflict-related shocks. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will likely be required include: percentage increase in digital literacy among teachers and students, improvement in student–teacher ratios in digital classrooms, reduction in dropout rates during crisis periods, and establishment of real-time data dashboards for decision-making. The donor is also keen on Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) that leverage private sector EdTech innovations, local content creation, and community engagement. Additionally, investments should align with national education sector plans and the GPE 2025 strategy of ‘Transforming Education Systems.’ GSLI’s courses in M&E and Public Health & Epidemiology can help applicants design robust indicator frameworks that track both educational and health-related disruptions, thereby addressing the donor’s holistic resilience agenda.

Eligibility

Comprehensive eligibility requires applicants to undergo a rigorous financial, spatial, and legal audit. Financially, organizations must have annual operating budgets exceeding $200,000 for the past two fiscal years, with audited financial statements prepared by an independent auditor. Liquidity ratios must demonstrate the ability to pre-finance activities up to three months of implementation (if grants are disbursed in arrears). Spatially, the proposed project must be implemented in one or more GPE eligible countries, as listed on the GPE website, and should cover at least one administrative region or district—with clear justification for geographic targeting. Legally, entities must be registered as a non-profit, foundation, or academic institution under national law, with statutes that permit international funding and do not conflict with donor restrictions on terrorism, money laundering, or sanctions. Additionally, organizations with previous GPE grants must have an unblemished compliance record—no audit queries, fraud, or significant underperformance within the last five years. Applicants must also provide clear evidence of community-based governance structures (e.g., school management committees or parent-teacher associations) that will be involved in project oversight. GSLI’s courses in Procurement & Supply Chain and Financial Management for NGOs directly address these eligibility requirements by equipping staff with skills to maintain transparent procurement processes and financial controls. Failure to meet any one of these criteria can result in immediate disqualification; therefore, a pre-eligibility checklist prepared with GSLI training can be invaluable.

Path to Success

Strategic roadmap to secure this grant with GSLI integration consists of four essential steps. Step 1: Pre-Proposal Capacity Audit and Training. Immediately engage GSLI’s ‘Writing Winning Proposals’ course to train all proposal writers on GPE’s specific requirements, results frameworks, and language. Simultaneously, enroll finance and M&E staff in ‘Financial Management for NGOs’ and ‘Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)’ to ensure the proposal narrative is backed by credible systems. This audit should assess gaps in digital infrastructure, data collection methods, and partnership agreements. Step 2: Co-Design and Stakeholder Alignment. Coordinate with in-country partners and local education authorities to align the project design with national digital learning strategies. Use GSLI’s ‘Project Management for Development’ course to develop a logical framework that connects inputs to outcomes, emphasizing indicators that resonate with GPE’s KPIs. Conduct a pre-proposal workshop (online or in-person) leveraging GSLI’s ‘Public Health & Epidemiology’ insights if addressing health-education nexus. Ensure at least 30% of project activities target gender equality and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Step 3: Proposal Development and Peer Review. Draft the full proposal using GSLI’s templates and embedded best practices from the ‘Writing Winning Proposals’ course. Include a risk matrix, budget narrative, and sustainability plan. Have an independent reviewer (could be a GSLI expert) critique the draft against GPE’s evaluation criteria. Step 4: Post-Submission Follow-up and Strengthening. After submission, use feedback to refine M&E frameworks and financial controls. GSLI’s ‘Grants Management’ course can help design the financial reporting system required by GPE. Additionally, enroll in ‘Procurement & Supply Chain’ to prepare for procuring digital devices and connectivity solutions transparently. This systematic approach, powered by GSLI’s targeted courses, dramatically increases the likelihood of funding success and subsequent implementation excellence.

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Deadline: 2026-10-01

Persona: General

Urgency: Normal