Bolstering Education and Opportunities for Kenyan Schoolchildren

December 17, 2013

(OPIC) OPIC and Bridge International Building Affordable Schools in Kenya

Washington, DC – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Bridge International Academies today announced their commitment to build and operate 237 affordable schools throughout Kenya. The schools, estimated to educate 300,000 children by 2022, will be supported by a ten-year, $10 million loan from OPIC.

The schools will significantly expand low-cost education in Kenya as well as provide high quality education to rural and poor urban children while using innovative technology to manage operations and classroom lessons. While helping to develop the country’s education sector and providing educational opportunities to underserved populations, the project will also create hundreds of jobs and provide professional development training for its employees.

Bridge International Academies is the world’s largest network of nursery and primary schools, offering high-quality and affordable education to families living on less that $2 a day per person. Its innovative for-profit model has been designed and successfully tested to provide a sustainable, scalable approach to education. On average, children in Africa perform at the 3rd percentile academically compared to children from developed countries. Bridge International Academies works to close this gap through a network of outstanding-quality schools that cost less than $6 a month per student.

“OPIC is proud to support Bridge International Academies and its mission to provide high-quality and affordable education to students in Kenya” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield. “This project has the potential to substantially and positively impact the development paths of hundreds of thousands of young people in these communities, changing the future of their communities as well,” Littlefield added.

“We are tremendously excited about this partnership,” said Bridge International Academies Co-founder and CEO Jay Kimmelman. “OPIC has spent the past 40 years solving critical challenges in developing countries. We are proud to have their financing, as well as their legacy, support us as we work to give every child the opportunity to a quality education. Together, we will democratize access to exceptional education in Kenya.”

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