BEQUAL Education Innovation Fund (BEIF)

One BEQUAL strategy to improve participation and access to primary education is to pilot new and innovative activities that can strengthen provincial, district, school and community capacity to manage, coordinate and implement new education activities at the local level.

The BEIF has been established to encourage new thinking and innovative activities that have a positive impact on the delivery of basic education. The BEIF is not designed to provide funding for existing programs. The aim of BEIF is to work with the Ministry of Education and Sports and other agencies at the provincial and/or district levels to pilot new approaches to see if they are successful. A successful innovation or small scale success can then be expanded and have positive impact on more schools and children.

The BEIF fund can award grants to government units, agencies, NGO’s and the private sector. The grants range from AUD10,000 up to a maximum of AUD160,000 and are awarded using clear guidelines and a competitive application process. The maximum time available to complete a BEIF grant is two years from the date of approval.

A broad range of activities that focus on improvement in primary education delivery are eligible for financial support through the BEIF. Some examples of activities that could be considered eligible for grants under the BEIF are:

• New approaches to teaching Lao language to boys and girls who do not have Lao as their mother tongue.

• Action at the community level to increase acceptance of, and demand for, girls’ education.
• Piloting of new local curriculum content designed to strengthen learning outcomes at the school level, in partnership with provincial or district education authorities.
• The potential to use different methodologies to teach Lao language at grade 1 in predominantly ethnic schools in ways that improve literacy outcomes.
• Activities that support children with disabilities to attend and succeed at school.
• Activities that promote a culture of reading and learning.

For more information, please email BEIF@BEQUAL-laos.org

Timetable for Grant Applications, Assessment and Awarding: