Opportunities
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
What are you looking for today?
Powered by CopilotKit
$15,000–$160,000 depending on grant program
UK-based charity that uses evidence to improve education in sub-Saharan Africa. ESSA provides competitive research grants to Africa-based researchers in foundational learning, early childhood development, school leadership, and EdTech. Operates the African Education Research Database (AERD) with 6,500+ peer-reviewed publications.
Research Grants
Competitive grants from $15,000 (individual researchers) to $160,000 (research organizations)
African Education Research Database
Inclusion in AERD with 6,500+ peer-reviewed publications, raising researcher visibility
Network Access
Connection to ESSA's network of educators, policymakers, and researchers across sub-Saharan Africa
University Partnerships
Collaboration opportunities with University of Cambridge REAL Centre, University of Warwick, and other global institutions
Foundational Learning
Research on improving foundational literacy and numeracy in sub-Saharan Africa. Phase 2 project with REAL Centre, funded by Gates Foundation and GPE.
Early Childhood Development
Grants for African ECD researchers in Central, East, West, and Southern Africa. Funded by Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
School Leadership
Descriptive and comparative action research on school leadership. Partnership with VVOB and ADEA, funded by Mastercard Foundation.
EdTech Research
Local EdTech action research in partnership with Ministries of Education in Kenya, Malawi, and Senegal. Grants up to $160,000 for research organizations.
Higher Education & University Partnerships
Global University Network on education in sub-Saharan Africa, linking initiatives to boost university capacity and quality.
Africa-based researchers with strong academic credentials and institutional affiliations, working on foundational learning, ECD, school leadership, or EdTech. ESSA values research that can inform policy and practice, with emphasis on locally-generated evidence rather than externally-driven research agendas.
Research mentorship, peer learning among grant recipients, publication support, inclusion in AERD database, presentation opportunities at education convenings
Check essa-africa.org regularly for new grant calls — they run multiple programs with different timelines. The EdTech grants ($160K) are significantly larger than the individual researcher grants ($15K). Country eligibility is strict — confirm your country is listed before applying. Strong institutional affiliation significantly strengthens applications.
2016
Active Since
Yes
Deploying
Foundational Learning research grants across Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia; ECD research grants across Central, East, West, and Southern Africa; School Leadership research grants with VVOB and ADEA; EdTech research grants in Kenya, Malawi, Senegal (up to $160K)