How to harness the power of social justice-oriented philanthropy for SA education

Philanthropy’s role in moving from education access to social justice

Philanthropy has long played a significant role in South African education, aiming to improve access to quality education for all – supporting schools, bursaries, teacher development, early childhood initiatives and innovation pilots. These contributions matter not only because they change lives and demonstrate what is possible, but can also introduce proven innovations that can be scaled.

Pouring effort into trying to fix the many problems in the education system brings improvements that relieve the pressure, but it does not delve into the uncomfortable territory of why these problems exist in the first place.

Like it or not, education is a social justice issue – that is, a matter of who gets access to opportunity and who is systematically denied it. Therefore, to make a real and lasting impact in the education sector, philanthropy must ask harder questions about how and why it funds, and whose power its funding ultimately reinforces.

Too often, education funding prioritises short-term outputs over long-term transformation; innovation over system-building; and isolated success stories over collective impact. In some cases, philanthropic funding mirrors the very inequalities it seeks to address – fragmented, concentrated and disconnected from those most affected by educational failure.

An encouraging shift towards fundamental intentional change

Encouragingly, there are growing examples of funders shifting towards social justice. Across the sector, philanthropic actors are increasingly investing in foundational learning as a public good, recognising that literacy and numeracy are not remedial concerns, but the bedrock of equity. Others are supporting teacher development as a professional and intellectual endeavour, rather than a technical fix. There is also growing engagement with language, curriculum, assessment and evidence as sites of power that shape whose knowledge counts and whose learning is made possible.

What distinguishes these approaches is not scale alone, but intentionality.

They are characterised by long-term commitment, collaboration with the government and civil society, and a willingness to fund the less-visible work of systems change: research, advocacy, coalition-building and capacity strengthening.

Social justice-oriented philanthropy also recognises that communities are not passive beneficiaries, but holders of knowledge and agency. It supports organisations working alongside parents, teachers, pupils and local leaders to strengthen educational foundations from the ground up.

System-wide change is possible through collaborative efforts

If education inequality is structural, then fragmented responses, however well intentioned, will always fall short. Collaboration is not simply about working more efficiently; it is a question of justice. No single funder, organisation or intervention can resolve the deep-rooted, pervasive educational inequality in the education system at scale. The challenges facing South Africa’s education system are sustained by interlocking economic, linguistic, political and social systems, and this complex web of issues requires multidimensional, coordinated, patient and power-aware responses.

Collaboration allows funders to align around shared goals, reduce duplication, pool risk and support work that no single actor could sustain alone. It also enables more constructive engagement with the government – not as a parallel system, but as a steward of public education.

Across the sector, there are growing examples of philanthropic collaboration focused on strengthening educational foundations.

The latest collection of education collaboration case studies from the Independent Philanthropy Association South Africa (Ipasa) showcases nine examples of multisector education collaborations that demonstrates the formidable and sustained efforts of philanthropy and a variety of other stakeholders over time. It also synthesises key lessons around collaboration in the education sector, and in all other sectors.

What education collaboration looks like in practice

Collaborative efforts such as the FLOAT collaboration bring funders together to advance foundational literacy and numeracy, recognising that early learning outcomes are central to long-term educational equity.

The Initial Teacher Education Donor Group focuses on strengthening foundation phase teachers’ preparation, particularly in literacy, numeracy and African languages, to improve system-wide quality.

Other initiatives support the government’s implementation of mother tongue-based bilingual education, ensuring language is central to learning rather than peripheral.

Community-rooted initiatives such as Zenzele Itereleng and the Mpumalanga Grade R Collaboration illustrate how local consultation and coordinated investment can improve early literacy and numeracy outcomes in underresourced communities. Even large-scale corporate foundation programmes, including Anglo American South Africa’s education programme, are increasingly aligning investments with systemic priorities.

At the same time, there is a growing focus on early childhood development, with collaborations such as the Early Learning Outcomes Measure, Thrive by Five and DataDrive2030 using data-driven, coordinated approaches to strengthen children’s readiness for school and foundational learning.

Sharing learnings about collaboration challenges and success

These examples differ in scale and approach, but they share a common understanding that strengthening educational foundations requires collective action, long-term commitment and alignment with public systems. Meaningful collaboration that catalyses systemic change is not easy. It must be approached with realism, and with deep commitment to long-term investment and relationship building.

Successful collaboration also requires recognition that philanthropy cannot, and should not, replace government or operate at the scale of the state. Its contribution is catalytic: supporting innovation, strengthening systems and disrupting underlying conditions that uphold injustice. Philanthropy can also make a unique contribution by enabling learning across actors and helping remove the constraints that limit public education’s ability to function equitably.

When collaboration is guided by justice rather than visibility or attribution, its impact extends far beyond individual projects. It strengthens how the system functions and, ultimately, shifts who the system serves, thus creating the conditions for more equitable educational opportunities for all pupils.

Reimagining social justice in education

At its core, education builds, or breaks, a just society.

Philanthropy has a critical role to play as a partner that can take risks, support systemic solutions and amplify the efforts of those driving meaningful change on the ground. This means investing with patience, flexibility and a long-term view; supporting initiatives that address structural barriers rather than just their symptoms; and centring the voices and expertise of communities, teachers and pupils.

The stakes extend far beyond classrooms.

A society in which children lack foundational literacy and numeracy and are unable to access meaningful learning opportunities is a society that limits its own potential and undermines its democracy. While education itself is not automatically a pathway to equity, it is quality education that truly creates opportunity and justice.

Philanthropy can be a catalyst for transformative change. But only if it addresses the underlying conditions that uphold the discomforting reality of our education system in its current form. Only then will education be the radically liberating force it can be.

Confronting deeply unsettling realities head-on

Education in service of social justice demands responses that go beyond short-term fixes towards long-term, systemic transformation. Education philanthropy cannot be in a comfort zone. It needs to disrupt the realities highlighted by Unesco’s Spotlight on Basic Education Completion and Foundational Learning in South Africa 2024 – that learning outcomes remain deeply unequal. For millions of children, the system locks them into disadvantage before they even reach the labour market, shaping who can learn, and who is left behind.

Education philanthropy must change the story that we find in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Study – that more than 81% of South African children cannot read for meaning by the time they reach Grade 4. Education philanthropy must turn the tables on the findings of the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study – that 63% of Grade 5s fail to reach the low international benchmark in basic mathematical knowledge.

Education as a tool for social justice must change the future for the millions of pupils who progress through the system without acquiring foundational literacy and numeracy. It must stop these early deficits that compound over time in its tracks. It is imperative for funders to catalyse change that creates a new reality where post-school options for pupils are opened up, not narrowed down. Education philanthropy must ignite an alternative for prevailing cycles of poverty and exclusion.

An unjust education system is a mirror of an unjust society

Educational disadvantage in South Africa is not evenly distributed; it follows the contours of race, class, geography, language and disability with brutal precision. For many, schooling takes place in overcrowded classrooms with crumbling infrastructure, shortages of learning and teaching support materials and teachers who are undersupported and overburdened.

Pupils are often taught in languages they do not speak or fully understand, undermining comprehension, confidence and cognitive development in the early grades at the very moment strong foundations matter most.

Teachers are expected to remediate systemic failures without adequate training, coaching or professional support. At the same time, a small minority of pupils access well-resourced institutions that mirror global standards.

What would this system look like at its best, serving all pupils in South Africa?

Bold, strategic investment is needed

By investing boldly, collaboratively and strategically in the foundations of learning that make equity possible, funders can expand opportunities for all pupils and strengthen the promise of education as a true lever for social justice. When guided by strategic intent and long-term commitment, these efforts reinforce systemic equity, empower communities and help ensure every pupil has the opportunity to succeed.

Funders play a unique role alongside sustained public investment and clear policy prioritisation of foundational literacy and numeracy – the basic reading, writing and mathematical skills that children are expected to acquire in the early years (grades R to 3) of schooling and that underpin all later learning. Education is not merely a service; it is a constitutional right for everyone. It is in this context that philanthropy’s role becomes both powerful and complex as it offers the potential to catalyse change, strengthen systems and amplify equity – but its impact depends on a deep understanding of the structural inequalities that shape educational outcomes. DM

Boitumelo Khunou is the education project manager at the Independent Philanthropy Association South Africa, where she coordinates funder support initiatives across early childhood development, basic education and higher education.

This article is the third in a four-part series written by Ipasa. The articles look at issues of structural inequality and the role of philanthropy through a social justice lens. They consider the vital role philanthropy can play, urging funders to move beyond short-term fixes and support those working to dismantle systemic inequities and drive transformative change. Read the first article here and the second here. The fourth and final article will look at young people and entrepreneurship through a justice lens.