The Funding Stopped. The Mission Didn't.

When USAID funding was abruptly cut in early 2025 for Opportunity International and many other organizations, the immediate consequences were felt where they mattered most—in classrooms. Schools served by our Education Finance program across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic had to reset.

In northern Ghana, our project with USAID involved Opportunity’s best-in-class combination of education financing and Education Quality work with an additional USAID-created component: teachers in this remote area were going to be able to earn a degree from the University of Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana. For the teacher mentors, this was the chance of a lifetime, but the funding cut shattered this opportunity. 

Working closely with educators in these communities exposed the impact of this interruption in real-time. In marginalized communities, where teachers are already asked to do extraordinary work with limited resources, the loss of support carries a disproportionate cost. However, there was one thing that the funding cut could not touch: the knowledge that had already been transferred.

A Teacher Who Became the Program

Simon Ottu, a dedicated teacher at Future Preparatory School in Ghana’s northern region since 2017, is one of my inspirations. Through Opportunity International’s Teacher Mentor Professional Development Program, he developed a better understanding of his work—inclusive classroom techniques, practical approaches to instructional materials, and a deeper dive into language fluency with phonics instruction that many teachers in low-resource settings never have the chance to learn.

The funding cut led to the closure of the university partnership, and with that closure came the disengagement of his colleague teacher mentors. But Simon made a different choice. Rather than waiting for support to be restored, he turned to his school and the knowledge he had already acquired. Simon began leading his own professional development sessions, training his fellow teachers in the strategies he had learned, like positive behavior management and the “Magic Box”—an engaging classroom participation technique that draws student names randomly to ensure every child stays engaged and every voice is heard.

Through this initiative, teachers who were demotivated and had been withdrawing re-engaged. Classroom dynamics shifted. And as teaching improved, so did the surrounding community’s trust in the school.

Parents trust us because we treat their children well and take good care of them. That’s why people in the community prefer to bring their children here."

That chain—from professional development, to teaching practices, to child outcomes, to community confidence—is precisely what sustainable school growth looks like.

What One Teacher Tells Us About the Whole

Simon's story inspired me when I first heard it. But what strikes me most, looking back a year later, is that he isn’t an anomaly.

He is evidence of something Opportunity International’s EduFinance model has always been designed to do: build capacity into people, not just into programs.

When funding disappears, projects close. But what a teacher has learned—about how to reach struggling students, how to create an inclusive classroom, how to mentor a colleague—that doesn’t get defunded.

When USAID funding collapsed, we turned to our donor community and asked them to help us close a $5 million gap. They answered. Because of that, 2025 brought year-over-year growth. We reached 5 million children and released $292.5 million in loans to schools and learners. In Ghana alone, 1,178 schools were part of EduQuality programs, with nearly 377,000 children impacted.

In a year that could have been defined entirely by loss, the work kept moving. 

The Promise Worth Keeping

We cannot pretend the funding gap doesn’t matter. It does. Programs in Ghana, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and beyond need continued investment to reach the schools and teachers still waiting. There is real, urgent work that cannot grow without resources.

But what this past year has also shown me is something important about how this work is built. When you invest in a teacher’s capacity, not just their access to a program, but their ability to carry and pass on what they’ve learned, you are creating something that outlasts a grant cycle.

Simon didn’t wait for someone to restore his funding. He became the resource his school needed.

That is what quality education investment looks like when it works. Not dependency. Not delivery. Teachers who can lead.

Invest in Opportunity International's EduFinance work at opportunity.org/school