PEAS

PEAS, or Promoting Equality in African Schools, is a a non-profit organisation that runs 26 secondary schools across Uganda and Zambia. It was established in 2005 and is headquartered in London.

PEAS schools are funded through a mix of government funding, low-fees, locally generated income, and corporate sponsorship. Its first schools were opened in Uganda in 2008 'with the support of many private donors'.

PEAS lobbies for increases to per pupil, state funding in Uganda and Zambia; and for Public Private Partnerships in education more generally.

Partnerships

Ark

PEAS works in partnership with UK-based schools operator and PPP advocate, Ark, to launch secondary schools. PEAS says Ark is also helping to raise education quality across the PEAS network through its 'rigorous focus on quality and measuring results'.

'Data-driven decision-making

PEAS has also developed a school Information Management System, called SchoolTool, with Ark.

SchoolTool, aims to improve the capacity of PEAS schools by collecting and analysing student and teacher attendance data, in addition to performance results, to improve data decision making.

Technology use

There are no computer labs in PEAS schools because electricity supply is a problem. Students do have mobile phones but these are used for SMS, not instruction. There is, however, 'a keenness to explore how technology could support teacher delivery'. Teachers use PEAS standard lesson plan pro formas, which set out the outcomes for the lessons and also include prompts for teachers.

Finance

State funding

PEAS operates through a Public Private Partnership with the Ugandan Government, which provides a per pupil subsidy to schools in Uganda, partially covering the cost of educating students. PEAS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government in 2010 and meets quarterly with the Uganda's Education Minister. As of 2014, the funds received from the Government did not cover the full running costs of the schools (see additional income sources below).

PEAS also received support from the Zambian Government, which pays the salaries of PEAS teachers, through a special agreement with PEAS.

Lobbying for increases in state funding and 'systemic change across the continent and beyond'

PEAS ability to scale is largely reliant on the PPPs it is able to secure with the national governments in Uganda and Zambia.

PEAS says it is investing in lobbying capacity to secure not-for-profit PPPs, which provide a high enough per-pupil subsidy to keep fees to students at a minimum. The aim is to 'prompt systemic change' in the countries in which it operates.

In 2014 PEAS held a series of meetings with the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports, in an effort to secure a PPP agreement which would help it reduce fees to zero.

In 2014 in Zambia, 'positive inroads' were made with the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education and in 2014 'a bilateral PPP, where up to 90 percent of the cost of educating students would be subsidised by the government', was under discussion with 'significant progress' expected in 2015.'

More generally, the Ugandan Government expressed a hope of applying learnings from the PEAS network to other secondary schools in Uganda; and PEAS says it is working with the Zambian Government to develop new models of public support for private schools such as PEAS.

PEAS says it is limiting its lobbying to Uganda and Zambia, 'only exploring other potential countries if full-cost recovery PPPs in either country look unlikely'.

However, its aim is for PEAS' funding model to 'catalyse systemic change in education systems across the continent and beyond'. To this end, it is compiling all its policies and procedures into one ‘handbook’, called EncycloPEASia, which will 'serve as a blue print for other education providers for the purpose of scaling'.

Locally-generated income=

Besides government funding, running costs of schools are covered by money raised locally. This includes

• low fees to cover the cost of lunch and for some, boarding facilities (20% of PEAS students live in boarding houses); and
• income generating activities, such as maize and poultry farming.

When schools are 'large enough and generating enough revenue', they pay back a 'small remittance' to the PEAS in-country team 'for the education and finance services they provide'.

PEAS says it is 'also supporting schools to save money in order to pay for future repairs to buildings, so that the whole national network can be truly financially sustainable.'

Corporate sponsorship

PEAS says it 'relies on the generosity of our corporate partners' and charitable donations for capital costs. Funds raised 'internationally' are spent on creating more new schools.

It doesn't list its corporate or charitable sponsors on its website. However, they include:

• Costa Foundation, the charitable arm of the coffee shop chain
• The COINS Foundation

PEAS also receives pro-bono consultancy work and advice from management consultants Oliver Wyman, which is described as being 'instrumental in the development of ongoing strategy' of PEAS.

PEAS holds an annual fundraising event in the UK called ‘An Education’.

UK government funding

In 2014/15 PEAS successfully applied to the Department for International Development’s flagship Girls’ Education Challenge, securing a £1.98 million grant for its ‘Girls Enrolment, Attendance, Retention and Results’ project. The grant is to enable PEAS to reach 6,200 marginalised girls in Uganda over a period of two years, and specifically work to address the obstacles that keep girls away from school.

DfID also supports PEAS via UK Aid Match, the British Government’s scheme to give the public a say in how a portion of the existing aid budget is spent by matching public donations to charity appeals for projects to reduce poverty in developing countries.

People

• John Rendel, Founder and CEO. Rendel is a graduate of Teach First in the UK and a Teach First Ambassador.

Directors and Trustees

• David Townsend
• Rhys Pullen
• Catherine Brien: Chair from December 2014
• Sharon Ring
• Matthew Goldie-Scott

Former directors and trustees

• Frederic Nze (resigned March 2016); CEO of payday loan company, Oakam
• Lucy Heller, CEO fo Ark (resigned September 2015)
• Celia Petty (resigned December 2014)

Patron

• Jeremy Paxman, newsreader

Contact

• website: www.peas.org.uk