Collective Learning Initiative for Outcomes Based Finance in Early Childhood Care and Education

Led by the GO Lab and NORRAG, in partnership with EOF, the initiative created a global space for shared learning at the intersection of outcomes-based financing and early childhood care and education. Rather than presenting OBF as a single solution, the initiative approached it as a learning framework. Its outputs included an evidence review, interviews, practice notes, public webinars, case studies and knowledge exchange summaries.

What the initiative explored

Around the world, access to high-quality, affordable early childhood education remains uneven, despite strong evidence that the early years are critical for lifelong learning and development. Outcomes-based finance seeks to address this challenge by linking funding to measurable improvements in children’s learning, development, and wellbeing. However, designing and implementing these approaches in complex, fragmented ECCE systems is not straightforward.

The Collective Learning Initiative examined how outcomes-based finance has been used in ECCE to date, where it shows promise, and what risks and trade-offs need to be considered. A central output of this work was the Evidence review of outcomes-based finance for early childhood care and education, which gathered and organised emerging evidence on OBF as a mechanism for enhancing the quality and financing of ECCE programmes.

The initiative also translated learning into practical resources. These included a Practice Note on measuring outcomes in outcomes-based financing for ECCE, which explores key considerations for outcomes measurement and a Guidance Note on aligning outcomes-based financing to ECCE systems in Sub-Saharan African countries, which focuses on how OBF approaches can be designed to support, rather than sit apart from, wider early childhood systems.

What the initiative highlighted

Insights from the Collective Learning Initiative point to a shift towards systems thinking. Rather than focusing only on individual projects or financing mechanisms, the work highlighted the importance of the wider conditions that shape outcomes in early childhood education, including governance arrangements, data systems, workforce capacity, public sector capability, and coordination across sectors.

Equity and inclusion also emerged as central themes. The blog How can outcomes-based financing improve equitable access to quality early childhood care and education? explored how OBF might support more equitable access to quality ECCE, while the public webinar Equity by Design in Outcomes-Based Financing for Early Childhood Care and Education examined what it means to embed equity considerations into programme design from the outset.

At the same time, the initiative drew attention to persistent challenges, including rigid contracting structures, weak data infrastructure, limited public sector capacity, and the risk that poorly designed incentives may exclude those who are hardest to reach.

The initiative’s knowledge exchange sessions helped deepen these discussions. The publicly shared summaries: Where to next for outcomes-based financing in ECCE, Frontline realities, local agency, and the role of OBF, and From pilots to practice captured reflections on how OBF interacts with complex delivery environments, local agency, and the practical challenge of moving from experimentation towards more sustainable practice.