IEFG BIG Series: Climate-proofing Education Philanthropy

Welcome to the IEFG Brains in Gear Series. In this inaugural episode exploring education philanthropy and the climate crisis, we ask ourselves what we can do regarding the "climate-proofing of education philanthropy." 

In this episode, we bring together four experts who are pioneering innovative approaches to climate-conscious education philanthropy across Africa and beyond:

Fia van Rensburg, Knowledge Manager at the Independent Philanthropy Association South Africa (IPASA), shares her groundbreaking work on addressing "climate anxiety" in the funding community and leading the development of Africa's first climate commitment for funders.

Kate O'Brien, Executive Director of the Costa Foundation, explains how they've integrated climate considerations into their 18-year mission of supporting education in coffee-growing communities, sharing practical examples from Guatemala to Uganda.

Simon Wanda, Programme Specialist at UNESCO, discusses how the Greening Education Partnership provides a welcoming entry point for education funders at any stage of their climate journey, with over 1,700 organizations already participating.

David Nkrumah-Boateng, Country Programme Lead for PEAS Ghana, offers insights from the ground level on co-designing climate-smart schools and the importance of locally-led, contextual solutions in climate-vulnerable communities.

Together, these four explore how philanthropic organisations can identify practical entry points for climate action without abandoning their core education mission. From addressing "climate anxiety" in the funding community to implementing solar-powered schools and climate-smart agriculture programs, this conversation offers actionable strategies for funders ready to take their first steps.

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Transcript

Yasmein: Welcome to the second episode of our series on Education Philanthropy and the Climate Crisis. I'm Yasmein from IEFG, your host for this episode, and today we will discuss how education philanthropy can find entry points to adopt a climate focused approach and take practical steps toward addressing the climate crisis. Advancing the global climate goals requires a shift across all sectors. Education funders have an important role, not only in encouraging their grantees to engage in climate action, but also in ensuring climate considerations are part of their overall strategy. In this episode, we will explore opportunities to integrate climate action into the work of education Philanthropy and how to avoid contributing to the climate crisis within philanthropic organizations and in their partnerships with grantees, and we will discuss practical steps to ensure this transition is effective and aligned with their mission. Today we have the privilege of being joined by Fia van Rensburg, Knowledge Manager at the Independent Philanthropy Association South Africa, welcome to the podcast Fia.  Kate O'Brien, the Executive Director of the Costa Foundation.

Kate: Thank you very much

Yasmein: Simon Wanda, program specialist at UNESCO, the secretariat of the Greening education Partnership. 

Simon: Thank you. 

Yasmein: David Nkrumah, country Lead at PEAS. 

David: Thank you very much. 

Yasmein: Great to have you all in today's episode. In our first episode, we explored the critical intersection of education and the climate and why it is essential for education philanthropy to take climate action seriously. A common challenge in this space, however, is figuring out where to begin with no single roadmap available. Taking the first step can feel overwhelming. One powerful entry point we have identified is aligning grantmaking and investment strategies with the climate goals. This approach often offers far greater impact than efforts focused solely on reducing emissions from a foundation's own daily operations. That said, operational emissions still matter, and a comprehensive response requires action across all three areas, internal emissions reduction, climate, aligned grant making and responsible investment. So as we reflect on these three key areas, how can the education philanthropy sector identify practical and meaningful entry points to begin this transition? Ensuring their work contributes to the solutions rather than worsening the climate crisis? Fia, Maybe we can start with you and draw on your work at IPASA. Do you think funders feel overwhelmed by the scale of the climate crisis and the complexity of the language surrounding it, making it difficult to integrate climate action into their existing portfolios? 

Fia: Well Yasmein, I will start by saying climate crisis is indeed overwhelming for a number of reasons. Firstly terminology, the vastness of the topic and information overload and keeping up with climate change facts and figures. The science behind measuring and projecting climate change and a perception that dealing with climate change is all about reducing emissions. None of this is directly or easily relatable to the education sector and in a context such as South Africa, where education funders are focused on addressing critical systemic issues such as learning losses, which were exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic and with key focus areas such as improving early grade literacy and numeracy and ensuring access to quality ECD for all children, dealing with Climate change on top of that is just the bridge too far for many funders, it's simply too much. IPASA has coincidentally realized that funders sometimes display trauma responses when engaging with information on the climate crisis. This may sound strange, but bear with me. Typical trauma or if you wish, adrenaline responses include fight, flight, or freeze. And then you also have the less common ones such as fawn. Let's start with fight. These are the climate funders and environment and biodiversity funders. It's their focus areas and they actively fight against climate change and for sustainability, but they're not typically education funders. Flight responses are quite common amongst education funders. They may say, we do not fund in this focus area. It's not our mandate and we are not interested in climate. Freeze happens when funders say they do want to do something, but they do not know what to do and how to do it. And we to start, this is what today's session is about, but they can get stuck in analysis paralysis, and then you get a fawn  response where people just comply to please or pacify the crisis, but there's no real authenticity or deep engagement. IPASA has learned that being aware of the extent to which climate change provokes anxiety in funders is very helpful in developing strategies for encouraging climate philanthropy amongst education funders, particularly the first step in reducing anxiety is to change the way we talk about climate, and we have learned to move away from the narrative, from climate crisis to climate change and from, problem centered narrative to opportunity and a possibility narrative. The other important aspect is to avoid technical jargon as far as possible. Communication from the perspective of client science doesn't work with funders focused on other sectors. It works better to look at how their everyday reality is affected by climate impacts, the real reality of funders, the reality of their grantees implementing partners and beneficiaries. For example, how does severe weather events affect schools, education programs, and learners? What makes climate change specific and real for funders? It also provides clues for where funders can start to intervene. Language is an important issue and when working with recipients of grants and implementing partners at grassroots level, it's important to understand how they experience climate change. They may not call it climate change, but they are well aware of the impacts.

Yasmein: Thank you. Fia. I think Kate as an education funder might have came across some of this climate anxiety example.

Kate: So very much to your point, Fia around that opportunity possibility because we know that there's so much climate anxiety in students across the world, and especially where students are at the real forefront of that impact of the climate crisis. They can see what's happening to their communities, and then with other partners, we have Plan International. We ran a food insecurity program because of the direct impact of climate change where we'd funded schools and we knew that there would be an impact on children's ability to learn if they weren't provided with food. So that was quite an unusual project for us, but very specific to that concept in Guatemala. And then we've also run other projects and we have other partners in Central America, for example, seed for Progress, where we've had top-up programs looking at the curriculum so empowering young people to learn how to have that intergenerational exchange where they'll learn things at school that they then take home to their parents and carers too, so that they can also learn how to improve their crop yield, use technology to not only improve farming techniques, but also business skills to help improve the livelihoods of their families. And some schools in Uganda for example, they'll have some farms, where the children and students can learn to grow crops such as coffee, and then also transfer that knowledge back to at home. So the key thing that we're looking at around this climate focus is having climate aware students, climate friendly schools, and climate resilient communities.

Fia: We also like to say that the communities affected by climate change have solutions and they know best what is happening in their context. This also links up with a possibility and opportunity narrative that I've mentioned because communities can contribute to understanding climate impacts in their areas and to finding and shaping solutions. We know how important community led and participatory grantmaking is if we want the best possible impacts. And unrestricted funding can also help communities to respond fast and appropriately when needed. As a philanthropic organization, member organization, IPASA has learned that promoting climate philanthropy is a change process. We need to meet funders where they are at and then support them to start responding to climate change. 

Yasmein: I think Fia has mentioned a very interesting term, which is participatory grantmaking. So for our audience who don't know, what's a participatory grant making? It's basically a funding approach and which is the people most affected by the issues a grant seeks to address are actively involved in deciding how grants are allocated. Thank you so much. Fia, as you mentioned, and as Kate has shared education, funders can feel overwhelmed with the complexity of the climate crisis. They don't know where to begin and whether the climate solutions and initiatives out there work for them at this early stages or not. So Simon, will an education philanthropy, even if still in the early stages of exploring climate education, be welcomed as a meaningful participant in global initiatives such as the UNESCO greening education partnership?

Simon: Thank you. As Fia Notes it's clear that many education funders feel daunted by the scale and complexity of the climate crisis. The uncertainty around where to begin, especially when existing priorities already feel stretched, is very real. That's precisely why at the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit as a response to the call to transform education to transform the world, the Greening Education Partnership was launched. This partnership aims at accelerating education system transformation. It responds directly to the twin agencies of climate change and the need to embed sustainability in all aspects of education. So the Greening Education Partnership is global. It's also inclusive. It's designed for wide range of stakeholders, including governments, civil society, academia, youth networks, the private sector, and most importantly, philanthropies working at the intersection of education and climate change. Even if a foundation is just beginning to explore greening education, it is welcome as meaningful participant. The partnership is not prescriptive. It provides a flexible space to learn, collaborate, and identify practical ways to align existing education priorities with climate objectives. To date, 97 countries and over 1,700 stakeholder organizations have joined the partnership. And crucially, even if a foundation is just beginning to explore climate change education, it can be a meaningful participant. It's designed to be a supportive, entry point with the recognition that many education funders are only now starting to apply a climate lens to their work. So the partnership is organized around four pillars that offer a natural point of alignment for funders. So one is Greening schools, another one is on greening curriculum, greening teacher training and systems capacities. And the last one on greening communities. So now each of these pillars is supporting by, is supported by a working group that brings together partners working on similar themes. So different funders, different education experts, different climate change experts. Education funders can join any of these groups contribute knowledge, support pilot initiatives, or scale proven approaches. As Fia has noted, one issue has been that until now we haven't defined what it means for climate change to be integrated into the education systems. So these working groups within the partnership are establishing a common language by what we mean by quality education that enables learners adapt and respond to climate change. Philanthropic organizations such as the Agha Khan Foundation and Dubai Cares are already playing leading roles in the working groups on greening schools and greening curriculum, for example. And there is space for others to come in, share their expertise and shape their agenda. So the Greening Education Partnership offers a concrete low barrier entry point for education. Philanthropies looking to become climate active. It allows them to continue delivering on their core mission. Whether that's, girls literacy, girls education or foundational learning, while helping ensure that these investments are future fit, responsive to environmental realities, and that learners will also face.

Kate: Thank you Simon. Sounds like a brilliant initiative. At the Costa Foundation, we fund education projects in rural coffee growing communities. And the Costa Foundation has been funding these kind of projects for 18 years. And more recently, we have seen accelerated impact on the communities in which we fund of the climate Crisis so we took a decision in our new three year strategy to actually put climate and coffee front and center of our strategy. Our focus is absolutely still on funding education, but we have got these two as overarching themes. And the reason that we decided to do this was three observations. The first was from my visits to these rural coffee growing communities, speaking to students, speaking to coffee farmers, and speaking to our partners who work in these communities and have for many years, and seeing the direct impact on Really intense periods of drought where coffee farmers are having to cover the seedlings for much longer periods, so it's taking longer to harvest the coffee. They have to grow coffee at much higher altitudes, which brings risk for is much more difficult to grow at that point and more dangerous. There's significant landslides, flooding, also impacting on children's ability to travel to school because many of those communities, the children are walking for up to three hours a day to get to school. And if there's floods and landslides, it makes it very difficult. Also, impact of extreme weather conditions on crop disease, meaning that farmers' livelihoods are completely decimated. The second one was partnering and understanding from our partners the difficulties that these communities are facing. So we work with a set number of long-term partners and every year we have a partner forum and we asked a specific question. PEAS was one of those partners that was attending the forum, and we asked them specifically what is the impact on the communities of the climate crisis, we got some really brilliant insights from them about the impact and some suggestions of how we could work together. And then the third thing was looking at research. What is it telling us about the impact of climate on those communities and thinking for us specifically about coffee? And there was some quite startling research by World Coffee Research in their annual report last year, which shows that nearly half of the world's. Originates from nations facing potential loss of more than 60% of their viable coffee growing land by 2050. So not only is it devastating crops, et cetera, but it's also devastating livelihoods and with huge economic and social ripple effects of these changes. So we really wanted to refocus our support in these communities, and often we'll invest in communities on multiple levels. So we'll fund a primary school and then secondary school, and then expansions of those schools, and then programs around those schools. So what can we do to maintain the educational focus, but with a very clear climate lens? So how we did that was first of all re really putting that front and center of our strategy, as I've mentioned, but maintaining that education focus.

David: Thank you very much, Kate. That was great. I think this really shows such a great example of how you have funders that actually are very collaborative, actually go down to the field, listen and, our experiences as peace with Costa Foundation, one of the key things has been that Costa Foundation really asking the right questions and making sure that the solutions are locally led and come from those that we implementing within those communities. one of these key points in terms of how do grantee really serve us an effective entry point for funders? And how do these conversations start and how do they then lead into effective program? PEAS has been working with Costa Foundation since 2010, building 12 schools across Uganda and Zambia. Right from the start. We both recognize three very important things. First, Communities we serve are some of the most vulnerable to climate impacts, and I think Kate has attested to that. We see things from flats to extreme heats to droughts. So there's a myriad of climate impacts on our communities that we serve. Of course, through no fault of theirs, they tend to be at the sharp receiving end of other activities that happen upstream in other parts of the world. Secondly, one of the most important things is also around construction itself can affect the environment. So for us, it is important to build climate smart solutions into our project from day one. And then the third thing we recognized between ourselves and Costa was the further schools can make a huge difference for the long term. So I think, as was earlier mentioned. The point around some of these solutions may not just be short term solutions, but long-term solutions play such a key role in how we act and we think about climate change, especially when you have young people learning to adapt to an unpredictable climate and mitigate their impact. Then sharing those lessons with the rest of the community is absolutely key to making the desired short, medium, and long term impacts across. For example, at PEAS we were able to bring in our experience with locally led sustainable approaches, but what really made the difference for us was the fact that we have funders who ask the key questions, how can we support PEAS to invest in a climate sensitive approach? And we feel that kind of openness really allowed us to co-design schools that are not only good for learning, but better for the planet as a whole. We feel that starting these conversations is key. Conversations, open spaces for locally driven solutions that really work for the context, and finding the balance between focusing on access quality education, while also addressing the climate change issues.

Kate: Thanks David. I was asked sometimes by people I was talking to about the strategy, oh, so you're not doing education anymore? And we're like, no, we're absolutely still focused on education, but with that climate lens. And so a few examples of how we've done this and working with fantastic partners like Peas, where David is from is for example, instead of putting main's electricity is using solar power or hydropower to help generate that electricity. We funded a girl's dorm block last year because many peas schools have boarding accommodation because the children travel long distances to school. So PEAS had the very innovative idea of using these special kind of bricks that have special air cured technology, reduce carbon emissions, and ensure zero forestation.

David: Thank you very much, Kate. We feel that while climate change education is gaining momentum, it still often sits on the margins of mainstream education programming, which continues to prioritize access and quality learning. The goal isn't to shift that focus, but to show how climate considerations can complement and strengthen these core priorities. It is not about replacing access or quality, it's about building education systems that are both high performing and climate resilience. For us, the biggest gap we have observed in the current fund grant dynamic lies in the following. One is about the funding frameworks. Some funding frameworks are so rigid that there is very little room or opportunity to innovate and create different locally led solutions. Even though implementers are keen to bring climate space approaches like tree planting, green infrastructure, or even climate education. There often isn't that flexibility and are mandates built into funding to support that. Climate resilience still tends to sit on the sidelines rather than being baked into the core of education funding opportunities. Another gap that we see is the nature of technical guidance or expertise support. So one of the biggest gaps we see is around climate funding dynamics is the tendency for funders to bring in prepackaged technical expertise. Rather than creating that all important space for implementers to define what climate resilience actually looks like in their specific context. What we feel is needed is less prescription and more partnership, where funders build their own awareness of local climate realities and remain flexible in how programs evolve. That means trusting grantees to lead on adaptation. Allowing room for innovation, Iteration and community driven solutions at PEAS. We have with Costes support already started embedding practical climate Education and resilience. In our model, our schools are echo the solar panels, rain water harvesting systems, and energy efficiency tubes. There is a strong focus on agriculture through national curriculum, and that is something we leverage on, and that includes adapting to climate change challenges. We also support green clubs that raise student awareness and mobilize them as change agents in their communities. These are small but powerful steps that can be scaled if backed by the right support from funders. 

Yasmein: Thank you so much, fia, Simon, David, and Kate for many education philanthropy Identifying a clear and meaningful entry, point and climate action can seem complex, even overwhelming. As we have heard from our speakers, there are a number of practical mission aligned pathways for engagement. These entry points allow education funders to contribute to climate solutions without diverting from their core priorities or shifting the fundamental focus of their funding. It's equally important to recognize that education funders are not required to design entirely new interventions or new solutions. There is a wealth of impactful climate education initiatives and solutions that could benefit greatly from increased support, strategic alignment and investment. With that in mind, a key question emerges, what are the current gaps and the most promising opportunities for education, philanthropy to engage meaningfully in the broader climate and education space? I am going to post this question to Fia first. 

Fia: There are many opportunities for funders to integrate climate considerations into their projects and programs. Of course. Climate conscious investments remain an option as well as reducing emissions, but we have to be realistic that there is a lot of competition for funding for climate initiatives and dismally small proportion of climate finance trickles down to African communities and therefore it is really important for funders to integrate climate responses in their sectors in education. For examples, funders can integrate climate awareness, biodiversity and ecosystem health topics into existing curriculum. In South Africa, it has been said that the life skills curriculum lends itself to this. Then stories about climate change can be incorporated in readers and that can assist learners to understand climate change better, especially in South Africa where a new mother tongue teaching initiative is unfolding. take a critical look at education infrastructure. Is the education infrastructure resilient? Think about floods, fires and extreme heat. Teacher education is another important lever reach point because teachers are the ones who must deliver these curriculum inputs to children. And then also the issue of school feeding schemes, food security, that is severely impacted by climate change. This also has a cascading impact on learners access to nutrition, health and their ability to learn. And then last but not least, how does climate change impact on teachers and learners mental health and general wellness, and what can funders do to assist? It is now ever important to note that some of these responses will show immediate results and others will only have an impact in the long run. 

Yasmein: Thank you, Fia. Simon, what are the current gaps? Stakeholder collaboration on climate education within the greening education Partnership. And where do you see the most promising opportunities for education, philanthropy to engage?

Simon: Thank you. Indeed we have seen a very strong momentum since the launch of the partnership in 2022. The Greening Education Partnership which brings together different actors in this climate space and especially climate COPs, have emerge as very crucial platforms for amplifying the critical role of education in addressing the climate crisis. One persistent gap has always been, the historical disconnect between climate and education, so that you have funds for education, for example, and funds for climate. So climate's action in our spaces often have under prioritized education because of that. And conversely. Education actors have been slower to integrate climate change systematically. So as a result, many climate funds and education programs remained siloed. So the analysis by both UNESCO and the World Bank confirms that, climate financing rarely targets education. And conversely, education programming offers often misses the opportunity to address climate change and sustainability in a comprehensive way. So that is one critical gap. Another one is the, in terms of the diversity of the actors involved. So the greening education partnership, as I said before, currently has over 1,700 organizations and 97, countries. But,  the number of private or philanthropic actors, there's still opportunities for them, especially those who have influence of education. Yet these actors. Often have the flexibility, the innovation capacity, and the community reach needed to pilot models that others can learn from and to scale. Education funders have unique strengths of, because they can, for example, support localized pilot projects in collaboration with ministries of or any other NGOs and we have seen a lot of these demands from governments and from areas we work. They can also fund capacity building for educators or institutions to adopt climate responsive practices. They can also facilitate dialogue between communities, researchers, policy makers, to strengthen demand for greening education. So philanthropies can play a critical role also in convening unlikely allies. So here, for example, I'm thinking about linking school networks with researchers or bringing youth voices into national education planning, which is something that we really advocate for. So these forms of our collaboration are essential to building the systemic momentum that the Greening Education Partnership is working towards. And we have seen examples of this. For example, the Agha Khan Foundation who are members of the partnership, are using resources that have been developed through the partnership in the schools 2030 program. So the School 2030 program is a participatory learning improvement program taking place in 1000 government schools across different countries of Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Portugal,  Tajikistan Tanzania, Uganda. So these are schools that Dahan Foundation is using the resources within the partnership to implement this particular program. So there is room for education philanthropies to lead, not just participate, whether through funding, convening or field testing innovation. This community can help bridge the climate education divide and move from intention to action.

David: Thank you very much Simon. I really liked the points around historical disconnect, siloed effects, education financing, climate financing, and the fact that they don't seem to have been well integrated together. Where I also really like the point around research and the fact that really bringing the evidence and the data to pair on these facets really would contribute to making the desired effect at peas one of the things we feel could be really helpful in making sure that we bridge this gap even further is around collaborative learning platforms. The five that supporting and bringing together key system actors on collaborative platforms and learning forums to share experiences. Enhance learning, explore solutions and strengthen networks. That is certainly one of the key areas that we can bring access from both spaces to come together and find even more ways of deepening the understanding and finding the connection points that would be able to support in climate change action. Funders can also use these platforms to draw on the insights of multiple grantees with diverse perspectives, helping them build a broader understanding of climate related challenges affecting education, and identify what solutions are working to help committees mitigate and adapt. We have already had Costa Foundation doing a lot, not just in giving the grants, but actually going down there to the field. Engaging and speaking with implementers, speaking with clients, speaking with communities, so that shared understanding brought to the table in a much more collaborative learning environment would be key to strengthening funder engagement. So it's not just about direct funding, but also indirectly funding and supporting some of these key learning initiatives. We also think that evidence sharing and research will be critical to supporting this bridging the gap, supporting and driving a culture of evidence sharing across multiple actors experiences, showing what works and what doesn't work in the education climate change intersection space. And lastly, we also think that putting a bit more emphasis on evidence-driven advocacy would help to support the wider ecosystem. Around both education and climate change. Funders can play such a key catalytic role by supporting policy dialogue and not just projects. This could be through evidence-driven advocacy efforts at wider national levels and across multiple industries. So typically in developing countries, you would find a Ministry of Education survey, but then you also find a Ministry of Environments Science and Technology Survey. To what extent are some of these national level mandated institutions speaking to each other and coordinating their efforts when it comes to that education, climate change nexus?And we feel that these are spaces that would love to see and encourage funders to also support indirectly to bring these together.

Fia: It's very interesting that David is emphasizing the learning platforms and networking and evidence sharing because from IPAS's perspective, what we have learned is that the platform that IPASA as a membership organization provides for funders is really a important space. So that we can also promote that sharing of information. So I've mentioned earlier that we have learned that we need to meet funders where they are at. Previous speakers also talked about low entry barriers and I think Simon mentioned that specifically with the Greening education partnership. So that is a key learning for us that we needed to start working with education funders and other funders where they are at and by doing that, we can then share real examples with other funders of what their peers are doing. This is very powerful because it demonstrates the practical possibilities that exist in a specific context. So what we have developed quite intuitively is a cycle where we will start by sharing information, but realizing that sharing information alone will not make any funder move, it just could also have the opposite effect of creating information overload. So we share information, but then we work where the energy exists. The funders that are interested in looking at integrating climate, we focus on them and we provide them with some assistance to get started. And what we've seen is if they first get started, they find it much easier to improve their climate response and to do more. But the important thing is to get them started. Then we document their work and we give them the opportunity to present in workshops. And we also develop case studies. It also has two case study publications, we capture what funders are doing. Then we share that information again and it becomes, layered work, you share information, assist document, create the evidence, share it again, and build on those layers. What we then also do is we put our members in touch with relevant other stakeholders in the climate, philanthropy space and that again speaks to this importance of partnering, collaborating that the other speakers have mentioned. And we just see how this creates momentum and how funders that are involved with climate work then also start to lobby other funders in our workshops and meetings and, saying to them, but how can you not integrate climate into your work?

The issue of silos and cross funding between sectors and traditional climate funders is an interesting one because when IPASA started our climate initiative, the message was to funders in sectors other than climate and environment that they have to integrate climate into their work. But now that they are integrating climate into their work, and we specifically have some funders in the ECD sector that are really making great strides, they are looking for funders to collaborate with them and to support the initiatives. But now you may get a climate funder that says, we don't play in the education space and that is not something that can keep on existing. So this whole dynamic of education funders getting involved in climate work also then puts pressure on traditional climate and environmental funders to broaden their horizons and to also break down the silos that they have created. So that is a very interesting unfolding situation amongst our members. And we do see that some of our climate funders in our membership are starting to support education projects and that is very encouraging. What we have found in our work with members, I've mentioned that we work with energies, we support them, but you have to have a frame. Where do they start? We have recently launched a climate commitment for South African philanthropy, and that commitment has eight pillars of focus. It is modeled on the international climate commitment, which has seven pillars, but we learned from Brazil, they integrated a pillar about stance and identity because of the situation in the global south that the narrative is very different and these contextual things that you need to bear in mind. For instance, South Africa is a very carbon dependent economy and we've got to reduce that. But we also have a high unemployment figure. So you cannot just divest from carbon because there are will be unintended impacts. So we've taken that into account in our pledge that IPASA has developed.

Kate: Thank you Fia, it sounds like a fantastic framework that you have there. Really great help. Very helpful. I can imagine for funders that are looking for starting points. 'cause there's such a range of options. Is that, just to clarify, is that specifically for South African funders the framework for the pledge? 

Fia: Yes. But it is. Sort of transversal. We've used the WINGS International Climate commitment as a basis. And we have adapted it to our local context. But there is also a Brazilian pledge. The Arab Foundations has recently launched their pledge. There's actually 10 pledge, 11 pledges now globally. There's a pledge in Poland. There's a pledge in Canada, UK pledge. Yeah. So it's like a frame, but it's flexible and adaptable. So those pillars of the pledge provides a very practical way for funders to consider what they can do. I'm just going to run through the pillars very quickly. The first pillar is education and learning, and that is where funders can familiarize themselves with what is climate change, how does it impact on their work? But then also as they develop their climate responses, we see that they can then provide opportunities for their peers for education and learning about climate. The second pillar is about committing of resources. As funders start integrating climate into their work, which is pillar three, there will automatically be commitment of resources. We are realistic that some funders will never be able to commit dedicated funding to climate only projects, but they can shape the existing initiatives to, incorporate a climate lens. Then these, the fourth pillar of endowments and assets, which is about investments and being conscious about investments and ensuring that the investment of endowments are sustainable and promote a sustainable world.Then pillar five is the operations in the, you can talk about many things, but reducing carbon footprint may be relevant for some larger foundations or, depending on what you do. Then this influencing an advocacy pillar, which interestingly has attracted quite a bit of attention and where funders will work with government or form for instance, associations. We've got, one of our ECD funders is involved in the South African Early Years Climate Action Alliance. As a founder of that initiative, which. Will in time have a sector-wide impact. Then we've got the stance and identity pillar, which I've talked about. And then the transparency pillar is about reporting funders, reporting on what they are doing regarding climate. So this is a useful frame if you want to start having conversations with funders about what they can do because as you work through the pillars, you often see that they're already doing things, but they may not see it as climate responses. And then building on that helps them to gain momentum.

Kate: Yeah, it's very helpful, I think and from my perspective, from the Costa Foundation, thinking about also how education funders can identify and start thinking about this intersection between what they're doing at the moment with their existing education focus work and climate change, particularly if they're thinking on integrating a broader climate focus into their foundation strategy. I think it goes back to what I was saying previously about and links very much to what David is advocating for around really working with your implementers. Who are your partners who have normally been working in those communities for a long time? Ask them what has been what's needed in their context. What's the situation? Really use that local knowledge and expertise around what might be possible and. Then I think it's around, and I think your point, FIA around that reporting, monitoring, et cetera, in order to gain that information is often that they're doing a lot of work already in that. But just because you're not asking the question as a funder, they're not telling you. So we've actually changed our proposal reporting process so that we can get much more information at. What might be the potential positive impact around climate? And going back to that, thinking around climate aware students, climate friendly schools and climate resilient communities. And what might the impact of the project be on those three levels? And then at reporting stage, ask what was the impact? And where could we help you more? Where might there be future funding to extend that impact around both education outcomes and climate? And then I think it's about looking at research, what researchers out there, there's a lot more, as all of you have alluded to around that relationship between education and climate particularly for those silos. 

Fia: An interesting thing that has happened in our ECD initiative this year is that there was a dialogue circle formed about climate and the early years. This Dialogue circle, for instance, has produced a whole publication. We initially thought it would be Information sheet or infographic or something. But then it actually morphed into a whole publication and it's available on the IPASA website. It's titled Climate Action Entry Points for Funders in the Early Years in ECD Practical Guide. This resource has 101, literally 101 ideas for early years in ECD funders to integrate climate into their work. And it is arranged around six themes. The one is climate resilient infrastructure, early childhood health and nutrition programs, climate education for young children and practitioners, parenting support programs, capacity building of community-based and resource training, organization and advocacy and policy influence. It is important to note that when funders sign a climate pledge, like the South African pledge or the International Pledge, and there are several country and regional pledges, they also automatically become part of the global climate philanthropy community where they have access to what others are doing and where they can also share their own experiences. And we have found this to be a very supportive community with a very strong learning agenda. And I think all these things combined can create momentum in climate education funding and initiatives.

Kate: Thank you, fia. And then it's about going out there and seeing and hearing as a funder yourself and working with your partners to hear from them on the ground and other members of the community. What are the challenges? What are the solutions? Because from my visits to our programs around the world, the communities will often have those ideas in traditional practice etc to and it's about testing examples and showing them, so where there may be a funder that might be focused on water and sanitation and hygiene, for example, and putting in a drilling rig. So our partner, I imagine one day in Ethiopia, recently invested in a drilling rig so that they can bring water to communities that have been really suffering from drought because they know the impact on education will be very significant of enabling that community to have access to water, as you alluded to David, where particularly girls are the ones that are traveling very long distances to get that water and missing out on school. So I think it's more that integrated approach and providing examples. So other organizations can see how those, maybe a technical programming element such as Wash can come together with education. On the climate as part of that. So I think they're the key points for me in terms of helping education funders and from the Costa Foundation's perspective, I'm very happy to share that with any other funders that are thinking of moving into this area and saying it's really not scary.

Yasmein: Thank you so much everyone for this insightful discussion before closing, and as we hear today from education, philanthropy leaders and the climate education experts, I'd like to ask, what's your advice to the education philanthropy sector? How can they encourage climate post behaviors in their foundation?

Fia: Well Yasmein, I will start by saying, just start. That is, I think a key message for funders. Just start somewhere. Trust the process. Your climate journey will unfold as you become more comfortable in this space. We've seen this in practice. Some of our funders, our members who did not know where to start four years ago, they were in that analysis paralysis phase. They are now thought leaders and influencers on climate, philanthropy, specifically in the ECD sector where they now have provincial. Events where they pull together other ECD funders and NGOs and climate scientists to talk about climate impacts on their specific province. So once you start as a funder, you will see how the journey unfolds. And it's almost as of the anxiety then dissipates and you can actually engage and see what the best place is for you as a funder to invest your time, energy, and money. The second thing is share your learnings with your peers as you go along. And remember that climate change is not static. What you are doing today may not work tomorrow. So you've got to keep on sharing and learning. Climate change is evolving and it's not a place for complacency. You also have to challenge your peers. That's the third thing to integrate climate into their work. We had a instance where one of our members stood up at one of our symposiums and said to a major funder, we have just revised their strategy. Why did you not take. Climate into consideration that funder went back and they revised their strategy and they integrated climate. So funders themselves can influence others, collaborate with possible. 

Kate: Yeah, and to echo Fia's point, just do it. I think the time is absolutely now and as I said it, it's not as scary as it sounds and I think it's not about either or. It's absolutely possible to be integrated into the work you are doing already just with a climate lens and absolutely echo the importance of a youth voice through all of this too. So if as a foundation you have access to that through your governance structure, through your partners, I think it's such a powerful addition to this conversation. And for me, just one tip would be to speak to your board members as a funder and might be individually, it might be tabling some time at a meeting or a strategy day to get into this topic and perhaps invite a speaker to come and share what they've been doing on this and have a chance to flesh through how it might work. And then also to your partners. We have a part an annual grantee forum partner forum, which works really well for us. So maybe I, if you have an opportunity to do something like that as a starting point to ask them, I would really recommend. But again, just do it.

Simon: Thank you. I really agree, and I think one of the things that has been a common thread throughout this discussion has always been the need. That the fact that, the starting point for any foundation is to recognize that climate positive behavior does not require shift a shift away from its commission. It's not about, changing what you're already doing. It's about, beginning with small, intentional changes that align in with the internal culture, with the outcomes that the foundation or the found seek to support externally. I would say possibly, applying a climate lens to existing programs, to existing projects can make a significant difference. So if it's an education philanthropist for example, this might mean, asking how, our, your current initiatives, whether they're focused on literacy or inclusion or school leadership can contribute, or can integrate climate change and sustainability in that. No. So simple adjustments such as integrating, climate relevant content or supporting low carbon infrastructure choices can enhance both education outcomes and climate resilience. And then possibly secondly is regarding awareness creation. Many staff members within the foundational funding groups or philanthropies may not have a background in climate, or they may not know much on climate, but this should not be a barrier to engagement, so foundations can promote learning by inviting guest speakers, organizing internal discussions or creating opportunities to explore the link between education and climate. And this also links up to, your daily operations. So how the foundations, organize their travels. They plan the event, they procure their goods or resources. This sends a clear message that, we're doing something. There're small adjustments, but they mean a lot, so they're just not symbolic the signal whether, climate considerations are embedded within the organization's values. And finally education funders, I think are well positioned to open space for collaboration. And we have had a lot of I like both f FIA and David's idea of the platforms, the learning platforms, so they can, use the influence to convene, grantees. And we've also heard from Kate as well from grantees, researchers, policymakers, youth leaders to exchange ideas and core develop solutions. So in doing so, you see they are trying to normalize climate thinking across the broader, education ecosystem, so to speak. So it starts with the culture, not just the strategies, just the culture. So when climate change becomes part of how decisions are made, both internally and externally, the foundation is better placed to lead with integrity and contribute meaningfully to climate and education goals.

David: Thank you very much, colleagues on the platform, these have been such enriching discussions. I'm picking up some big keywords that keep coming through, almost like our own little blueprint on this podcast where it's like collaboration, where it's like integration from Simon, where it's like evidence sharing where It' I think these are key rallying points that brings this community and ecosystem together. I love the three letter where just do it. Just do it. Start somewhere and then learn as you go along. And for us at peace, these are such key learning points and key approaches to the way we work. For me, my key points will be just four things. Provide flexible trust based funding partnerships that really value implementer knowledge. And I've said this quite a few times, maybe in different ways, but really it's about. That's trust. Like we the way peace works with Costa Foundation, for example, really co-designing solutions and providing the space to respond to climate risk as they emerge. It is not the same in every single place. The challenges differ and the challenges are nuanced and contextual. All we work with in our communities in terms of program design, one of the key points of advice I'll suggest is that program design should not see both as separate to Simon's point, which is see it as an integrated and integrated space that we are working within. And also, let's not forget that there's always a gender dimension to it. I spoke about gender equity. I spoke about the impact that some of this has, particularly on girls. For example, drawing on our perception surveys that we do in peace, we are beginning to see a very strong dual dynamic. We're beginning to see teachers being trained and motivated to take climate action, both in practice and how they support students. We're also at the same time seeing students gaining the knowledge and the confidence to lead climate smart initiatives, not just in their schools, by using the school as that unit point, to then encourage and have meaningful action and activities in the communities. So using these schools as the central unit point has been one of the key things to understand that climate change and the issues are not just an education issue. It does not happen in schools alone, but it is about the schools and then the communities that these schools reside in. Another point around investment approach. So what is the thinking to Simon? To Simon's point, what is the thinking? What is the culture and the mindset? What is our investment approach?  What are we looking to do? In our area, our biggest focus is on adaptation and resilience because the communities we serve are on the sharp edge of the climate change. Frankly speaking, these are communities with some of the lowest carbon footprints, yet they are experiencing the most severe impacts. That is why investment in climate action must go beyond mitigation. And to Kate, your Kate, your point around it must be rooted in locally led context sensitive solutions that also consider the effects on people's livelihoods. This includes everything from sustainable infrastructure and energy use to training teachers, empowering students. Engaging communities in building climate resilience from the ground up. So I would like to really end with that key message that across all levels of the work that we do, across from the strategic to the operational, to the ground level, to students and communities, and putting the children at the center that should be very open to tapping in and making sure that the approaches that we design are really context specific, locally led, and really works for the people that we work with. Thank you very much

Yasmein: Thank you so much, David. I think FIA has a final word to add before we close.

Fia: Everybody in this podcast has talked about collaboration. It's really important and we also. Mustn't think that we should be climate experts, pull in the necessary expertise that you need if you are uncomfortable, and create that richer collaboration through having diverse stakeholders. I think that is extremely important. And then lastly, put children at the center. Remember that it is children and the youth of today. That will have to live in a world impacted by climate change. It's the context in which we will live and in which our children and grandchildren will live. It is up to education stakeholders to ensure that these children are ready to realize their full potential in a climate impacted future. One of our members say that you cannot say you care about children, but you say you don't care about climate. As Kate has showed it, it is interlinked. You can't see the two separately.

Yasmein: We hope you enjoyed listening to the conversation. To recap the discussion on how education philanthropy can identify entry pointers for engaging with climate action, several key insights emerged. We explored the strategic value philanthropy holds in advancing climate goals through aligning grant making and investment strategies with climate priorities. A successful example came from the Costa Foundation and their grantee peas illustrating how grantee partnerships can serve as effective entry point for climate action entry. The importance of co designing initiatives with grantees and the communities they serve was emphasized, reinforcing the need for locally grounded and inclusive program design. The conversation also highlighted the Greening Education Partnership as a valuable global platform for education, philanthropy to engage with climate education stakeholders, it offers a meaningful opportunity to connect, collaborate, and support climate related efforts across the education sector. A clear message from the discussion was the importance of simply starting waiting for the perfect plan is unnecessary. Taking that first step, whether through collaborating with a grantee, joining global networks, or signing a climate commitment helps build familiarity and the confidence in climate focused work. Equally important is the need to share learning and experiences with beers. Open dialogue and collaboration across the philanthropy community are essential to accelerating progress and maximizing collective impact.

This podcast is produced by the International Education Funders Group. It was curated and edited by Yasmein Abdelgany with post-production by Sarah Myles. To learn more about IEFG, please visit www.iefg.org and subscribe to the podcast for further conversations on education philanthropy, and the climate crisis.