Who We Fund
Focus Area
Early childhood development
Objective & FEMEF support
SmartStart is a national early learning delivery network built to increase access to quality early learning programmes for every child in South Africa. The FEMEF investment has assisted more than 50 000 children who would have never had access to ECD through any other means.
Focus Area
Leader leadership and resilience
Objective & FEMEF support
Columba Leadership delivers a values-based leadership programme aimed at providing leadership skills development for learners and educators in public high schools. FEMEF has provided the opportunity for more than 9 000 learners, educators and principals to benefit from this.
Focus Area
School management and leadership
Objective & FEMEF support
CLL's Leaders for Education programme aims to strengthen school leadership through pairing private sector business leaders with school principals in a year long leadership development program, Since 2018, FEMEF’s support has enabled 800 principals to complete this.
Transition into work: FET phase & TVET
Funded From: 2024
Objective & FEMEF support
Allan Gray Makers equips ambitious South African artisans to turn trade skills into enterprises. With FEMEF’s support, the Allan Gray Makers StartUp Academy helped 124 unemployed electricians and plumbers launch their own trade businesses.
Allan Gray Makers
Early Childhood Development
Funded From: 2024
Objective & FEMEF support
The Bana Pele Mass Registration Drive, led by the Department of Basic Education and private partners, formalises and strengthens Early Learning Practitioners (ELPs). Using a tiered system (Bronze, Silver, Gold), it ensures early learning centres meet health, safety, and compliance standards to unlock a R24-per-child government subsidy. The goal is a sustainable, accessible early childhood development (ECD) ecosystem for all children.
Bana Pele
School Management and Leadership
Funded From: 2018
Objective & FEMEF support
CLL's Leaders for Education programme aims to strengthen school leadership through pairing private sector business leaders with school principals in a year long leadership development program, Since 2018, FEMEF’s support has enabled 800 principals to complete this.
Citizen Leadership Lab
Leader Leadership and Resilience
Funded From: 2017
Objective & FEMEF support
Columba Leadership delivers a values-based leadership programme aimed at providing leadership skills development for learners and educators in public high schools. FEMEF has provided the opportunity for more than 9 000 learners, educators and principals to benefit from this.
Columba Leadership Trust
Focus Area
Teacher skills and capacity development
Objective & FEMEF support
The Thandulwazi Intern Teacher Training Programme in Limpopo aims to develop high quality teachers for the foundation phase in the Capricorn and Bushbuck ridge districts. FEMEF has funded 64 intern teachers, which also positively impacted more than 15 000 children at the schools.
Focus Area
Teacher skills and capacity development
Objective & FEMEF support
KICP is a teacher development organisation working in schools with teachers, interns and leaders providing quality professional development. FEMEF supported the Initial Teacher Education programme in KZN, and has funded 94 intern teachers placed in 34 schools.
Focus Area
Research and evaluation
Objective & FEMEF support
RESEP is group of scholars conducting research on important socioeconomic issues, including empirical education research aimed at providing policy makers with evidence-based recommendations. FEMEF provided essential funding for the Teacher Demographic Dividend research project.
Foundation Phase Literacy & Numeracy
Funded From: 2024
Objective & FEMEF support
Funda Uphumelele National Survey is a nationally representative study carried out across the country to create reading benchmarks for all spoken South African languages. The study assessed 27 838 learners across 710 schools to measure the percentages of children reaching critical reading benchmarks by the end of Grade 1, 2 and 3 in all official spoken languages (FUNS). This has resulted in the development of a new battery of benchmarks-aligned assessments (FURS).
DBE
Foundation Phase Literacy and Numeracy
Funded From: 2025
Objective & FEMEF support
FLOAT is a collaborative initiative dedicated to enhancing foundational literacy and numeracy teaching strategies for Grades R-3 in South Africa through a close partnership with the DBE at both national and provincial levels. FEMEF is one of eight funders supporting FLOAT.
Float
Foundation Phase Literacy and Numeracy Teacher Skills and Capacity Development
Funded From: 2018
Objective & FEMEF support
Funda Wande interventions aim to improve foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes so that all children in South Africa can read for meaning and calculate with confidence by the age of 10. FEMEF supported the language versioning and provincial projects in the EC, WC and Limpopo.
Funda Wande
Foundation Phase Literacy and Numeracy including teacher development.
Funded From: 2025
Objective & FEMEF support
JET aims to strengthen South Africa's education system through evidence-based research, programme implementation, and systems improvement. FEMEF's support contributed to the Teacher Internship Collaboration South Africa (TICZA) initiative, which seeks to strengthen the teacher pipeline by improving teacher preparation and increasing opportunities for quality teaching practice
JET
Focus Area
Transition into work: FET phase & TVET
Objective & FEMEF support
Allan Gray Makers equips ambitious South African artisans to turn trade skills into enterprises. With FEMEF’s support, the Allan Gray Makers StartUp Academy helped 124 unemployed electricians and plumbers launch their own trade businesses.
Focus Area
Foundation phase literacy and numeracy Teacher skills and capacity development
Objective & FEMEF support
Funda Wande interventions aim to improve foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes so that all children in South Africa can read for meaning and calculate with confidence by the age of 10. FEMEF supported the language versioning and provincial projects in the EC, WC and Limpopo.
Focus Area
Enabling future leaders to access excellent education
Objective & FEMEF support
MAD Leadership Foundation provides scholarships to academically promising youth with potential who require financial support. Recipients also receive comprehensive care, including psycho-social assistance and leadership development. Thanks to FEMEF, 224 young people have benefited.
Teacher Skills and Capacity Development
Funded From: 2022
Objective & FEMEF support
KICP is a teacher development organisation working in schools with teachers, interns and leaders providing quality professional development. FEMEF supported the Initial Teacher Education programme in KZN, and has funded 94 intern teachers placed in 34 schools.
KICP
Enabling Future Leaders to Access Excellent Education
Funded From: 2017
Objective & FEMEF support
MAD Leadership Foundation provides scholarships to academically promising youth with potential who require financial support. Recipients also receive comprehensive care, including psycho-social assistance and leadership development. Thanks to FEMEF, 224 young people have benefited.
MAD
Education NGOs collaboration, capacity building, advocacy, networking, leadership development, & professional learning
Funded From: 2026
Objective & FEMEF support
NASCEE aims to strengthen the education non-profit ecosystem by improving organisational capacity, fostering collaboration, and creating a collective voice for education NGOs. FEMEF's support contribute to a stronger education sector by enabling knowledge sharing, leadership development, advocacy, and collaboration among education organisations, ultimately improving education outcomes at a systems level.
NASCEE
Research and Evaluation
Funded From: 2023
Objective & FEMEF support
RESEP is group of scholars conducting research on important socioeconomic issues, including empirical education research aimed at providing policy makers with evidence-based recommendations. FEMEF provided essential funding for the Teacher Demographic Dividend research project.
RESEP
Focus Area
Foundation phase literacy and numeracy
Objective & FEMEF support
FLOAT is a collaborative initiative dedicated to enhancing foundational literacy and numeracy teaching strategies for Grades R-3 in South Africa through a close partnership with the DBE at both national and provincial levels. FEMEF is one of eight funders supporting FLOAT.
Focus Area
Early childhood development & Foundation phase Literacy & Numeracy
Objective & FEMEF support
FEMEF aims to create catalytic change in the public education system by ensuring all funded initiatives are closely aligned with the DBE priorities and supporting the Bana Pele Mass Registration drive (to ensure universal access to quality ECD) and the Funda Uphumelele National Study (FUNS) (which seeks to measure the national outcomes against the newly established benchmarks of 10 year olds reading for meaning in their respective languages).
Early Childhood Development
Funded From: 2021
Objective & FEMEF support
SmartStart is a national early learning delivery network built to increase access to quality early learning programmes for every child in South Africa. The FEMEF investment has assisted more than 50 000 children who would have never had access to ECD through any other means.
SmartStart
Teacher Skills and Capacity Development
Funded From: 2022
Objective & FEMEF support
The Thandulwazi Intern Teacher Training Programme in Limpopo aims to develop high quality teachers for the foundation phase in the Capricorn and Bushbuck ridge districts. FEMEF has funded 64 intern teachers, which also positively impacted more than 15 000 children at the schools.
Thandulwazi