The Zenex Foundation is a proactive grant-maker
Funding approach
The Zenex Foundation is a proactive funder that conceptualises and designs its funded projects in consultation with strategic education partners and specialists. We provide multi-year funding for our projects, which means our funding is committed in advance. As such, we are unable to support requests for once-off or long-term funding of third party projects
Strengthening the education system through:
Supporting language and mathematics
Driven by evidence of a proven relationship between language proficiency and success in mathematics, as critical for overall learner achievement.
Investing in the Foundation and Senior Phases
Critical entry points into primary school and high school, respectively, to build strong foundations for learning in these phases.
Developing contextually relevant resources
to strengthen teaching and learning in the classroom.
Working with government in four provinces:
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape to balance urban-rural, socio-economic and language contexts. Working nationally where strategic opportunities arise.
Leveraging our resources through:
Investing in innovation and testing new ideas on a small scale to inform systemic programmes.
Partnering with government to deliver large-scale interventions for systemic impact.
Strengthening strategic partnerships with stakeholders in education delivery.
Commissioning research, monitoring and evaluation to inform evidence-based learning.
Drawing on evidence derived from our long-term investment in education research and evaluation to inform our own work, shape practice and inform policy, and contribute to knowledge development in the education sector.
What are the Zenex Foundation funding principles?
The Zenex Foundation funding is guided by seven principles:
- Funds targeted areas of work in Language and Mathematics education.
Principle Two
2. Conceptualises and co-designs the programmes it funds in consultation with key stakeholders in education to address specific, identified gaps.
Principle Three
3. Adopts an evidence-based approach to designing programmes, informed by lessons drawn from internal and external research as well as independent evaluation of projects.
Principle Four
4. Promotes monitoring and evaluation as a tool for measuring impact and learning from practice.
Principle Five
5. Commissions research to better understand what works in Language and Mathematics teaching and learning.
Principle Six
6. Contributes to knowledge building in the sector by sharing findings from research and evaluations to inform policy and practice in the education and grant-making sectors.
Principle Seven
7. Operates on the basis of strong partnerships with Government, donors, NGOs and other education stakeholders involved in education delivery.