THE SCHOOL IN THE MARKET

A philanthropist’s story of bringing change to education in Ghana.

In this debut nonfiction book, Pritzker tells the story of the IDP Foundation’s Rising Schools Program, which works with local organizations to provide credit to small private schools in Africa. The author focuses on the program’s origins in Ghana, explaining how she, as the chair and cofounder of the IDP Foundation, became interested in these small schools, which often serve poor students who do not have access to government institutions (“community members frustrated with the lack of a functional primary school often start their own schools”). Pritzker takes readers through the foundation’s process of finding partners; working with and against existing philanthropic and bureaucratic norms; various challenges and successes; and the program’s prospects for sustainability. The author explains how the foundation established loan products to serve the schools, trained the schools’ founders in both financial management and teaching strategies, and provided ongoing support to allow the schools to continue to thrive after their loans were repaid. The stories of the educator-entrepreneurs who founded these schools are woven throughout the book, with in-depth profiles included at the end of many chapters. The focus on the stories of the school founders is key to the book’s value, allowing the reader to understand what initially drew Pritzker’s interest to their needs; the author is careful to avoid speaking on behalf of her organization’s clients, allowing them full agency. (Pritzker notes that she attempted to minimize her own story in favor of those of the foundation and the schools, but the details of her life that make it into the book are also fascinating.) The book balances potentially dry accounts of loan repayment rates and standardized testing with engaging stories of winning over skeptical administrators, figuring out how to teach critical concepts (the Muppets make an appearance), and seeing fragile enterprises develop solid roots in their underserved communities. The book will likely appeal to readers interested in international development work and school administrators open to new perspectives on how to succeed.

A compelling look at one organization’s work to improve the education system in Africa.