A young girl in class at the Tim Hines school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. August 2017. Credit: GPE/Carolina Valenzuela

Partner since:

Total grant support: US$24,052,476

Grant eligibility:

  • Multiplier
  • Girls' Education Accelerator
  • System capacity

Partnership Compact

Priority: Accelerating educational transformation by reducing inequality, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable populations

Other key documents

Coordinating agency: Ayuda en Acción

GPE Team lead: Katherina Hruskovec Gonzalez

Contact the GPE team lead

Transforming education in Honduras

While Honduras made significant progress in expanding access to primary education, enrollment declined from 2018 to 2022 and is lagging in other levels of education.

Existing low enrollment was compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic and tropical storms, which have destroyed education infrastructure and affected education service delivery.

On average, students complete 8 out of the 13 years of compulsory schooling.

Low learning is a barrier to children progressing through and completing school: around half of grade 3 students lack basic reading and math skills (ERCE). Other barriers include poverty, child labor, migration, violence and insecurity, and teen pregnancy.

Honduras’ Strategic Plan for the Overhauling of the National Education System (PRESENA) 2024-2033 states that structural challenges perpetuate and widen existing social inequalities, especially between urban and rural populations.

In line with the PRESENA, Honduras’ Partnership Compact identifies accelerating educational transformation with an emphasis on reducing inequalities and addressing vulnerable populations as a priority.

The government led dialogue with education sector stakeholders to align resources behind the national priority and reforms that aim to deliver impact at scale.

A focus on improving governance aims to strengthen administrative capacities, modernize information systems, and improve risk management.

Efforts to improve education access and quality include reducing rural and urban disparities, improving student retention and progression, and strengthening learning.

Result story

Civil society acts for quality education in Honduras

A GPE youth leader shares how GPE’s support to civil society in Honduras has helped to strengthen accountability and civic participation in education.

Key data

26%

out-of-school rate for children of lower-secondary school age

64%

of children start learning one year before entering primary school

27%

of government expenditure on education

Grants

(data as of July 11, 2025)

 
  • Type: Multiplier

    Years: 2025 - 2030

    Allocation: US$12,000,000

    Utilization: 0

    Grant agent: Inter-American Development Bank

  • Type: System capacity

    Years: 2025 - 2028

    Allocation: US$803,000

    Utilization: US$32,117

    Grant agent: World Bank

  • Type: Multiplier

    Years: 2020 - 2026

    Allocation: US$10,000,000

    Utilization: US$5,780,334

    Grant agent: World Bank

Civil society engagement

As part of its investment in civil society advocacy and social accountability efforts, GPE’s Education Out Loud fund is supporting Foro Dakar Honduras for the 2024-2026 period. This builds on previous support from the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF).

Learn more

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