This brand-new partnership builds on UniCredit Group’s relationship with the global education network to help teachers serve under-resourced schools across Europe

UniCredit Foundation and global education network, Teach For All, have launched a three-year partnership worth 5.5 million euros, providing quality education to underserved schools in Europe and promoting education equality across the continent. This transformative partnership will focus on six countries where the bank operates: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Romania and Slovakia. 

The Foundation is also supercharging support of Teach For All to train educators to work in underserved schools in these nations.

Through this multi-million-euro commitment and boosted support, UniCredit Foundation and Teach For All will combat educational disparities experienced by children throughout Europe and prevent early school dropout rates among youth, by giving young people the quality of education they deserve to seek new opportunities and fulfil their career ambitions.

UniCredit Foundation and Teach For All’s partnership builds upon the strong relationship between the network of independent partner organisations and the UniCredit Group, first established in 2022 and aims at helping fulfil the Foundation’s ambition of unlocking the potential of Europe’s next generation. They aim to achieve this by focusing their efforts in Europe to ensure access to quality education for children, as Teach For All aims to do internationally.

A March UNICEF report found that educational inequality in Europe and Central Asia had been deepened by the COVID-19 pandemic, despite continued efforts by governments, with school closures affecting 63 million learners.

The report also observes that 3% of primary school age children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were not in school, compared with 1% in Western Europe, from 2013-2019. Romania, one of the UniCredit territories supported by the TFA partnership, has a particularly high rate of primary school age dropouts: 12% for boys and 13% for girls.

11.1% of young men and 8% of young women in the EU are early leavers from education and training, according to Eurostat. Leaving education early has life-long ramifications, cutting off employment opportunities which can lead to reduced potential earnings, compromised mental health and social exclusion.

Since launching their collaboration with a roughly 2 million euro-investment in 2022, UniCredit Group and Teach For All have already made a profound impact on young people’s education across Europe. Together they successfully trained and supported 592 diverse fellow teachers within the Teach For All network in Europe, improving the educational experiences of over 40,600 students across the continent in just one year.

Our new 5.5 million-euro partnership will help the UniCredit Foundation and Teach For All to deliver even bigger and better results, empowering the Teach For All network teachers in training and local communities to reimagine the education systems in under-resourced areas and build more inclusive school environments that offer quality education for all children, year on year. The Foundation and Teach For All’s network partners will train over 1,400 extraordinary teachers, providing education to over 83,000 students by 2026. In addition, network partners will develop the leadership skills of more than 3,600 alumni and more than 10,870 system-wide teachers.

Andrea Orcel, Chairman of UniCredit Foundation, said: "I am delighted to announce the UniCredit Foundation’s partnership with Teach For All. Europe has the potential to be a major economic bloc – to lead the way in global economic and social progress, fostering a future of shared prosperity. This is why our Bank and the Foundation have made it our shared mission to unlock this potential. The UniCredit Foundation is dedicated to equipping students with the essential tools to build a better future for themselves, their communities, and our continent. Together with Teach For All, we will advance equitable education within six UniCredit regions, nurturing collective leadership in young people and, in the long term, driving societal transformation.”

“We are proud to announce this partnership with UniCredit Foundation,” said Wendy Kopp, Co-Founder and CEO of Teach For All. “Their support will be instrumental in helping us to scale our work and develop a pipeline of teacher-leaders who continue to change educational outcomes for some of the most marginalized students in Europe. Together, we are committed to ensuring that every child has access to opportunities to fulfil their potential and shape better futures for themselves and the world.”

This partnership brings the Foundation's total investment in educational interventions from the start of the year to 18.1 million euros, constituting 91% of UniCredit Group's allocated 20 million euros for the Foundation this year. This commitment underscores the UniCredit Foundation's dedication to the cause and its pivotal role within the bank's overarching social strategy, which has seen the group issuing a total volume of around 8 billion Euros in social financing via micro credit, impact financing and lending to disadvantaged areas. This is all part of a total amount of ESG issuance for the FY 2022 and first 9 months of 2023 of about 80 billion. In addition to this, UniCredit Group invested a total of 36.5 million in 2022 in social and philanthropic initiatives, 8 million of which was allocated to Education & young people.

Notes to Editors:

Teach For Italy

• The plan is to expand their cohort of first- and second-year teachers over the next three years to serve more than 7,200 students in 100 disadvantaged schools across Italy, by
• Reinforcing the fellows’ impact in preventing explicit or implicit dropout from schools by training them to build solid relationships with students.
• Cultivating partnerships with the Regional Education Authority from North to South of Italy to grow the number of schools in new regions.
• Enhancing their alumni strategy to support more than 110 alumni by 2026.

 

Teach For Austria

• The plan is to expand their cohort of first- and second-year teachers over the next three years to serve more than 11,500 students in over 80 schools across the region, by
• Expanding programming to support Early Childhood Educators in the City of Vienna.
• Creating a new pathway for Teach For Austria teachers to teach in primary education.
• Scaling corporate volunteering opportunities and support to teachers outside the fellowship program.

Teach For Bulgaria

• The plan is to expand their support to system-wide teachers over the next three years, which will impact more than 35,000 students in over 780 schools across the region, by
• Scaling the Model Schools Program to develop principals, experienced teachers and novice teachers.
• Growing their alumni support by creating online and in-person spaces for the community to gather
• Developing high-quality digital content for teachers to access 21st century pedagogical tools.
• Building policy advocacy efforts by working with decision-makers and stakeholders and supporting alumni to fill positions within the government.

Teach For Deutschland

• The plan is to expand their cohort of first- and second-year teachers over the next three years to serve more than 11,000 students in over 180 schools across the region, by
• Expanding to two new regions in Hessen and Bavaria, where UniCredit’s local office is established.
• Developing a long-term teacher qualification program to strengthen the systemic impact of their teachers to teach beyond their two-year commitment.
• Growing their alumni impact by strengthening network connection opportunities and developing an alumni journey training program.

Teach For Romania

• The plan is to expand their cohort of first- and second-year teachers over the next three years to serve more than 13,000 students in over 137 schools across the region, by
• Piloting the first national numeracy program in Romania to develop students’ reading and writing during summer and winter school sessions.
• Establishing the Educational Leadership for Sustainable Transformation program, the first postgraduate training in Romania co-created by a higher education institution and an NGO.

Teach For Slovakia

• The plan is to expand their cohort of first- and second-year teachers over the next three years to serve more than 5,940 students in over 20 schools across the region, by
• Scaling financial education program in Slovakia with UniCredit’s support by finding an alumni to coordinate and expand the program’s reach to more schools.
• Growing mentoring program in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
• Expanding access to the Public Leadership Academy to all system-level teachers.
• Supporting social innovation fund initiatives to accelerate alumni-led projects that promote educational equity.

UniCredit Foundation

This Third Sector Body (TSB) is the corporate foundation of UniCredit Group whose purpose is to unlock the potential of Europe’s next generation. Its mission is to empower young people across Europe by creating equal opportunities in education and to support them in making their way in life and the professional world. The Foundation's initiatives aim at combating school drop-out, enhancing employability, encouraging university attainment and promoting study and research. The Foundation is committed to supporting communities in all countries where UniCredit Group operates.

Teach For All

Teach For All is a global network of more than 60 independent, locally led and governed partner organizations and a global organization that works to accelerate the progress of the network. Each network partner recruits and develops promising future leaders to teach in their nations’ under-resourced schools and communities and, with this foundation, to work with others, inside and outside of education, to ensure all children are able to fulfil their potential. Teach For All’s global organization works to increase the network’s impact by supporting the development of new organizations, fostering network connectivity and learning, providing coaching and consulting and enabling access to global resources for the benefit of the network.

 

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