Our Approach - Maitri Trust

We understand that meaningful change takes time.

Changing outcomes for every child means improving their learning today, while embedding, scaling and sustaining successful solutions for the future.

With children at the heart of our work, we approach our grantmaking with learner-level impact in mind. Everything we do is underpinned by our guiding principles and our vision, mission and goal: to ensure every child in India and South Africa completes primary school able to read, write and calculate.

Providing flexible funding to a broad spectrum of transformative solutions, we focus on outcomes at learner, school and system levels, encouraging creativity, innovation and collaboration to catalyse change for children.

On 27 March 2026, we announced our decision to begin a planned, intentional sunset of the Maitri Trust, with final closure by April 2028. Over the next two years we are determined to shape a legacy that continues improving children’s learning long after our final grant is made.

How we fund

Maitri is a small organisation with a small programme team. Following our decision to sunset, we are unable to consider any unsolicited proposals or requests for funding for the duration of this transition period.

As part of our commitment to equity and inclusion, we only fund organisations whose staff and board opportunities are open to all people, regardless of race, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief. We are also unable to support organisations with explicitly religious objectives.

Our vision

Every child learns, grows and thrives.

Our mission

We partner with changemakers to reimagine education for children in India and South Africa, unlocking life-changing learning for every child.

Our goal

Every child learns to read, write and calculate
by the end of their primary education.

Our outcomes:

To reach our goal, we have defined a set of outcomes that our partnerships are aligned to:

Children’s learning and engagement significantly improves

By the end of primary school, a higher number of children can read, write and calculate. Better attendance, increased confidence and active participation in class show that learning is meaningful, enjoyable and equitable.

Teaching and school practices significantly improve

Classrooms are engaging, well-managed spaces where every pupil is supported by a motivated and engaged teacher. Schools foster a culture of learning, resulting in a higher number of children who can read, write and calculate.

Systems are influenced

Evidence based approaches inform and influence education policy and practice to create an enabling environment in which all children can read, write and calculate by the end of primary school.

Our principles

Our principles shape how we work with our partners and each other. At the forefront of our work lies the overarching principle:

Champion every child

We put children first in every decision, seeking solutions that enable as many children as possible to learn, grow and thrive.

To ensure we do this, we:

Partner with Purpose

We trust our partners to know what works, and support them with humility and flexibility to help make it happen, working together to amplify our impact for children.

Act with Accountability

We focus on the evidence that matters, working with our partners to understand how change is happening and ensure our resources achieve as much as possible for children.

Cultivate Curiosity

We embrace fresh ideas and new ways of working, thinking creatively and learning continually to uncover opportunities to drive change for children.

Why India and South Africa?

While universal access to education has been achieved in both of our focus countries, poor learning outcomes remain a significant concern, highlighting the deep-rooted challenges that permeate their education systems and prevent children reaching their full potential. We see our commitment to these two countries as a key part of our approach.

Find out more about our countries

Find out more about our approach:

Boy raising his hand in a South African primary school classroom.