Drupal Development Empowers UNICEF's Education Cannot Wait

Before adopting Drupal development, ECW faced several major challenges:

• Disorganized data: Information was scattered across multiple tools, making it difficult to track grants effectively.

• Manual processes: Approvals and reporting were slow, error-prone, and required a lot of manual effort.

• Limited scalability: Their existing system couldn’t support ECW’s rapid global expansion.

• Slow updates: Delivering timely insights to stakeholders was often delayed.

The goal was clear: ECW needed a modern, centralized Grant Management System (GMS) powered by Drupal development—one that could automate workflows, ensure data consistency, and scale to meet growing demands.

To address ECW’s challenges, we delivered a tailored Drupal development solution focused on automation, security, and user-friendly design.

The project rolled out in two strategic phases:

• Phase 1: A secure internal Drupal platform that enabled ECW teams to efficiently manage, monitor, and report on grant activities with streamlined workflows.
   
• Phase 2: A public-facing portal built on Drupal, empowering grantees to apply for funding, submit progress reports, and track application statuses in real-time, improving transparency and engagement across the board.

The new platform did more than fix existing issues, it unlocked new possibilities for collaboration, transparency, and long-term impact. Tailored specifically to ECW’s operational and strategic needs, the system supports both day-to-day workflows and the organization’s broader mission to deliver education in crisis-affected areas.

Here’s how the solution met and went beyond expectations:

• Streamlined Internal Operations
  Manual, time-consuming tasks like application tracking, grant approvals, and reporting were replaced with automated workflows. This freed up ECW’s team to focus on strategic priorities instead of administrative bottlenecks.
   
• Enhanced Partner Engagement
  Grantees and implementing partners now have access to a dedicated portal where they can easily apply for funding, submit reports, and receive real-time updates. The intuitive interface reduces friction and improves the overall user experience, encouraging broader participation.
   
• Real-Time Insight and Transparency
  Centralizing data into a single platform enabled ECW to monitor grant performance in real-time. Custom dashboards and reporting tools give leadership the visibility they need to make faster, data-informed decisions and share progress with stakeholders.
   
• Robust Security and Scalability
  Built on Drupal and hosted on Acquia Cloud, the platform delivers enterprise-grade security and performance. Role-based access control ensures sensitive data is protected, while the system’s modular design allows it to scale alongside ECW’s global growth.
   
• This transformation has equipped ECW with the digital infrastructure needed to operate more efficiently today — and to grow strategically into the future.

The launch of the new platform marked a turning point for ECW’s digital operations. By automating key processes and centralizing grant data, ECW can now operate with greater agility and transparency, which is essential for an organization working across crisis-affected regions.

More than just improving internal efficiency, the platform has strengthened ECW’s ability to communicate its impact, engage partners, and deliver on its mission at scale.

Grantees now experience a faster, clearer application journey, while ECW’s teams benefit from real-time insights and a more sustainable workflow.

What was once a manual, fragmented process has become a streamlined ecosystem that enables smarter decisions, better collaboration, and faster time to impact.

This collaboration between ECW and Vardot is more than a technology upgrade — it’s a foundation for global impact. By reimagining grant management through a scalable, user-first platform, ECW is now better equipped to deliver education where it's needed most.
Together, we’ve built a system that not only supports ECW’s mission today but empowers it to grow and adapt in the years to come.