The PHEA — a joint project between seven private US foundations — supports higher education development in Africa. It works in four specific areas: developing and retaining new academics; information and communication technologies for higher education; regional institutional capacity building; and higher education research and analysis.

Within each of these, the PHEA publishes news and information on its projects, highlighting case studies and achievements to date. The PHEA also hosts a database of past and current grants, which, between 2000 and 2008, represent investments of over US$350 million.