Eastern And Southern Africa - Learning and Evidence Agenda for Regional Collaboration Project

Overview & Synopsis

Learning and Evidence Agenda for Regional Collaboration in Eastern and Southern Africa (LEARN-ESA) for Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, and Mozambique has the development objective to strengthen regional collaboration to generate, share, and support the use of evidence and regional public goods by participating countries to inform basic education reforms. Component 1: Connecting Countries to Regional Public Goods for Basic Education Reform will map country demand annually, identify and assess existing regional tools and standards, and provide practical uptake and adaptation packages that help countries use shared resources for learning assessment and data use, structured pedagogy and teacher support, lower secondary reforms, inclusive and gender-responsive education, and teacher standards, including quality and fit reviews and climate-responsive guidance; it will also host a light regional knowledge and collaboration mechanism supported by a simple digital repository for curated tools, guidance, and implementation resources. Component 2: Regional Learning, Evidence Uptake, and Implementation Support will finance a focused regional learning agenda on implementation of evidence-informed reforms through joint research studies, implementation research, targeted diagnostics, and dissemination that address teacher preparation and professional development, alignment of curriculum, assessment and instructional support, use of digital tools for teaching, administration and learning continuity during climate disruptions, gender-responsive measures that strengthen girls’ access and learning through female teacher and leadership pipelines, and costing, financing, and sustainability of foundational learning reforms; it will convene communities of practice and regional problem-solving forums, document implementation lessons, and support the translation of evidence into country policies, programs, and implementation steps. Component 3: Project Management, Regional Coordination, Results Monitoring, and Communication will strengthen the Association of African Universities (AAU) as the regional coordinating and facilitating entity through a Project Implementation Unit that manages planning, fiduciary, environmental and social risk management, results monitoring, stakeholder engagement, and communication; it will coordinate a Regional Steering Committee, curate and share regional public goods, engage specialized technical partners, and ensure that stakeholder feedback informs annual work plans and platform improvements to support sustained evidence use and collaboration across participating countries and partners under the broader Advancing Innovative Methods to Promote Learning in Eastern and Southern Africa Multiphase Programmatic Approach.