The Education Equity Research Initiative: Evidence on equitable access to accelerated education in DRC

• In Event: Accelerated Education: Building the Evidence Base

Proposal

Reaching the most marginalized, and closing equity gaps, is one of the biggest challenges still facing the global education community today. In 2017, the Accelerated Education Working Group released a learning agenda with the aim of identifying evidence gaps and guidance for researchers and implementers to begin strengthening the evidence base around what works in accelerated education. Based on this guidance and on current discussions within the Education Equity Research Initiative, FHI 360 designed an operations research plan for the USAID/DRC ACCELERE! program, examining the effectiveness of the government-implemented Centre de Rattrapage Scolaire (CRS) accelerated education programming at achieving equitable access for the most marginalized children. The research is being conducted in North Kivu, a conflict-affected region of the country. This presentation will share the preliminary results from the study, which aim to answer the following research questions:
1. To what extent does AE programming in DRC reach displaced populations in North Kivu?
2. What factors drive or inhibit access to CRS for displaced populations?

The research team will use new Education Equity Research Initiative guidance on the development of context-based education equity indicators, and gather existing data on population displacement from humanitarian actors, including developing a typology of displacement, given the complexities of migration in North Kivu. The next step will be to conduct primary data collection in a sample of schools on CRS enrollment and retention for displaced populations, and then perform a calculation of the extent to which CRS are serving different types of displaced populations in the Kivus. This will be followed by in-depth interviews with stakeholders from the government, development partners, school personnel, and youth, focusing on the factors that drive or inhibit access to CRS for different types of displaced populations. Finally, these findings will be used to develop at set of recommendations around access to CRS for displaced populations. This research adds to the evidence base around the extent to which accelerated education programs achieve their stated goal of increasing equitable access to educational opportunities for the most marginalized.

Author

• Anne Smiley, FHI 360