The Power of Collective Civil Action: Exploring advocacy and accountability in global and national education policy through Education Out Loud

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The power of protest in education is based on an understanding that education is a politically contested terrain prominent on the agendas of citizens and national governments alike (Grindle 2004). While the role of people power, especially student movements and mobilization, is often considered a hallmark of the 1960s and 1970s, civil society efforts to improve access, quality, inclusivity, and learning outcomes continue today in various forms. One of the most prominent contemporary global mechanisms for enabling civil society’s participation in education is Education Out Loud. Education Out Loud is the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) support mechanism for advocacy and social accountability, and the flagship education accountability program globally. It supports civil society to be active and influential in shaping education policy by applying various tools and strategies (including mass mobilization and protests) related to collective civic action to better meet the needs of communities, especially vulnerable and marginalized populations. GPE has provided funding to civil society organizations and national education coalitions since 2009, and expanded to the Education Out Loud program in 2019.
The Education Out Loud program has convened a group of global learning partners to build a strong evidence base for civil society accountability and advocacy work. Moving forward, Education Out Loud’s global learning seeks to enhance the practices of accountability and advocacy practitioners to advance their goals, inform education funders to improve the impact of their support to civil society, and influence ministries of education and national decision-makers on the benefits and contributions of civil society participation in education policy.
Education Out Loud’s Global Learning Partners are now in their second year of generating an evidence base on the role of civil society in education and seeking to share what they have learned thus far. This group panel will provide a public forum for such learning to be shared more broadly with both scholars and practitioners. It will address critical questions about what is known thus far about civil society involvement in education at the national and global level, including: the dynamics between teachers unions and civil society organizations in national education policy advocacy; lessons learned from advocates and campaigners operating in challenging contexts; enabling conditions for CSO engagement and monitoring in local education groups at the national level; and participatory approaches to advocacy and policy influencing (API) by CSOs advocating for social change. The roundtable will also take a formative, forward-looking perspective to highlight what is not yet known regarding the role of civil society in education dialogue and policy, tactics, tools and strategies (including leveraging the power of protest when essential) for their engagement in light of shrinking civic space, and how advocacy and accountability practitioners can be better supported to improve their strategic impact at the grassroots level.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Organizer

• Abrehet Gebremedhin, Accountability Research Center, American University

Chair

• Tanvir Mohammad Muntasim, Global Partnership for Education

Individual Presentations

• Advocacy while Teaching: The role of teachers unions as political actors in national education policy advocacy - Abrehet Gebremedhin, Accountability Research Center, American University; Naomi Hossain, Accountability Research Center, American University

• Strategies of contention in challenging contexts; learning from Education Out Loud funded advocates and campaigners - Colin Anderson, IDS; Rosie McGee, Institute of Development Studies

• Empowering Civil Society in Education: Education Out Loud grantees in National Education Sector Policy Design and Implementation - Muriel Poisson, UNESCO-IIEP

• API approaches in education that lead to social change - Alexander Towne, Australian Council for Educational Research UK; Jolanda Buter, MDF