Listening and addressing country demands through EMAP Hub’s multi-level approach

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Brokering the Knowledge Brokers: Are regional hubs the way forward?

Proposal

The presentation will highlight experiences and insights from one of the four regional hubs, the KIX regional hub for Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia and the Pacific (EMAP), hosted by NORRAG. The Hub brings together national policy makers, researchers, Ministry of Education officials, civil society, and others in thirty-six GPE partner countries. The overall vision is for decision makers in EMAP countries to use research and evidence to sustain and institutionalise successful reforms in their education system in alignment with GPE’s system transformation approach.

To this end, the KIX EMAP Hub has adopted a multi-level approach which entails activities requiring varied levels of engagement from participants. The first level involves mobilising a critical mass of stakeholders through large open-access activities, such as webinars, conferences, or podcasts developed collaboratively with national partners. The medium engagement level involves professional development workshops and learning cycles engaging policy analysts, experts, or researchers at ministries, research institutions, or civil society organisations. The highest level engages influential change leaders - policy advisors and decision-makers - in developing their policy expertise related to a key demand in their education system.

The presentation will start by providing an overview of the rationale for these levels of engagement and zoom in on the Vietnam case to collect responses to the three roundtable guiding questions. The speakers will then contribute to the overall critical discussion on the different approaches the KIX Hubs are promoting at the country level and the respective results and lessons learned from this work.

Concrete examples will be shared on how the Hub has operationalised a demand-driven approach to knowledge exchange and peer learning, addressing Vietnam’s policy priorities and challenges in a systemic manner, specifically in integrating 21st-century skills in the national curriculum and its subsequent connection with teaching and classroom practices. The presentation will also look at how technology supports Hub’s work in facilitating the connection between education peers around the vast EMAP region and address some of the challenges associated with its use.

Authors

• Nuong Dieu Nguyen, Room to Read

• Jose Luis Canelhas, NORRAG