Providing technical assistance in a digital world: Findings from a foundational learning initiative in sub-Saharan Africa

• In Event: Case studies in philanthropy: corporate social responsibility, grant making and technical assistance

Proposal

As underscored in the CIES conference theme description, “the 21st Century means that learners, educators and administrators find themselves immersed in a range of digital cultures.” In addition to these stakeholders, donors and philanthropists who support efforts to improve education face similar choices when it comes to deciding whether to invest in strategies, programs and products that include technology and other digital tools and approaches.

One donor initiative, Engeza, aims to improve foundational learning in sub-Saharan Africa by providing targeted, high-quality technical assistance (TA) to support foundational learning programs focused on literacy and numeracy.

With financing from the Gates Foundation, Engeza collaborates with donor institutions (such as the World Bank, UNICEF, and the U.S. Agency for International Development) and governments to understand their TA needs in the education sector. Engeza, a Zulu and Ndebele word meaning “to add” or “to augment, then identifies TA providers--either individuals or organizations--that have the skills to conduct the work.

Several aspects of Engeza’s work are relevant to the CIES 2025 theme. First, like all aspects of teaching and learning in the digital world, Engeza, too, has had to grapple with decisions regarding what “digital” or technology-related approach it should fund. One example is the use of generative AI to develop books for children in African languages where there is a dearth of books. Currently in its infancy, this use of generative AI presents a tremendous opportunity to get books in the hands of millions of children without access to text in their own languages. Engeza decided to finance TA that uses generative AI to develop books in several West African languages, while embedding an assessment of the process and products to understand the technology’s relative advantages and potential downsides.

Another way in which Engeza’s work is relevant to the conference theme is the role that TA can play in helping stakeholders—in this case, ministries of education—to maximize the effectiveness of the digital resources they already have. For example, in Rwanda, an online system exists to collect data from all schools. However, the technology has been underutilized. Engeza is therefore exploring how TA can help stakeholders to effectively use these existing resources.

Finally, as part of each TA assignment, Engeza is committed to developing open source, digital tools, templates and other resources (such as a book track-and-trace system in Sierra Leone) that can be used by other stakeholders implementing foundational learning programs.

To address CIES’ questions, “What methods and guiding frameworks were used, and how can they address similar challenges elsewhere?”: Engeza was designed to address the growing need for high-quality technical assistance to support large-scale foundational learning initiatives. In many cases, existing programs do not have sufficient funds for the TA that is needed. Designed as a test case, Engeza is evaluating a new approach to TA provision. This approach employs a “third party matchmaker”--in this case, the organization Education Development Trust (EDT)--to directly hire and manage the TA. Our key research questions about this new approach include:

1. How can a TA funding mechanism like Engeza incentivize and support the development and implementation of high-impact foundational learning interventions/reforms at scale?
2. How can TA be designed to transfer knowledge and skills to donor and government staff for increased ownership and sustainability?

To answer these and other key questions, Engeza elaborated a monitoring, evaluation and learning plan. Data are collected to both quantitatively and qualitatively assess our outcomes, and to determine whether the approach should be continued and potentially expanded.

With respect to CIES’ question, “What was identified as successful; and/or what could have been done differently, knowing what is now known? What was the project’s impact on the need, topic, interest, or issue it targeted?”: Engeza periodically publishes findings regarding answers to these questions, to create a knowledge base to inform the wider community of practice. Lessons learned to date include the following:

1. There is a significant need for funding mechanisms like Engeza to play a role in “brokering” matches between the demand for TA and the supply of it.
2. TA funding mechanisms like Engeza can play a critical role in providing high-quality TA that otherwise would not have been provided due to lack of funding—and thus positively impacting large-scale education improvement initiatives.
3. Relatively small amounts of funding for “just in time” TA can be “catalytic” and leave a large footprint in terms of outcomes.
4. Transfer of knowledge and skills from and between TA and donor and government partners has to be intentional, and built into TA provision from the outset, with expectations and roles clearly defined.
5. TA can play a role in bridging the gap between existing digital resources and users’ ability to harness the technology to improve the quality of foundational learning.
6. An enduring need exists for non-digital resources—e.g., in-person workshops and collaboration, hard copies of books for children.
7. Digital and non-digital approaches can be complementary and result in the best outcomes (e.g., Engeza’s support of children’s book development in Mali and Senegal).
8. TA has the best chance of success when donors and governments take the time to align their needs, expectations and anticipated outcomes before TA is provided.

Lastly, cross-cutting all of our work has been the need to identify the most effective ways of working with stakeholders in “digitally diverse” environments, where access and skills related to technology and the internet vary considerably. For example, Engeza assessed the most appropriate and efficient tools and processes for working remotely and collaboratively with TA, governments and donors. This has included utilizing simple online platforms that help to identify, organize, connect, track and manage requests for technical assistance, as well as a database of TA providers.

Digital technology—both as a target area for financing aimed at improving foundational learning, as well as a means through which work is conducted and shared—is an integral part of what Engeza does. We look forward to sharing our experiences and the results of our research with the wider community of practice attending the CIES 2025 conference.

Authors

• Stella Wanjiru Chege, Education Development Trust

• ROSALINE MURAYA, Education Development Trust

• Wangui Muhika, Education Development Trust

• Alison Pflepsen, Independent