Advocating for quality education for all in a digitalising world: Civil society’s engagement in education policymaking through Education Out Loud

• In Event: Roundtable Session 12

Group Submission Type: Refereed Roundtable Session

Proposal

The rapid transformation that digital technology brings to education is a multi-faceted challenge – as well as opportunity – for civil society organisations that work to improve education access, inclusivity, and quality. On one hand, rapidly evolving digital technologies threaten to deepen the digital divide and leave already socio-economically marginalized groups further behind in education, depending on who is given access to technologies and who is not. On the other hand, citizens engaged in evidence-based policy influencing may benefit from new digital tools and types of connectivity for data production, strengthening of accountability measures and advocacy efforts, and bridging of gaps between governments and civil society (as recent Global Partnership Education supported research has shown).

Education Out Loud (EOL) is the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) fund for advocacy and social accountability in education and has since 2019 supported civil society engagement in the transformation of education systems (GPE has provided funding to civil society organisations and national education coalitions since 2009). EOL strengthens civil society organisations to mobilize citizens and affect policy changes in the education sector, helps to make advocacy for quality education more effective at the global, regional, and national levels, and promotes transparency efforts around education policies and practices. EOL is the largest fund in the world supporting both civil society and advocacy and accountability for education, and it provides grants for around 80 civil society organisations and national education coalitions and regional alliances in more than 60 countries. An important area of work that underpins EOL’s grant giving, is its strong learning and research component that facilitates analysis of education challenges and policy implementation, strengthening of civil society capacity to influence education policies, and the distilling of knowledge across the grant portfolio and project implementation.

In these learning efforts, EOL’s Global Learning Partners play an important role. EOL is now in its second phase of collaborating with a group of learning and research institutions that, as learning partners, build evidence, data and knowledge to benefit and inform all education stakeholders, within EOL and beyond. The current group of EOL Global Learning Partners, who are in their first year of research with and among civil society partners in the education community, will at the CIES 2025 conference offer an open forum for sharing and discussing their ongoing work and preliminary findings with both scholars and practitioners. The roundtable presentations will address critical issues and perspectives relating to civil society’s involvement in education policy dialogues, including learnings on how civil society organisations may best manoeuvre and adapt strategies to influence education policies that aim to respond to complex challenges associated with new technology as well as other urgent issues.

The panelists will offer insights from their ongoing innovative learning initiatives, such as participatory research processes and data analysis with civil society organisations, especially with a focus on strengthening social inclusion and gender equality in education policy, including in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, as well as the use of human rights law and mechanisms to strengthen advocacy for education. The roundtable takes place on the background of increased manifestations of shrinking civic space in many arenas as reported by civil society partners; in some cases, shrinking civic space is enabled by digital technologies though the same technologies may also, in the right hands, be an effective tool against exclusion and marginalisation. The roundtable will highlight the rightful role of civil society in decision-making processes and in dialogues with their governments, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that no one is left behind and that public goods such as quality education are accessible to all citizens.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Organizer

• Colin Anderson, IDS

Chair

• Tanvir Mohammad Muntasim, Global Partnership for Education

Individual Presentations

• Exploring the experiences of civil society participants in education policy dialogue mechanisms in complex and challenging contexts - Colin Anderson, IDS; Rosie McGee, Institute of Development Studies

• Supporting Civil Society in advancing social inclusion and gender equality in education through a global learning partnership and research generation - Katarzyna Kubacka, NFER

• Advancing the realization of the right to education in a digital society, using human rights law and mechanisms - Juliana Lima, Right to Education Initiative; Delphine Dorsi, Right to Education Initiative

• “Facilitated Reflexive and Multi-modal Exchange” (FRAME): Reflecting on EOL Grantees’ Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) advocacy frameworks - Aditi Ashok Arur, Christ University; Joan DeJaeghere, University of Minnesota; Christopher Johnstone, University of Minnesota; Nancy Pellowski Wiger, University of Minnesota; Matthew Schuelka, Fora Education