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Mobilizing demand driven evidence in LMICs to improve policy and policy implementation in a digital society: learning across major global initiatives

Wed, March 26, 9:45 to 11:00am, Palmer House, Floor: 3rd Floor, Crystal Room

Group Submission Type: Refereed Roundtable Session

Proposal

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the generation, mobilization and use of rigorous evidence to enhance the impact and cost-effectiveness of policies and programs in education, including on the challenges and opportunities of a digital society.

Ministers of education in LMICs have pointed to the critical need to build on evidence and called on the international community to support context-specific solutions (GPE, Ministerial communique on transforming education at scale, 2022). In 2021, Education.org released a white paper indicating that Policy makers want :
- Research written for decision makers, not researchers
- Analysis that is forward looking, not backwards
- Studies that match government priorities, not donors
- Sources they can trust, without vested interests
- Sources covering ‘real world’ frontline contributions, especially from their own country
- Synthesized evidence that is contextually relevant with actionable guidance

In a digital society, evidence still needs to be produced, particularly on how to adapt proven innovations in education so they have impact at scale and promote gender equality, equity and inclusion. Further investment is also needed to contextualise, synthesize, and mobilize existing evidence to inform policies and programs across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Excellent research should ultimately influence action that supports a digital world. However, there is widespread acknowledgement that this does not simply happen, regardless of how robust and compelling the evidence is (e.g., Joyce and Cartwright, 2019; Newman, Cherney, and Head, 2016). There are still significant gaps between evidence generation and use.

This roundtable invites donors to reflect on the unique opportunities and responsibilities they, and the research they support, have to engage with policy makers and other research users to understand the demand for evidence, advance the generation and use of evidence in the education sector, coordinate research agendas and support intercountry learning (Worldbank, Building evidence in education, 2021). The roundtable will highlight Global initiatives that support demand-driven research, learning between countries, and capacity building of LMICs’ government and non-government policy stakeholders : the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX); the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) What Works Hub for Global Education programme; the Aga Khan Foundation’s Schools2030 Program and the APPRENDRE Program funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

- GPE KIX is the largest fund solely dedicated to meet global public good gaps in education with a budget of 164,5 million $US. GPE KIX engages the 90 GPE partner countries for inter-country learning and demand-driven knowledge mobilization, and supports over 90 applied research projects that respond to demands for evidence at regional and national levels.
- The What Works Hub for Global Education is an international partnership focused on working out how to implement education reforms effectively at scale, whilst supporting governments in real time to do it.
- The Aga Khan Foundation’s Schools2030 programme funds participatory research projects conducted with and for schools in ten countries to improve quality teaching and holistic learning.
- Finally, the APPRENDRE Program (Support for the Professionalization of Teaching Practices and the Development of Resources) run by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) with a budget of 27 million euros is an expertise platform designed to support Ministries of Education in 26 partner countries to improve professional development of primary and secondary school teacher.

The roundtable will explore how these major Global initiatives have contributed to knowledge production, mobilization and use that is driven by those closest to the issues – led by governments and institutions based in the Global South. Presenters will explain key lessons from their approaches to leveraging a knowledge ecosystem of southern capacities and priorities and developing actionable evidence and innovation to scale impact, reflecting on what kind of research evidence is used in their efforts and initiatives. The roundtable will highlight how to ensure evidence is demand-driven, closely linked to policy-making processes across countries, and how involving knowledge users in co-creating research can strengthen the use of evidence in national education policy and practice. Presenters will provide insights on what bolsters and what hinders the use of research evidence and how they understand, design for, and learn from efforts to make evidence development “demand-driven”? They will also discuss if regional collaboration and demand-driven peer learning and exchange led to an increase of evidence-used in policy and planning.

Since technology has been part of many research funded by these global initiatives in thematic priorities such as teacher professional development, education in emergencies, gender equality, data management and use, each presenter will provide concrete examples related to education in a digital society that have resulted in uptake by Policy makers. This roundtable will therefore perfectly fit with the theme of the CIES 2025: Envisioning Education in a Digital Society.

It will begin with an introduction from the Chair, and an overview of the evidence needs mentioned by partners countries. Then lessons learned from GPE KIX as a unique platform for LMICs to share their knowledge, experiences, and innovation will be presented, with a particular focus on how country demand is used to identify knowledge gaps for KIX-supported research. After, lessons from the What Works Hub for Global Education programme to support evidence-based policy making, planning and implementation will be shared, as well as lessons learned from the Aga Khan flagship Schools2030 program, focusing on examples of evidence-building and co-creation from two countries – Uganda and Tajikistan. Finally, the APPRENDRE Program third phase of research will be presented, focusing on the integration of contextualized support to ensure its relevance and applicability.

Following these presentations, the Chair will moderate a discussion amongst presenters, responding to questions that will be developed collaboratively. The final portion of the roundtable will be reserved for engagement with audience questions and insights

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