Building for Local Realities: How Partnerships from the Global South are Enabling Education Transformation

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Over the last two decades, enrollment in and access to primary schooling have improved across the Global South. Yet significant challenges remain in determining who is learning in school and how. For instance, 7 out of 10 children aged ten are unable to read a basic text with comprehension (World Bank), and 78 million children of primary school age remain out of school (UNESCO). Ensuring children learn well is paramount, with several global efforts visible through cooperation models often focused on multilateral and traditional North-South partnerships. In the recent past, there have been increasing instances of South-South collaborations, through which several organizations, governments, and researchers have built and shared solutions for pressing challenges for their local needs. An example of one such solution is the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, which has been pioneered by Pratham in India and has been adapted to several contexts across the Global South.

The panel, “Building for Local Realities: How Partnerships from the Global South are Enabling Education Transformation,” comprises three presentations that explore diverse initiatives to improve foundational learning through the lens of partnerships and collaboration in Colombia, Brazil, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The session covers topics such as: leveraging local education eco-systems to build awareness about gaps in foundational learning; working with government systems to deliver and scale TaRL interventions; and supporting research and learning activities related to foundational learning.

The session will be 75 minutes and will include presentations that focus on applied research. The first presentation features Fundación Aprender a Querete (AAQ)’s participation in an Early Grade Literacy Alliance in Colombia, and explores the role of a multi-sectoral and multi-organizational collective in raising awareness and addressing gaps in foundational literacy acquisition across Colombia's diverse regions. The second presentation highlights how Pratham International and Motriz have adapted the TaRL approach for 13+ territories in Brazil — engaging with diverse education sector partners in the country’s decentralised systems. The third presentation will highlight experiences and approaches that have guided TaRL Africa in terms of collaborations on research and learning activities across Sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen TaRL programming.

There is an urgent need to solve the crisis of learning and help children build strong foundational skills. The findings from these presentations showcase how collaborations at local, national, bilateral, and regional levels can serve as valuable models for addressing critical gaps and sustaining education programming in complex and divided societies. This panel also highlights the immense opportunities that exist for nimble and quick knowledge sharing, effective ownership of programs, and context-responsive programming when partnerships involve local actors and strategic partnerships from the Global South.

Sub Unit

• Educational Improvement SIG

Chair

• Devyani Pershad, Pratham International

Individual Presentations

• Exploring the role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in delivering TaRL interventions in Brazil - Tanvi Banerjee, Pratham International; Fernanda Patriota Salles Ribeiro, Motriz

• Widening the tent in global education research: building research and learning through transformative Global South partnership - Kodjo Aflagah, Teaching at the Right Level Africa; Daniele J Ressler, Teaching at the Right Level Africa