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Session Submission Summary

Co-generating evidence in education with policy stakeholders: A promising pathway to policy and practice in urbanizing sub-Saharan Africa

Tue, April 19, 3:00 to 4:30pm CDT (3:00 to 4:30pm CDT), Hyatt Regency - Minneapolis, Floor: 2, Greenway A

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The United Nations World Urbanization Prospects project that almost one-half of the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) population will be living in urban spaces by the year 2030. Within the region, urbanization is occurring amidst slowed economic growth and into spaces that are already strained. As a result, urban poverty characterized by growing urban populations with limited access to adequate housing, water and sanitation and social services in health and education is evident. In the education sector, urbanization is posing a risk to equitable and inclusive quality education given the rapid urban population growth and urban poverty amidst slowed economic growth. Following this, it is imperative to understand the effects of urbanization in realizing inclusive and equitable education for all.

Poverty once thought to be pronounced among the rural population is now evident in a large proportion of the urban population. In some cases, the indicators of the urban poor such as child health, under-five mortality, stunting levels, schooling patterns among others are worse off than those of rural. Moreover, disparities between the urban poor and rich continue to widen. Within the region, there are concerns about the quality of education received by children living in the urban poor spaces. This is because of the varied players and limited investments by governments in these settings. Moreover, there is limited evidence to inform policy and discussions on education provision for the urban poor in the region.

Existing evidence points to growing disparities in education access in urbanizing SSA, with children, enrolled in non-state schools despite the existence of universal primary education policies in most countries. For instance, research evidence by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) show urban poor populations utilize low fee private schools (LFPS) for the poor compared to middle-income households despite the existence of universal primary education policies. By 2012, almost 50% of children from urban poor households in Kenya were enrolled in the low fee private schools, in Nairobi the proportion was 63%. Moreover, transition to secondary schools among the urban poor is 20 percentage points lower compared to the non-slum households, and worse for girls.

Non-state education providers, such as private entrepreneurs, religious organizations, the community and NGO/CBOs, have emerged to close an important supply gap in the provision of primary education in the urban settings, despite quality concerns. Such providers have diverse capacities and may be driven by different motives including profit maximization and lack a common voice to leverage on. These low fee private schools serving the urban poor are characterized by high teacher turnover, poor infrastructure and lack of quality assurance support systems. Further, in Kenya, almost 90% of these schools are not registered with the Ministry of Education despite the existence of supportive registration guidelines.

With the emerging evidence, the African population and Health Research Center initiated an urban education project intending to increase awareness of the plight of children living in these settings through evidence-based generation and advocacy. The initiative was to get governments and all stakeholders to begin thinking and planning on how to ensure access to quality basic services more so education for these children. This is particularly of importance in low and middle-income countries to position them to capitalize on the bulging youth population. At the start, the initiative used innovative ideas of bringing together institutions working in the urban space to build a common voice and strategically engage with policy actors. The participants had diverse experiences and interests in education and were working in urban poor spaces at both research and implementation levels. In the process of the project implantation, several lessons emerged that have been useful to the successes of the initiative.

One central lesson was the power of co-producing evidence with the policy stakeholders to fit the apparent evidence gaps and that can inform policy and practice. While the model of evidence-informed discourses continues to feature, the question of the form of evidence appropriate for policymaking is critical. Following this, there is a growing interest in co-producing evidence with policymakers. This has been underscored as a means to produce evidence that is not only relevant but with the potential to impact policy and practice right. Leveraging on this lesson, the urban education initiative has over the years engaged and co-created evidence with both the state and non-state stakeholders in East Africa. The goal of this panel session is therefore to share experiences and lessons learnt in co-generation, co-created evidence and how this is informing policy discourse on urban education issues in East Africa.

The panel brings together speakers – both policy and researchers - from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with experiences working on the education of marginalized populations and with a keen interest in driving policy change through evidence. In particular, presentations will shed light on the following aspects: 1) Evidence-based advocacy and particularly in addressing the needs of emerging zones of exclusion – such as the children living in urban poor settings; 2) Co-generating evidence with development partners to inform policy and programming of education for the urban poor in Uganda; 3) Advocating for the right to education for the urban poor: Experiences and lessons from Tanzania; and 4) Mapping of low-cost providers of education in urban informal settlements to shape policy discourse in Kenya.

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