A targeted response to the learning crisis: the GPE Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX)
Five issues hamper the pace of improved education outcomes across the globe. Learn how KIX aims to respond to these challenges and strengthen education systems in 68 partner countries.
July 08, 2019 by Alice Albright, GPE Secretariat, and Jean Lebel, Centre de recherche pour le développement international
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6 minutes read
A teacher in class with her students. Mauritania. Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch
A teacher in class with her students. Mauritania.
Credit: GPE/Kelley Lynch

This blog was also published on the IDRC website

Significant progress is needed to improve education quality in developing countries. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates that 617 million children worldwide are not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics; nearly all of these children are in low-income countries.

At the current pace of change, we will not achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4—ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all—by 2030, leaving many children behind. The status quo will mean a ‘100-year gap’ for poor children to catch up with the educational levels of today’s wealthy children. If we are serious about SDG 4 and accelerating the pace of change, we must find new ways of overcoming the learning crisis.

5 critical issues to improve education outcomes

Five issues hamper the pace of improved education outcomes across the globe:

1. Limited knowledge about what works

Global evidence points to the characteristics of well-functioning education systems. Yet, a recent review of the impact of education interventions on learning and school participation in low- and middle-income countries noted that there is little available evidence about what does or does not make interventions work, or about the costs of implementing them.

Further, as recently observed, when relevant evidence is available, dissemination is often weak, especially among key education stakeholders in developing countries. To improve policy and practice and close the educational gap between rich and poor children, we need a much better approach to collect and disseminate dependable evidence about effective education interventions.

2. The challenges of scaling educational innovations

Expanding the use of innovations that demonstrate impact as pilots is crucial to accelerating positive change. Yet scaling is challenging in terms of funding and timing, and despite the proliferation of education innovations, there is limited evidence about how to scale initiatives that improve learning outcomes.

In recent years, projects such as Journeys to Scale and Millions Learning have generated important insights into successful scaling practice. Yet more knowledge and experience are required to understand why, for instance, the Cambodian attempt to scale early childhood development centers and preschools had varied and limited impact on child development, whereas the approach of getting textbooks to schools in Burundi proved successful, as noted in the World Development Report 2018.

3. The need for nationally relevant responses

Effective education systems are those that work with and best respond to national political, economic and cultural dynamics. Yet while it is universally acknowledged that context matters, contextualization remains challenging in developing countries because most systems refinements and innovations are sourced, designed and supported internationally, far removed  from national realities.

For instance, while the learning crisis may be greatest across countries in sub-Saharan Africa, because these countries represent extremely heterogeneous contexts, attempts to accelerate change can only be successful if they are designed with specific country dynamics in mind, and include capacity development to adapt existing solutions.

4. The limited use of evidence in policy and planning

The quality of education will not improve without the effective implementation of robust policies. While there is increasing demand for the use of evidence in policy dialogue and planning in many developing countries, governments often have limited access to relevant evidence, and also face capacity constraints to use available evidence to shape policies and practices.

To accelerate the pace of improving education quality we must ensure, first, that governments have access to evidence-based research and, second, that they have the capacity to uptake evidence and innovations in their education sector.

5. Limited investments in knowledge sharing

The above issues are further intensified by very low investments in knowledge sharing that can help scale effective innovations, coordinate efforts across borders, and empower local education systems. Currently, only 3% of official development assistance in education is allocated to the production of global public goods, whereas this figure is 21% in the health sector.

If we are to close the 100-year gap, we need increased investments in global public goods to facilitate knowledge sharing across borders and disseminate effective practices adapted for national or local contexts.

GPE’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange

The GPE Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) is a joint endeavor between GPE and IDRC that aims to respond to these challenges and strengthen education systems in 68 partner countries. GPE brings its network of committed partners and experience of supporting improved sector planning, implementation and system strengthening; IDRC brings a wealth of experience in supporting and disseminating research and innovation to build healthier, equitable and more prosperous societies in the developing world.

Implemented by IDRC and with a budget of close to US$63 million over five years, KIX will find, fund and help scale proven responses to key educational challenges identified by partner countries, and ensure these solutions feed into national education sector policy and planning processes.

KIX will be shaped by demand from national governments and driven by what countries consider to be their principal policy challenges.

KIX will also fund new research to fill gaps in evidence and knowledge, generate innovative solutions to issues identified by partner countries, and strengthen the capacity of governments to innovate, generate and use evidence and data. In doing so, KIX will expand the ‘learning ecosystem’ of Southern-based organizations to learn, innovate, build and use evidence, in turn deepening our collective understanding of successfully scaling innovations to make education systems more effective.

KIX will rely on four regional hubs where partners will come together to share information, innovation and relevant practices, and will provide grants at the global and regional levels to invest in knowledge generation and innovation, and to scale proven approaches.

KIX will focus initially on six themes proposed by developing country governments and partner organizations as priority areas. And as a first step to identifying evidence and knowledge gaps, in consultation with international and developing country experts, discussion papers have been developed by thematic specialists: Luis Crouch on data systems, Kate Anderson on learning assessment systems, Kwame Akyeampong on teaching and learning, Elaine Unterhalter on gender equality, Pauline Rose on equity and inclusion, and Francis Aboud and Kerrie Proulx on early childhood care and education.

KIX is up and running

KIX is scheduled to roll out over the coming months. First steps include establishing the regional hubs and launching the call for KIX Global Grants.

Earlier this month, we launched a call for expressions of interest for organizations interested to apply as learning partners for the regional hubs. These partners will facilitate the learning and peer exchange among GPE partner countries.

And next week, we will launch the first call for KIX global grants to develop knowledge and evidence for the adoption, adaptation and scaling of promising innovations in partner countries. The global grants will fund projects in support of adopting, adapting, and scaling promising innovations in GPE countries across the six thematic areas (the KIX discussion papers will be released alongside the call for global grants). We anticipate these grants will improve our understanding of how to scale innovative, cost-effective and sustainable education responses within GPE partner countries.

Additional elements will be implemented over the next year including the KIX digital platform, contracting a research partner to accompany all KIX grants, and launching KIX regional grants in all four regions. Updates will be available through the GPE KIX webpage and mailing list.

We are tremendously excited about this joint endeavor and look forward to working with partner countries and organizations around the world to accelerate the pace of change and improve education quality for the most disadvantaged children now and into the future.

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