The “Strengthening multi-partner cooperation to support teacher policies and improve learning” brings together national governments and international partners to collaboratively improve teacher policies in Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi and Ghana. The project started in April 2018 and is due to finish in January 2020.

It is now widely recognised that achieving SDG target 4.c – increasing the supply of qualified teachers – is vital for the achievement of SDG4 and by extension all other goals. Furthermore, the Incheon declaration and Education 2030 Framework for Action is clear: teachers must participate fully in the development, monitoring, implementation and evaluation of education policy. The project aims to support the realisation of both these important commitments.

Education International’s involvement in this initiative aims to support the strengthening of institutionalised social and policy dialogue between government and education unions in Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi and Ghana, and to improve and increase teachers’ involvement in the development of education policy. In particular, the project focuses on teacher involvement in developing or improving teacher polices such as related to: teacher recruitment, deployment, training and professional development, remuneration, motivation and retention.

The project is an important contribution to efforts towards SDG implementation as it seeks to address current challenges which hinder effective policy dialogue in the education sector. Through focus groups and interviews with teachers representatives, it was found that teachers have not been adequately involved in the development of their country’s education sector plans nor adequately consulted for the development of new teacher policies. Through capacity building workshops as part of this initiative, EI supports education unions to advocate for a seat at the table regarding policy development, but also enhances their capacity to engage in technical policy discussions and more effectively advocate for their members’ rights and policy

EI works alongside UN institutions and other international organisations (see below) in this project and the cooperative structure of the project - with each partner contributing their differing expertise to strengthen teacher policy - reflects the spirit of partnership towards shared goals that is at the heart of the SDG agenda.

EI works in cooperation with international partners: UNESCO, the ILO, the World Bank, UNICEF, the UNHCR and the Global Partnership for Education as well as national governments and other stakeholders in each country.

Since joining this multi-partner initiative, EI has carried out eight workshops with our members in the participating countries, strengthening their capacity for policy analysis in order to be more meaningfully involved in policy dialogue. The workshops have used the current and under-development education sector plans as the basis for discussions. Participants conduct a situational analysis (discussing union priorities and the issues education sector workers are dealing with and comparing them with the priorities adopted by the government in the education sector plans), review the government’s proposed strategies, applying policy analysis techniques, and discuss policy alternatives.

The project will continue with further workshops in each country to support unions to develop policy proposals for priority teacher policies. There will also be a regional policy dialogue forum where key representatives from unions and governments from each country, supported by other education stakeholders and international partners, will come together to build a shared understanding of effective social dialogue and to agree on a way forward to strengthen mechanisms for institutionalised social dialogue in their country.

The project has a clear results framework, with both international and national level outputs expected. Partners work together according to a cooperation framework (developed in a participatory manner between partners). Both the cooperation framework itself and the project’s results and impact will be assessed by external evaluators.

Though the project is still in the early stages, EI’s work is already showing positive results. Evaluation forms from the capacity building workshops show the project has been, according to participants, an eye opening and empowering experience that has brought the government’s development of education sector plans to their attention, has shown them the importance of union involvement in professional policy issues, has helped them to hone their policy analysis skills, and has supported them to better engage with the government on key policy decisions.

The project cultivates a coordinated approach between multiple actors to a achieve a shared goal. This is not without its logistical challenges, but is absolutely vital to ensure that disparate efforts to achieve target 4.c are not duplicated or in tension with each other but instead are harmonised through effective cooperation.

The project is currently funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). There is potential for the project to be extended or alternatively to be replicated and expanded through other means in additional countries. The central feature of the project - having coordinated mechanisms for international partners and national governments to work together to improve teacher policy – is one that responds directly to the spirit of the SDG agenda. The need to develop comprehensive and effective teacher policies which increase the attractiveness of the profession is great in multiple countries beyond the 4 countries where the project is currently being implemented and the African region and similar initiatives are recommended for other countries.

Findings from the project show that progress to improve teachers’ involvement in education policy is currently far too slow. In all four countries, educators are unable to play an adequately meaningful role in decision making on education policy. Changing this does not necessarily require external funding support such as seen in this project but it does require political will from governments to truly engage in transformative action to match the ambitions of the transformative 2030 agenda. Where this does not exist, initiatives of this kind can play a valuable role in increasing the pace of change so that teachers and their organisations can participate fully in policy making as agreed to in the Incheon declaration.

Webitem Published: 07.05.2018 (Ghana, Burkina)
Education International works to strengthen education sector dialogue in Africa
https://ei-ie.org/en/detail/15816/education-international-works-to-strengthen-education-sector-dialogue-in-africa

Webitem Published: 20.09.2018 (Uganda, Malawi)
Building education unions’ capacity for social and policy dialogue in Uganda and Malawi
https://ei-ie.org/en/detail/15982/building-education-unions’-capacity-for-social-and-policy-dialogue-in-uganda-and-malawi

Webitem Published: 14.06.2018 (Burkina)
Burkina Faso: Education unions are key to developing quality policies for teachers
https://ei-ie.org/en/detail/15863/burkina-faso-education-unions-are-key-to-developing-quality-policies-for-teachers