Funding Announced for Early Learning Innovations Research in East, West, and Southern Africa
Together with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and The LEGO Foundation, IDRC has awarded CA$5 million to five research projects that aim to strengthen early learning in 11 countries in East, West, and Southern Africa.
We are pleased to announce that five research projects have been selected to take forward the mission of The Lego Foundation and the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) – to generate lessons on how to strengthen early learning innovations in East, West, and Southern Africa.
The KIX program seeks to strengthen national education systems and accelerate educational progress in the Global South.
The following projects were selected through a call for proposals, and they will begin work in the following months, subject to the finalization of grant agreements and country/ethical clearance requirements being met.
- Gender Responsive Education and Transformation: Early Childhood Education through Play for Scale
- Inclusive Child-to-Child Learning Approach: Scaling up play-based learning for smooth transition to primary school
- Promoting positive early learning outcomes through strengthened capacity in learning through play
- Scaling the School Readiness Initiative: Strengthening School and Community Capacities for Play-based Learning
- Teacher Capacity Building for Play-Based Early Learning
These five multi-country projects will focus their research on the following early learning priority areas
- strengthening early-learning mechanisms and frameworks
- adapting and scaling proven or promising learning-through-play approaches
- supporting parents, caregivers, communities, and school leadership with appropriate capacities, and working together to help children bridge the transition from pre-primary to primary school
- aligning the early years and early primary school curriculum, assessment, and learning environments with how young children learn best
- supporting teachers’ capacity with effective teacher professional development on learning-through-play approaches for better teaching and learning
The projects aim to examine the scalability of early learning innovations in the KIX Africa 19 region; support knowledge mobilization to inform education policy and practice, strengthen the capacity of different early learning stakeholders; and fill gaps in knowledge on scaling early learning innovations.
