GPE KIX EMAP Rapid Customized Country Support: Upcoming activities

The GPE KIX Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia and Pacific (EMAP) Hub Rapid Customized Country Support (RCCS) is a demand-driven activity co-designed with ministries of education. It follows up on regional capacity strengthening and peer-learning exchange activities to ensure that countries have the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned — at the national level. It is initiated when a ministry of education submits a request, through the KIX EMAP national team, to address a specific knowledge need in its country’s education system. This is done through a rapid and focused activity supported by the GPE KIX EMAP Hub. To date, the hub has already implemented five RCCS activities across nine countries.

In its seventh year of work, the GPE KIX EMAP Hub is implementing five RCCS activities in 2026. These activities address specific knowledge gaps within ongoing education priority reforms led by the ministry of education in each implementing country. 

RCCS Sri Lanka: Strengthening education data

Following a request from Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education, the Hub is working with the University of Oslo team implementing the GPE KIX research project District Health Information Software (DHIS2) to address specific learning needs about Sri Lanka’s Education Management and Information System (EMIS). The RCCS will support the expansion of a monitoring system for staffing needs and teacher deployment to all schools, and its integration into the national EMIS. It will also support the development of a custom digital application for the National School Meal Program, improving efficiency, accountability and real-time monitoring. 

RCCS Pacific (PAC): Teacher management and geospatial data 

The RCCS activity in the Pacific responds to the priorities identified in the 2025 Conference of Pacific Education Ministers, which set teacher supply, deployment and motivation as the regional focus for policy research and capacity strengthening. The RCCS will be delivered through a customized hybrid learning cycle focused on geospatial data to improve teacher supply and deployment. This will be integrated into the Institute of Education at the University of the South Pacific’s Education Policy and Planners’ Fono. Building on a previous GPE KIX EMAP collaboration on the use of geospatial data with the UNESCO International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP) in education planning, this RCCS will support Pacific Island states in improving teacher workforce management. 

RCCS South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (SAMENA): Teaching license

This RCCS in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa responds to a growing interest in Sindh Province's Teaching License Policy (Pakistan) as a locally developed and cost-effective approach to strengthening teacher quality, professionalism and accountability. Interest in the model first emerged among South Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and other provinces of Pakistan, before expanding to the Middle East and North Africa region — where Egypt and other countries expressed interest in exploring the relevance of teacher licensing to their own reform agendas. Led by the Sindh teaching license team, the activity will support peer learning, technical mentorship, policy dialogue and collaborative road map development. Participants will examine the design, implementation and lessons of the Sindh model while assessing its relevance to their own policy and institutional contexts. 

RCCS Indonesia and Vietnam: Artificial intelligence and education

This RCCS responds to growing demand from the ministries of education in Indonesia and Vietnam to strengthen readiness for the effective, ethical and equitable use of AI. Closely aligned with ongoing national education priorities, the activity is being implemented in collaboration with key national institutions, including Pusat Studi Pendidikan Dan Kebijakan (PSPK) in Indonesia and the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES) — with support from the Hub and technical partners. The activity will generate evidence on AI literacy and readiness, support the development of AI competency frameworks, and facilitate policy dialogue to inform education policy and practice. In Indonesia, the focus is on strengthening AI literacy among teachers and system actors. In Vietnam, the emphasis is on strengthening AI literacy among school leaders and education managers, while aligning emerging competency frameworks. Structured knowledge exchanges between the two countries will support mutual learning and wider dissemination across Southeast Asia. 

RCCS Europe and Central Asia (ECA): Teacher barometer study

This RCCS activity in Europe and Central Asia responds to a request from Moldova’s Ministry of Education to identify key factors influencing teachers’ motivation, professional satisfaction and social prestige — with the aim of improving policies and institutional practices. Currently implementing major education reforms under its Education Strategy 2030, Moldova will lead the RCCS activity through its National Institute for Education and Leadership (INEL). A new tool called Barometer on the Status of the Teacher will be used to generate system‑level evidence from external, internal and institutional perspectives. The findings aim to inform a national Action Plan on Teacher Status and Motivation. Countries in Europe and Central Asia, which face similar evidence gaps, will participate to learn from Moldova’s approach and strengthen their own capacity to design future policy research.