KIX Africa 19 Community of Practice: 163 Educators Driving Change Across 22 Countries

Teachers are the most important school-level factor influencing students' academic achievement. When teachers are well qualified, well prepared, and well supported, they can better address their students' learning needs. Quality pre-service education must be part of the teacher certification process, f and quality professional development must be continuously provided to teachers to enable them to update their skills and knowledge. However, across sub-Saharan Africa, the systems meant to support teachers’ education and professional development programs are struggling to keep pace, often misaligned with teaching realities, national curricula, and 21st-century learning needs.

To address this need, in July 2025, UNESCO IICBA created a virtual Community of Practice (CoP) on Teacher Education Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa to promote the exchange of ideas and good policies, frameworks, and evidence-proven practices in teacher education. Topics for learning were selected through a consultative process with GPE countries, based on country representatives’ responses to the KIX Africa 19 Hub country pulse survey in 2024. [1] Their responses indicate the priority status that their governments and GPE Partnership Compacts place on improving teacher certification, development, support, and management. 

The CoP was organized by UNESCO IICBA with funding and facilitation from the Global Partnership for Education's Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX) Africa 19 Hub, a joint project with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. Partners included the European Union's Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (EU-RTIA), the Shanghai Funds-in-Trust, the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA), and the African Union.

The CoP registered 163 participants who joined 10 virtual peer-learning workshops between July and December 2025, with participants completing final assignments by February 2026. Participation was near gender parity, with women making up 47 per cent of the cohort. Participants from 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa joined, of which 19 are GPE partner countries. The CoP attracted a strategic mix of policy makers and Ministry leadership, academia and teacher education institutions, non-governmental and regulatory bodies, and school-level practitioners, including head teachers and award-winning teachers. One quiet and telling measure of the CoP’s value:  South Sudan maintained sustained participation in all 10 sessions despite generally weak internet connectivity, a commitment that stood out across the cohort. 

Throughout the 10 sessions, participants engaged with foundational concepts, evidence on teachers, and teacher frameworks shared by experts from UNESCO IICBA, AFTRA, the AU, EU-RTIA, the World Bank, and GPE KIX-funded projects including “Pre-service Teacher Training: Defining the Impact of Inclusive Approaches to Enhance Teaching Quality in Nigeria” and “Delivering responsive and inclusive Initial Teacher Education through Design Thinking in Kenya and Tanzania”. 

What began as structured learning quickly evolved into something more tangible. Most participants demonstrated a continuous progression of individual learning, moving from identifying gaps in teacher education to making recommendations for their own systems and teacher colleges. Twenty-nine participants submitted longer assignments, including case study papers on the state of teacher education in their countries (Liberia, Namibia, and Nigeria, among others), qualitative interviews with teachers and teacher educators (in Eswatini and Uganda), and practical action plans implemented in Ethiopia, the DRC, and Nigeria. Post-session surveys found that 84 per cent of participants were very satisfied or satisfied with the content and workshops. 

Perhaps nowhere was this shift from reflection to action more clearly expressed than in the words of an Associate Head at STiR Education in Uganda, who wrote in response to the question "What is one thing you will try to do as a result of today's session?":

"I will strengthen the partnership with UNITE and the Ministry of Education Teacher Training and Development to co-create trainings that build the capacity, mindset shifts, motivation, and align the prerequisite-service policy and the national teacher incentive framework. We will also strengthen teacher recognition and certification as part of the Leadership in Teaching consortium funded by Mastercard Foundation and  use quality assessment tools to strengthen teacher training programs and assure quality while addressing gaps."

With the first module on pre-service teacher education complete, momentum is already building. A second module on participant-selected topics in in-service teacher education and continuing professional development is planned for mid-2026.

[1]  UNESCO IICBA (2024) KIX 2024 Pulse Survey Results Infographic