Second ROSIE Convening Strengthens Global Learning Community
ROSIE

Building on the success of its Nairobi convening last year, the Research on Scaling the Impact of Innovations in Education (ROSIE) project—led by the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education (CUE) as part of the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX)—hosted its second annual Global Learning Community convening in Dakar, Senegal, from January 20-23, 2026.

The gathering brought together participants from 43 GPE KIX project teams representing over 28 countries alongside representatives from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), GPE, and the KIX Africa 21 Hub. This three-day event served as a collaborative platform to share emerging research insights from 2025 and exchange lessons about what it takes to research scaling impact throughout education systems around the world.

Through interactive sessions and thematic breakout discussions, the ROSIE community explored complex questions such as the following:

  • How do we navigate the broader education environment? Teams discussed strategies to identify, accommodate, and harness political, social, and institutional factors to advance scaling goals.
  • What is the role of the "middle tier" of governance systems? Discussions highlighted the importance of supporting mid-level officials and practitioners who can contribute local knowledge and long-term commitment to their regions.
  • How can we better engage teacher expertise? Participants shared methods for involving teachers as co-researchers and scaling advisors to ensure innovations fit the realities of classrooms.
  • What defines "soft systems" change? The community considered scaling through a systems lens and discussed how to interrogate, nudge, or disrupt cultural norms, often ingrained power dynamics, and hidden individual assumptions that can act as barriers to scaling and systems change.
  • How do we pivot and adapt in response to unexpected events? Presenters shared their own examples of adapting to external shocks and internal changes during a scaling journey, ranging from sudden funding cuts to navigating implementation in active conflict zones.

These in-person ROSIE convenings continue to prove fruitful—as they provide an opportunity for GPE KIX applied research teams to take a step back from their daily work, consider new ideas, and foster a culture of shared learning and mutual support among these researchers and practitioners dedicated to scaling educational impact.

As the event concluded, participants expressed a desire for the ROSIE Global Learning Community to continue its evolution and knowledge-sharing throughout 2026. Looking ahead, the community will focus on developing and sharing concrete scaling outputs and fostering ongoing virtual and in-person collaborations—such as short-form in-person peer learning exchanges—to ensure that the hard work of scaling remains a collective and carefully conducted effort.