Turning Evidence into Action: Highlights from Day Two of the 6th GPE KIX Global Symposium

Following Day One of the 6th GPE KIX Global Symposium’s exploration of evidence-based education financing,  Day Two on December 10, 2025 shifted the focus to practical implementation.

Chaired by Ian MacPherson, Lead, GPE KIX, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Day Two guided discussions on translating research and evidence into concrete policy action. Participants moved from understanding how evidence serves as a compass for education financing to exploring policymakers’ decision-making processes and the tools used by researchers and policymakers for scaling and financial planning.

Julie Delahanty, President at the International Development Research Center (IDRC), delivered opening remarks and shared a fundamental principle: "Research must be led by those most affected by educational challenges," highlighting how KIX-supported research has shaped early childhood education policy in South Sudan and literacy programs across Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Her message was clear: "Evidence is vital for decision-making when resources are constrained."

The first session, Inside the Decision Process: Pathways to Adopting and Financing Education Innovations, was moderated by Brad Olsen, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Centre for Universal Education, joined by panelists: Felix Mlusu, Former Minister of Finance, Malawi; Esthefani Cerrato, Director of Curriculum and Evaluation at Secretaria de Educacion de Honduras and Shailendra Jha,  Former Board Member, City Planning Commission, Kathmandu Metropolitan City. 

To initiate the discussions, Olsen shared insights into how education leaders decide which innovations to adopt, adapt, and support at scale. The Research on Scaling the Impact of Innovations in Education (ROSIE), supported by GPE KIX, researched this topic and found that government decision-making is influenced not only by formal, rational processes but also by informal political considerations, making it vital for evidence advocates to understand both dynamics. 

Olsen also highlighted the untapped potential of the middle tier to drive education improvement and scale impact, thanks to its local knowledge, unique positioning, and ability to secure local ownership.  However, central governments rarely involve mid-level officials in innovation decisions or implementation leadership; data and EMIS are seldom used for decision-making; instructional leadership from the middle is almost absent despite global discourse; formal in-country and cross-country learning does not occur; and engagement between donors, NGOs, and mid-level actors remains minimal.

Felix Mlusu echoed Olsen, expressing concern that he has not seen significant efforts to involve mid-tier officials in decision-making in Malawi. “Governments are losing out by failing to engage mid-tier officials, who are often used only for data collection,” he said. “Mid-tier involvement in decision-making is critical since these are the officials who monitor implementation and understand local implications.” 

When discussing educational innovation choices, Esthefani Cerrato outlined five essential decision factors: project topic, key actors, context, timeline, and required investment. She explained that Honduras has limited local capacity and relies heavily on technical staff to ensure continuity across government transitions.

In Nepal, Shailendra Jha described the country's federal transition challenges where municipalities have innovation mandates, but centralized systems persist. Kathmandu's successful "Book Free Friday" program demonstrated that effective scaling requires three elements: committed leaders, adequate capacity, and sufficient resources, along with collaboration involving over 200 stakeholders. The initiative validates that decentralization works and open and flexible systems enable innovations.

Finally, at the session's close, financing emerged as a critical constraint, with most education budgets absorbed by teacher salaries, underscoring the urgency of evidence-based resource allocation to ensure limited funds are used effectively.

The second session, Developing and Using Evidence About the Costs of Scaling Innovation, was moderated by Joy Nafungo, Senior Program Specialist from IDRC. She was joined by panelists: Ratsiu Majara, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Training, Lesotho; Rosa Maria Moncada, Country Support Coordinator, KIX LAC Hub; and Kodjo Aflagah, Research Lead, Teaching at the Right Level Africa (TaRL).

Joy began the session by explaining that costing and scaling are like two wheels of a bicycle; one cannot move forward without the other. Costing determines the actual expenses involved in implementing and scaling an innovation, including the resources, activities, and financing required to sustain it. This is becoming more critical due to limited domestic education budgets, the demand for governments to do more with less, and reduced foreign aid. 

The panelists shared their experiences and examples of how costing tools and GPE KIX-supported research— on Teaching at the Right Level;  Adapting and scaling teacher professional development approaches, and on Integrating Early Childhood in Sectoral Planning—can inform evidence-based educational decision

Aflage presented research on costing the TaRL approach in Côte d'Ivoire, testing whether decentralized training could reduce costs while maintaining quality. They discovered that using regional master trainers instead of national ones delivered the same training quality while reducing costs by sixfold. ”Teachers had the same level of knowledge when trained by regional master trainers as when trained by national master trainers. The Ministry adopted this model for national scaling," Aflage noted. 

In Honduras, Moncada discussed teacher professional development costs using the Childhood Cost Calculator (C3). Analysis revealed that online delivery costs only 20 per cent of face-to-face training. While in-person formats require less investment in program design, centralizing face-to-face sessions significantly raises overall costs. Hybrid options to balance participant preferences with budget constraints were therefore explored. The same approach supported larger financial assessments, including online secondary diploma programs.

Majara shared how in Lesotho, the ECE Accelerator Toolkit supported early childhood education investment planning through advocacy, multi-sectoral coordination, and curriculum development. ECE funding remained stagnant at 7% from 2022 to 2025. "The findings are glaring," Majara stated, showing marginal or no increase at all in resources, providing crucial evidence to convince partners of funding gaps.

In her closing remarks,  Margarita Focas Licht, Director of Partnerships at GPE, reminded participants that sustainable financing isn't just about raising funds; it's about ensuring those funds transform education for millions of children. She outlined three clear commitments for the way forward: championing evidence-based investment as central to policy dialogue and implementation; supporting financing models that enable sustainable innovation to scale; and strengthening GPE KIX as a global organisation providing evidence to partner countries based on their needs and context. 

For further details, the presented slides are available here.

The 6th GPE KIX Global Symposium made one thing abundantly clear. In a world of tightening budgets and a US$97 billion funding gap, evidence-informed decision-making isn't optional; it's the lifeline that ensures every dollar transforms education. The examples from Côte d’Ivoire, Honduras, Lesotho, Malawi, Nepal, Niger, Sri Lanka, and the Caribbean prove that locally rooted, evidence-based innovations can scale successfully when grounded in national ownership, system integration, and strategic investment.

As education systems worldwide navigate unprecedented fiscal pressures, the symposium's message resonates: we must be seekers who ask the hard questions, builders who design contextual responses, and changemakers who scale what works. With evidence as our compass and collaboration as our engine, the path to SDG4 remains challenging but navigable.

Missed the Symposium?

Recordings of Day Two sessions is now available for viewing.

For a glimpse of the engaging conversations, insightful ideas, and valuable lessons from the first day of the Symposium, read the article Leveraging Evidence in Education Financing.