An African Union (AU) basic education peer-learning mechanism was launched today at the Triennale event hosted by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), the co-chair of the AU CESA Planning Cluster. The Leveraging Education Analysis for Results Network (LEARN) will bring together the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) implementation clusters on education planning, curriculum and teacher development and act as a catalyst for cross-cluster collaboration to address the critical issue for foundational learning in Africa.

Implemented under the overall guidance of the Director at the AU Department of Education, Science Technology and Innovation, the  LEARN Network will be coordinated by the education planning cluster, which will be responsible for reporting on implementation on behalf of the Network members. Activities will be coordinated with the CESA Monitoring, Evaluation an Implementation Platform. ‘

The membership of the network will be made up of members of the clusters on teacher development, education planning and curriculum as well as from organizations, whose work is highly relevant to foundational learning.

The five core objectives are for the Network to build a knowledge base on basic education and foundational learning in Africa, promote peer to peer knowledge-sharing and opportunities among AU member states, strengthen network of African researchers, contribute to alignment of education policies and strategies and identify and propose areas of common action. This will initially build on the Spotlight Report jointly published by the African Union, the Global Education Monitoring Report at UNESCO and ADEA with its continental and country reports, case studies and analysis.

A group of African researchers will also be established to support the  Network by January 2023 in order to tap on African research capacity and offer opportunities for African researchers to engage with generating evidence. This will inform policy dialogue at national and continental level quarterly learning events between AU member states

LEARN will enhance not only the knowledge generated for AU member states but also how that knowledge is used internally to inform policies and strategies on foundational learning, aiming to   identify and propose areas of common action. A number of areas will be highlighted where common action can benefit Member States, including for instance on learning assessment, textbook development or initial teacher education programmes.

In support of the anticipated AU year of education in 2023, a work plan would be developed by the end of 2022, including proposed areas of common action and decision, and the first LEARN network event to be held at the margins of AU Summit, February 2023.

Learn more about the ADEA Triennale here

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Hambani Masheleni, Ag, Head of Education, Human Resources, Science and Technology Department, African Union Commission E-mail hambanim@africa-union.org Website

Mr. Shem Bodo, CESA Cluster on Education Planning, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) E-mail s.bodo@afdb.org Website

Ms. Josephine Lutta Kiyenje, Spotlight Series, Global Education Monitoring Report E-mail j.kiyenje@unesco.org Website https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/en/2022-spotlight-africa