Education & training

What Côte d'Ivoire's Television-Based Education Experiment Can Teach Policymakers Today

By Michel Armel Ndayikeza, PEP AFEP Fellow

Côte d’Ivoire’s Television-Based Education Programme improved some early schooling outcomes, but these gains did not translate into lasting benefits. A PEP-supported study found that pupils exposed to the programme were around 10 percentage points less likely to attain lower secondary education, with no measurable gains in higher education or the employment outcomes examined. The findings highlight the need to test education technology locally, align it with curricula and progression requirements, monitor costs and assess long-term outcomes before expanding it.

Education & training

Energy at Home Can Support Learning, but It Is Not Enough

By Manuella Ndjakwa, PEP AFEP Fellow

Primary school pupils in rural Cameroon face poorer learning outcomes and greater household energy disadvantages than their urban peers. Drawing on nationally representative data, Manuella Ndjakwa examines how household energy access and parental homework support are associated with pupils’ reading and numeracy outcomes. She discusses why combining rural energy expansion with practical support for parents could help more children benefit from improved learning conditions at home.

Education & training
A Mother supporting her child’s reading at home.

Cameroon’s Rural Energy Expansion Offers an Opportunity to Improve Learning Conditions for Primary School Pupils

Primary school pupils in rural Cameroon face poorer learning outcomes than their urban ...

Children received meal in school

High-Coverage School Feeding Programmes Can Improve Learning in Uganda

Uganda's Universal Primary Education policy has expanded access to school, but many chi...

Foundation phase learners taking part in a guided reading activity

Keeping Learners on Track: The Long-Term Benefits of Early Literacy Interventions in South Africa

Many learners in South Africa struggle with foundational literacy, contributing to grad...

Children engaged in learning during a preschool classroom activity.

Quality Preschool Can Improve Learning in Togo if Expansion is Matched with Targeted Support

Preschool education is associated with stronger learning outcomes in Togo, particularly...

Replacing corporal punishment with positive discipline creates better learning environments.

Enforcing the Ban on Corporal Punishment and Changing Social Norms Will Improve Learning

Nearly two-thirds of schools in Uganda continue to use corporal punishment despite its ...

Students learning in a small classroom

Reducing Class Sizes Can Improve Learning in Rwanda’s Public Primary Schools

Reducing class sizes is widely seen as a way to improve foundational learning, but evid...

Teacher instructing pupils using educational television as a teaching aid.

Education technology investments require local evidence: Lessons from Côte d'Ivoire's PETV Programme

Many African countries are investing in education technology to improve learning outcom...

Children in school

Student learning outcomes improve when the language of instruction is phonetically similar to their mother tongue

In Cameroon, one of Africa’s most linguistically diverse countries, many children begin...

School Kids

Malaria Eradication Boosts Learning Outcomes in Tanzania

New evidence from Tanzania suggests that health interventions can lead to significant i...

A girl child solving Maths in class

Socio-emotional skills at school entry boost early learning outcomes in South Africa

Many South African children begin school without the foundational skills needed to succ...

Sch

Does the Double-Shift Schooling System affect Learning outcomes? Evidence from The Gambia.

The double-shift schooling system (DSS)—where two groups of students attend classes in ...

Strengthening local research capacity to improve education decision-making in Africa

January 31| Online | By the Partnership for Economic Policy

The Africa Fellows in Education Program (AFEP) enhances local research capacity for better education decision-making in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 2024-25 cohort of ten fellows conducts research on key education challenges, including language policy and learning outcomes. Through training and networking, AFEP empowers researchers to influence policy and drive reforms.

Education & training
Youth participate in a group activity as part of a gender training session

Gender-sensitive training can improve youth’s labour-market outcomes in Kenya

Despite a long history of technical, vocational education, and training (TVET) in Kenya...

Woman sorting cashew berries

Market information voice messages increase revenues for Guinea-Bissau’s cashew producers

Cashew nut production and commercialization is the main income source for a large porti...

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Free childcare program improves mothers’ employment outcomes in Mongolia

Women’s labor force participation (LFP) in Mongolia is declining, especially in the cap...

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Trust in local ambassadors helps encourage mobile banking in rural Peru

In 2015, the Peruvian government introduced measures to address the low levels of finan...

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Parental migration significantly reduces children’s school performance in rural Cambodia

Millions of Cambodians are migrating in search of work, many leaving their children beh...

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Improving job matching for Zambia's youth

Only about 55% of employed youth in Zambia have jobs that match their level of edu...

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Improving cognitive skills for non-farm entrepreneurial productivity and growth in Indonesia

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute 60% of GDP and occupy 97% of the workfor...

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Easing school to work transitions in Benin

It can take up to four years after leaving school for young people in Benin to find the...

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Combining credit and training to support micro and small enterprises in Ethiopia

Over the last two decades, the government of Ethiopia has implemented various training ...

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The impact of increased public spending on education in Cambodia

Cambodia is currently facing a skills shortage, creating a mismatch of skills between i...

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The impact of child and youth work on school performance in Brazil

Despite a significant improvement in school attendance Brazil continues to lag behind o...

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Impact of credit counseling on the entrepreneurial behavior of Ugandan youth

With three-quarters of the Ugandan population under the age of 30 and high levels of yo...

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The impact of vocational training programs on youth unemployment in Mongolia

High levels of unemployment, particularly amongst youth, pose a significant problem in ...

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Education language choice and youth entrepreneurship in Chad

Selected for support under the first round of the PEP-PAGE initiative, this project exa...

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Scaling up education interventions in Kenya: the importance of institutions

One of the proposed policy options to address the issue of quality of education  (...

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