From Evidence to Policy and Practice: Improving Urban Education in East Africa
Project Period
October 2017 - October 2019
This is the second phase of the urban Education project that seeks to ensure improved access to quality education for children living in the urban informal settlements through evidence-based advocacy in three countries in East Africa – Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. In the three countries, basic education is a right that is safeguarded by each country’s constitution. However, in the era of urbanization, children living in urban poor populations are increasingly being left out – excluded. For instance, in Kenya, one in every two children in urban informal settlements are enrolled in low-cost private schools that do not benefit from government programs such as free primary education.
Following this, the first phase of the project created a strong voice among state and non-state education stakeholders on the need to focus on the education of urban poor, more so access to quality education as envisioned by the sustainable development goal 4. This was made possible by working in close collaboration with national education coalitions in each country: Elimu Yetu Coalition (EYC) in Kenya, IDAY in Uganda and Tanzania Education Network (TenMet) in Tanzania.
The second phase aims at consolidating existing evidence as well as conducting population and education projections in order to gauge the future demand for education in the context of urbanization in East Africa and as evidence tool for engagement. This will provide evidence to inform effective medium and long-term planning of education provision among the urban poor populations in East Africa. In particular, the project will utilize existing evidence and the projections to engage state and non- state policy stakeholders in order for them to plan adequately on how to provide access to quality basic education to all the children living in urban spaces.