NEW YORK, July 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Education Cannot
Wait (ECW) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) announce an expanded
three-year partnership that will improve holistic quality learning
outcomes and quality learning environments for crisis-affected
learners in Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Uganda. The new US$375,000 ECW Acceleration Facility grant to
Schools2030, the AKF-led global movement for holistic education and
teacher leadership, builds on two years of collaboration to improve
teaching and learning in countries impacted by emergencies and
protracted crises.
Through the development of concrete tools and pathways, this
latest grant will support ECW's Multi-Year Resilience Programmes to
ensure that holistic learning outcomes are improved through
inclusive, gender-responsive teaching and learning
approaches.
"Education Cannot Wait and the Aga Khan Foundation enjoy a solid
partnership and are delighted to extend it through Schools2030.
Together, we strengthen our shared commitment to a whole-of-child
approach and focus on crisis-affected children and youth left
furthest behind in wars, refuge and climate disasters. The new
grant is aligned with ECW's strategic priorities – emphasizing
gender-sensitive and inclusive quality education in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uganda, and then scaling this crucial
partnership and joint work globally," said Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education
Cannot Wait, global fund for education in emergencies and
protracted crises within the United Nations.
With portfolios focused on gender equality, mental health and
psychosocial support, inclusivity and – most crucially – a holistic
approach to education, ECW and AKF could not be more aligned in
values and more in agreement on the approach needed to tackle the
various forms of crises impacting education systems the world
over.
"We are delighted to expand AKF's strategic partnership with the
global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises
within the United Nations, Education Cannot Wait, to continue
advancing holistic quality education in and through the Schools2030
programme across crisis-affected contexts. With ECW's support,
Schools2030's unique ten-year commitment to local schools and
communities offers what learners and educators need the most in
times of uncertainty – long-term, flexible, and responsive
resources that ensure quality teaching and learning can continue
against all odds. Together with ECW, we look forward to co-creating
new tools, resources and evidence that will support the most
effective approaches to best support the world's 224 million
crisis-impacted school-aged children today," said Michael Kocher, General Manager of the Aga Khan
Foundation.
ECW and Schools2030 recognise that addressing the global
learning crisis and serving crisis-affected children requires an
unambiguous focus on holistic skills, which have been
proven to increase academic achievement, support holistic
child development, and improve future livelihoods. The new grant
supports going beyond measuring success only through academic
achievements by emphasising the importance of assessing additional
21st century skills, such as creativity, critical thinking and
collaboration.
The initial partnership between ECW and Schools2030, which began
in 2022, helped pioneer holistic assessment tools that enable
teachers to assess both the quality of their classroom environment
and the learning levels of their students for specific,
country-selected holistic learning domains, with a vision towards
using this assessment data to improve
learning.
Building on this strong foundation, over the next three years,
Schools2030 will ensure that its flagship Three-Step-Model (Assess,
Innovate, Showcase) integrates the needs of crisis-affected
learners and teachers, and strengthens connections between
school-driven innovation and system-level change. Additionally, the
initiative will ensure quality assessment data is collected and
analysed across Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Uganda – to support improved learning,
development and dissemination as a global public
good.
This latest grant will support nationally contextualized
assessment tools that can be used by teachers who not only
understand the importance of these skills, but also how to measure
them in their students, and strengthen evidence around learning in
crisis contexts, thereby filling a gap identified in the three
countries.
Localization and community participation are at the heart of
this initiative, resonating with ECW and Schools2030's strategic
priorities, and ensuring sustainable and context-driven approaches.
The extensive history and operational presence of AKF (and the
wider Aga Khan Development Network) is a testament to this
commitment, with the majority of its staff originating in, living
and working within the communities they
serve.
Ultimately, this collaboration is not just about addressing the
immediate crises in each country – it is about paving the way
towards a more equitable and inclusive education ecosystem,
responsive to the needs of marginalised children, and resilient to
external shocks. The grant will be implemented in coordination with
national governments, local communities, teachers and learners
themselves to make quality education a reality for every child in
the generations to come.
ECW's Acceleration Facility funding mechanism is dedicated to
supporting the creation of global public goods and resources for
the education in emergencies and protracted crises sector. The
funding window is a key part of ECW's Strategic Plan to mobilize
US$1.5 billion over the next three
years to reach 20 million crisis-affected children and adolescents
worldwide.
Additional Information:
The Acceleration Facility grant will support Schools2030
to:
- Ensure that Schools2030's Three-Step-Model (Assess, Innovate,
Showcase) integrates the needs of crisis-affected learners both
through its Human-Centred Design process, but also through ensuring
Schools2030's holistic assessment tools are useful and usable for
educators in emergency and crisis contexts and that they support
improved learning and inclusion for all learners (especially those
excluded through disability or through multiple forms of
marginalisation);
- Strengthen the connections between school-driven innovation and
system-level change for crisis-affected learners by integrating
learners in crisis-affected settings into the Schools2030
showcasing workstream, and through avenues for joint advocacy on
best practices for delivering quality education in emergencies and
protracted crises;
- Ensure quality assessment datasets across these countries
are collected, analysed, and visualised to support improved
learning, programme development and disseminated as a global public
good for the wider education sector.
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