Report

Implement: Bridging Policy-Practice Gaps in African Education

Inform, invest, implement: Research insights from 33 countries

A girl in Africa holding her schoolwork — UNICEF/UN0727562/Sewunet

Highlights

classroom-level changes that improve learning. Drawing from research across 33 African countries involving over 167,000 schools and thousands of education stakeholders, the paper identifies four key elements for effective policy implementation:

Clear Implementation Planning: Beyond evidence-based policy design, education reforms need detailed implementation plans that specify roles, resources and monitoring approaches from the outset.
Well-Defined Mandates: Local education officials, school leaders and community members need clear understanding of their responsibilities and how they should work together to improve teaching and learning.
Context-Responsive Resources: Implementation support must be tailored to local conditions, considering factors like school location, community characteristics, and existing capacity levels.
Data-Driven Improvement: Education systems should use data not just for monitoring, but for continuously adapting implementation approaches based on what works in different contexts.

The paper is part of a three-part series examining how African education systems can better use data, optimize investments, and strengthen implementation to improve learning outcomes for all children.

Suggested citation: UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Implement: Bridging the gap between policy and practice - Synthesis of UNICEF Innocenti research on education in Africa, UNICEF Innocenti, Florence, December 2024.