ESSA's 2023/24 Annual Report is Out
Dear Friends,
As we reflect on the 2023/2024 financial year, I want to take a moment to thank you for your unwavering support. This year has been one of growth, collaboration, and real progress, and we could not have achieved any of that without you. At the same time, education systems in Africa continue to face extreme challenges as recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic continues and domestic budgets face extraordinary pressure from high inflation. Through our work we aim to contribute to a better understanding of these systems and smarter investments with constrained budgets.
A big focus for us this year has been on strengthening our partnerships and building new ones that would help us use evidence and data to drive change in education outcomes across Sub-Saharan Africa. Through our Enhancing Education Research in Africa (EERA) initiative, in collaboration with Southern Hemisphere, we worked alongside more than 600 African researchers to develop eight evidence-based solutions that will help reshape the future of education on the continent. This is an exciting step forward in supporting African researchers and ensuring their work leads to real impact.
We also made important strides with our Demographics of African Faculty initiative, providing critical data on the shortages of faculty across the East African Community. For instance, Kenya will need an additional 25,961 faculty members by 2030 to meet current goals for student-teacher ratio. These insights are helping to shape policies that will address the challenges we face in education today.
We focused on building trust with our partners and amplifying the voices of African researchers. One key highlight was our participation in the African Centre for School Leadership Summit in Rwanda, which focused on the role of strong leadership in driving lasting educational reform. It is clear to me that by working together, we can make a real difference.
We also worked hard to put evidence into action. In collaboration with the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge, UK, we hosted Grant Proposal Writing Workshops in Nairobi and Accra, delivered by INASP and APHRC. Forty-six researchers from 13 African countries learned essential skills to secure funding for their work. These workshops empower local researchers to lead change in their countries and ensure that the solutions we create are both sustainable and impactful.
We also welcomed new team members in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda, as well as two exceptional new trustees—Professor Hellen Inyega and Abdelrahman Hassan—whose expertise will guide us as we continue to grow.
None of our successes would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our incredible team, as well as the invaluable guidance of our board. As we look ahead, I invite you to continue supporting us in scaling these successes. Together, we can play our part in ensuring that every young person in Sub-Saharan Africa has access to the quality education they deserve.
Thank you once again for being such an important part of this journey.
Sincerely,
Patrick Dunne, OBE
Chair, ESSA
Comments
