Strengthening African-Led Research in Early Childhood Development and Foundational Learning

In partnership with the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge and supported by the Global Partnership for Education’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), this project seeks to strengthen African-led research in Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).

Evidence shows that African-led research accounts for only 3% of global research output, with more than 80% of available locally-led education research considered underfunded. Despite the high impact of research from the Global South, academics and publishers from the Global North continue to dominate the production and use of research related to Africa.

This issue of inequality is only even more pronounced in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. As of March 2025, among 21,453 journals indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, only 117 originate from SSA, with just 24 from Francophone SSA. This lack of indexing makes it even more difficult for policymakers and practitioners to access research.

The project aims to enhance the quality, visibility, and accessibility of African research by increasing funding and resources for Africa-based researchers and addressing the limited availability and visibility of Francophone education research through targeted investigation and collaboration.

Specifically, this project will:

Allocate funding for the design and initiation of collaborative research projects through small grants to early-career researchers and female researchers from Africa for conducting policy-relevant research, thus increasing the availability and visibility of African research in the areas of ECD and FLN.
Complement GPE KIX work in the areas of ECD and FLN and increase the advocacy, communication, and dissemination of thematic evidence from sub-Saharan Africa.
Interview and convene relevant stakeholders to understand bottlenecks in the availability of French language education research and explore initiatives to address them.

Publications

REAL Centre, University of Cambridge

The Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre pioneers research into overcoming barriers to education and promotes education as an engine for inclusive growth and sustainable development.

The REAL Centre is collaborating with ESSA to build a strong network of education researchers in sub-Saharan Africa, including those specialising in early childhood development and foundational literacy. ESSA and the REAL Centre collaborated in 2017 to create the African Education Research Database, which now contains almost 9,000 peer-reviewed publications on education produced by African education researchers.

The Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre

The Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX)

KIX is a joint endeavor between the International Development Research Centre and the Global Partnership for Education to connect expertise, innovation, and knowledge to support low- and middle-income countries to build stronger education systems and accelerate progress toward SDG 4.

They are supporting phase two of our Foundational Learning work.

GPE KIX