Resources
Our latest research and resources
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Complementary Pathways through Education for Refugees in the West and Central Africa Region: Mapping Refugee Education Opportunities
Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa (WCA) have produced a comprehensive report titled ‘Complementary Pathways through Education for Refugees in WCA Region’.
The report provides reliable, comparable data between 21 countries in WCA, highlighting education pathways absent from national contexts. We call upon UNHCR, refugees in WCA, refugee bureaus across WCA, policymakers in WCA, academic experts and actors providing scholarships to identify potential and existing complementary educational pathways for refugees across the WCA region.
Key messages
a) Refugee education must be prioritised, as it plays a crucial role in helping refugees integrate into their host communities.
b) Extraordinary efforts are needed to reach UNHCR’s 2030 target – of 15% of college-eligible refugees enrolled in Higher Education (HE), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) – from a current baseline of 1% in WCA.
c) Giving refugees access to education under the same conditions as nationals is commendable, but not equitable, given the additional socio-economic challenges and barriers faced by refugees in the host country.
d) Additional financial resources and support from UNHCR and its existing and/or potential investors and other stakeholders can help accelerate the availability and accessibility of complementary education opportunities to refugees.
e) We need a robust information management system to collect and analyse baseline data on the key factors influencing the design of appropriate and accessible complementary pathways through education, and to document pathways that currently exist. This is vital for increasing the visibility and use of existing education pathways by refugees in the WCA region and targeting new ones where they are most needed. This data is also required for monitoring progress and ensuring accountability by different stakeholders.
f) Together, we must build a knowledge ecosystem that facilitates stakeholder and sector-wide learning and collective voice to increase education pathways for refugees.
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ESSA and REAL Centre Conference Materials
With the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre and in consultation with researchers featured in the African Education Research Database, we organized a virtual conference on the urgent need for additional funding for African education research in June 2021.
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5th Anniversary Report
Our 5th Anniversary Report 'Education for the Future" gives an overview of our work since 2016 and our ambitions for the next five years.
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Student Perceptions of Education & Jobs Online
Our study with Quilt.Ai: 'What are students’ online perceptions and concerns on tertiary education and employment in sub-Saharan Africa?'
The study analysed 300,000+ Google searches and 2000 social media posts by students from Zambia, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana. It looks at discussion around post secondary education, scholarships, and job applications.
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Mini Education Reports
Our Mini Education Reports focus on different themes:
The Gender Gap in Universities and Colleges in sub-Saharan Africa
How universities in Africa can build job skills for young people
Inclusion Of Young People Living With Disabilities In TVET
Improving Education Through Quality Teaching: Evidence From The African Education Research Database
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Women Leading
Our Women Leading project aims to unlock the potential of female leaders in education.
In 2020, we led further research into the barrier's women face gaining leadership skills and roles – through desk-top research, interviews and a survey.
Our 2021 State of Women Leading Report addresses some of the pressing challenges and recommendations in promoting women leadership and the pandemic response for the tertiary education sector.
Our series of interviews with female leaders in education for International Women’s Day 2021:
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Edujobs Africa
With the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Warwick Employment Group (WEG), we created the first academic jobs board in sub-Saharan Africa. The jobs site promotes opportunities between universities, colleges and other education institutions across the region, and helps job seekers find new opportunities in education.
Visit our jobs board to find job opportunities in education.
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Impact of COVID-19 on Tertiary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Report
Our Report on the COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Lessons for students, faculty and Vice Chancellors in sub-Saharan Africa.
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African Scholarship Hub
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UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report: Inclusion and Education
We studied over 350 of the top scholarship programmes around the world, for students from sub-Saharan Africa.
Our findings uncovered some of the biggest problems such as high student drop-out rates, high risks of fraud, limited support for students to find jobs after their scholarship, and limited access for students who need scholarships the most.
Our research is the official monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal 4.b on scholarships, featured in UNESCO’s 2020 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report, on Inclusion and Education.
UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Scholarships Chapter
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A Guide for Increasing the Social Impact of Scholarshps
This framework and guide for scholarship funders and providers measures the impact of scholarships and promotes transparency.
A Guide for Increasing the Social Impact of Scholarships
We trialled this framework anonymously with 20 scholarship providers that showed good practice in scholarship programming. Now we have a set of recommendations for what must happen next.
We have further detail on this framework, and it can be tailored for specific programmes. For more information please email info@essa-africa.org
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African Education Research Database
It can be hard to find African research on education and even harder for African researchers to get their work published and to achieve awareness and influence. We want to change this.
With the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge, we created an interactive database for Research on Education in sub-Saharan Africa by African scholars.
If you would like to suggest studies to include in the African Education Research Database please download the submission form below and return via email.
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Mapping Education Research by Scholars based in sub-Saharan Africa
Insights from the African Education Research Database.
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Demographics of African Faculty Study
There is a surge in students attending universities and colleges across sub-Saharan Africa.
This is due to population growth, economic development and increased participation rates in education. For universities and colleges to meet this demand, the supply of quality professors, tutors and academics is key.
Education sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA) has been working alongside the Government of Ghana, the Association of African Universities (AAU), the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) and Ghana’s National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) to pioneer a pilot study on this topic in Ghana.
This study was supported by funding from the Mastercard Foundation.
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Impact Report
Our Impact Report 'Transforming Education Together' gives an overview of our work and impact so far.
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Unlocking Data Workshops
In partnership with Zizi Afrique, EdTechHub, and Decent Jobs for Youth, we held a series of workshops on Unlocking Data to increase data access and use for education in Africa.
Download BE2 Deep Dive Summary Report
Download Summary and Synthesis of July 2020 Workshop