Unesco International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa - IICBA

21/08/2026

A new UNESCO IICBA study sets out the investment case for school eye health programmes.

The evidence on how to implement these programmes is well established, and the benefits for children with visual impairment are clear, yet most low- and middle-income countries do not yet have national programmes in place.

The study documents persisting gaps in educational attainment and achievement associated with visual impairment, and estimates benefit-cost ratios for school eye health programmes based on their cost and their potential impact on schooling and learning.

The analysis finds high benefit-cost ratios. Combined with the comparatively low cost of implementation, this makes school eye health programmes a strong candidate for priority investment by governments aiming to build more inclusive education systems.

Read the study:https://www.iicba.unesco.org/sites/default/files/medias/fichiers/2026/08/Sudy%202026-2.pdf

20/08/2026

Happening now: join UNESCO IICBA and partners for an interactive webinar on “Accelerated Learning Programs for Children Out of School and Refugees.”

The discussion brings together educators, researchers, policy actors and practitioners to explore approaches that help children who are out of school re-enter education and make learning progress.

Featuring:
Martha Hewison, Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies
Joshua Muskin, Geneva Global Hub
Leslie Casely-Hayford, Associates for Change
Girma Yadeta and Janet Akala, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
Marguerite Ouedraogo, MENAPLN, Burkina Faso

Today, 20 August | 3:00–5:00 p.m. EAT (GMT+3)

Join us: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/13ubjCbdRWC8Wj2wra97uw #/registration

20/08/2026

Starting now: the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub and UNICEF webinar on scaling inclusive Early Childhood Education systems, 13:00 to 15:00 East Africa Time.

Led by UNICEF Africa, the session covers the policies and enabling conditions required to strengthen inclusive ECE, country experiences from Ethiopia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, and planning tools including the Disability-Inclusive Pre-Primary Subsector Analysis. Sign

language interpretation is available.

Join here: https://unicef.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LCpDfvA0TDOTPQ2sTSAZTg

Global Partnership for Education | IDRC / CRDI

19/08/2026

A new series of UNESCO IICBA Data Briefs provides country-level evidence on trends in the rates and numbers of out-of-school children across Africa. Covering 49 countries, the series highlights disparities by education level and gender, offering comparable data to better understand the scale and patterns of exclusion from education across the continent.

Written by Lidiya Solomon and Quentin Wodon, the briefs draw on estimates from the Global Education Monitoring Report team and contribute to work on teacher workforce development and second-chance education programmes for out-of-school children and youth, particularly in the Sahel.

The series also supports projects training teachers to implement second-chance education programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and South Sudan, while providing a broader evidence base for strengthening education policies and programmes for children and youth who are out of school.

Explore the series: https://www.iicba.unesco.org/en/data-briefs

18/08/2026

Five sessions between 19 and 27 August on teacher development, inclusion, out-of-school children, education data and gender equity. Relevant to ministry officials, teacher educators and researchers across the 19 countries of the Hub. Details and registration in the post below.

17/08/2026

Atelier de formation de formateurs sur la conception et le développement de formations – Côte d'Ivoire

Du 19 au 31 août 2026, le Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l'Alphabétisation et de l'Enseignement technique de Côte d'Ivoire (MENAET), à travers sa Direction des Ressources Humaines, organise un atelier en ligne de formation de formateurs sur la conception et le développement de formations, avec l'appui technique de l'Institut international de l'UNESCO pour le renforcement des capacités en Afrique (IICBA), dans le cadre du Programme d'Appui à la Transformation de l'Éducation de Base (PATEB), financé par le Partenariat mondial pour l'éducation (GPE).

Déployée sur six journées entre le 19 et le 31 août, la formation réunira 40 formateurs et cadres des ressources humaines de la Sous-direction des Ressources Humaines (SDRH) du Ministère. Elle renforcera la maîtrise pratique de l'ensemble du cycle de conception et de développement d'une formation, de l'analyse des besoins de formation à l'ingénierie pédagogique, en passant par l'élaboration de scénarios d'apprentissage, l'autoformation et l'évaluation.

Répartis en huit groupes de travail, les participants concevront un module de formation complet, hybride et inclusif, intégrant la pédagogie active et l'intelligence artificielle (IA). Les modules seront présentés aux responsables du Ministère à l'issue de la formation.

Soixante formateurs supplémentaires seront sélectionnés en ligne pour prendre part à cette session.

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Training of Trainers Workshop on Training Design and Development – Côte d'Ivoire

From 19 to 31 August 2026, the Ministry of National Education, Literacy and Technical Education of Côte d'Ivoire, through its Directorate of Human Resources, will organize an online Training of Trainers Workshop on Training Design and Development, with technical support from UNESCO IICBA, under the Programme in Support of the Transformation of Basic Education (PATEB), funded by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

Delivered over six training days between 19 and 31 August, the workshop will bring together 40 trainers and Human Resources officers from the Ministry's Sub-Directorate of Human Resources (SDRH). It will strengthen participants' practical mastery of the full training design and development cycle, from training needs analysis and instructional design to learning scenario development, self-directed learning and evaluation.

Working collaboratively in eight groups, participants will develop a complete, hybrid and inclusive training module, integrating active pedagogy and artificial intelligence (AI). The modules will be presented to the Ministry's leadership at the end of the training.

A further 60 trainers will be selected online to take part in this session.

Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale et de l'Enseignement Technique | UNESCO | Global Partnership for Education | Unesco Côte d’Ivoire

14/08/2026

Reliable data lets a government see what's working, where the gaps are, and where investment will matter most. But it only counts when it reaches the decisions it's meant to shape.

Ahead of the National Policy Dialogue in Mozambique during the first week of August, African Union's Pan African Institute of Education for Development and Unesco International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa - IICBA through the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub, supported a two-day assessment of the country's education data ecosystem - looking beyond the formal Education Management Information System to how data is really collected, used, and turned into decisions.

The takeaway: firm foundations to build on, and national stakeholders naming their own priorities to strengthen the system.

Our new article unpacks what the assessment found, why it matters for teachers, resources and planning, and how it's shaping the next phase of KIX support in Mozambique.

🔗 Read it here: https://iped.africa/news-event/connecting-kix-evidence-to-education-data-system-strengthening-in-mozambique

13/08/2026

Happening now! The Community of Practice in Gender Equality in Education in Africa holds its second session: Teacher Professional Development on Gender-Responsive Pedagogy and Resources for Practitioners.

Organized by the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub, the session brings together practitioners, teacher educators, and policymakers working to make classrooms across Africa more gender-responsive.

It looks at the professional development approaches that prepare teachers for that work, and at the practical resources they can draw on in their own contexts.

Join here:

UNESCO IICBA and UNICEF Global Program Division, in collaboration with the African Union, under the Global Partnership for Education’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (GPE KIX) Africa 19 Hub, are facilitating several online knowledge-sharing sessions within the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub Community of...

12/08/2026

Thank you to the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia for the partnership on Tuesday's handover, and to the Government of Japan for making it possible.

Grateful to all the colleges, universities and Regional Education Bureaus who joined us at the UN Conference Centre.

Ministry of Education Ethiopia | Japan - The Government of Japan

11/08/2026

Today at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, UNESCO IICBA and the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia held a handover of ICT equipment to 35 teacher training colleges and universities, together with Regional Education Bureaus in Afar, Amhara, Oromia and the Somali regions under the Japan-funded project “Innovative Teacher Professional Development through App-based Learning in Conflict and Crisis-affected Areas of Ethiopia”.

The equipment — 35 laptop servers, 35 wireless access points and 265 tablets — strengthens the ICT infrastructure of Colleges of Teacher Education and supports the roll-out of app-based professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers. The devices allow teacher educators, in service and pre service teachers to be trained on different subject matters and reach digital content.

Unlike the conventional digital learning platform that requires continuous internet connectivity, the edge computing system established by UNESCO IICBA with technical support from the Castalia group provides access to training modules through a locally hosted network. This reduces dependence on reliable internet connectivity and ensures that learning materials remain accessible even in low-connectivity environments, supporting more engaging and inclusive learning experiences for both female and male teachers and learners alike. The project reached 400 educators and is expected to reach more than 3000 teachers.

Beyond the formal transfer, the ceremony brought together the Ministry of Education, Regional Education Bureaus, colleges and universities, the Embassy of Japan, UNESCO IICBA and the edge computing provider Castalia for discussion on institutional ownership, sustainability and effective use of the equipment.

Ministry of Education Ethiopia | Japan - The Government of Japan | Embassy of Japan in Ethiopia | Afar National Regional State Education Bureau