African Centre for School Leadership

📢 It's happening TODAY!

Our School Leadership in Africa webinar — and we want you there.

🗓 16 June 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM GMT | 2:00 – 4:00 PM EAT | 12.00 - 14.00 WAT

Hear from leading researchers, grantees, and education experts on how evidence is shaping school leadership transformation across Africa.

🔗 Register here: https://bit.ly/43wjvGw



ESSA - Education Sub Saharan Africa | Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI | Mastercard Foundation | VVOB - education for development | Wuod Othim | GEM Report Unesco | Wizara ya Elimu, Sayansi na Teknolojia | ADEA - Association for the Development of Education in Africa | FAWE Africa |

Africa is making one of its most significant investments in school leadership research.

The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) has just awarded $865,000.00 in grants to 39 researchers across 14 African countries under Cohort I of its Research Grants Programme, the largest known investment dedicated to school leadership research on the continent.

This is how we are responding directly to findings from our landmark continental mapping study, which revealed major gaps in school leadership evidence across Africa despite growing recognition that strong school leadership is essential for improving teaching, learning, equity, and education system performance.

Join us for a webinar on 'Shaping School Leadership in Africa'. During the session, we intend to showcase some of the researchers in Cohort 1 of this effort.

Date: Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Time: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM EAT | 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM GMT

This webinar is an opportunity to engage with African researchers and education leaders, learn about newly funded studies, and be part of a growing movement advancing African-led evidence for stronger education systems.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2HWgD0SuQN2ELfBVq8sleg #/registration



Mastercard Foundation | ADEA - Association for the Development of Education in Africa | ESSA - Education Sub Saharan Africa | Transforming Teaching, Education & Learning - Ghana | Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI | VVOB - education for development | FAWE Africa | Wuod Othim

Earlier today in , the ACSL LiT-LEAD initiative in and the Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM) officially launched a certified blended learning programme to train 12,000 secondary school head teachers and deputies across Mainland Tanzania and , reaching over 2.8 million learners.

The launch was officiated by Dr Carolyne Nombo, Permanent Secretary at Tanzania's Wizara ya Elimu, Sayansi na Teknolojia (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology). The event brought together government institutions, education leaders, development partners, faith-based organisations, secondary students, and civil society — a reflection of the broad national ownership this programme has earned.

This effort responds to a gap that has defined school leadership across Sub-Saharan Africa for decades: school leaders assuming some of the most complex roles in their education systems without access to structured professional preparation. Tanzania is changing that.

Grounded in an MoU between ACSL and ADEM, the programme will be embedded directly into ADEM's national professional course offerings and aligned with leadership appointment standards. Certified school leadership training will become a permanent part of how Tanzania selects, prepares, and recognises its secondary school leaders — not a project, but a system.

This is the largest school leadership programme ever implemented in Tanzania. It is also a significant milestone in the continental effort — led by ACSL across multiple African countries — to professionalise school leadership as a field in its own right.



ADEA - Association for the Development of Education in Africa | VVOB - education for development | ESSA - Education Sub Saharan Africa | FAWE Africa

Meet the researchers building Africa's school leadership evidence base.

Over the coming days, we're introducing the 39 researchers across 15 countries who make up Cohort 1 of the ACSL Research Grants Programme — the largest known dedicated investment in school leadership research on the continent.

These are not researchers studying school leadership as a footnote. Every one of them has chosen it as their primary field. Together, they represent the Africa-led, policy-connected research infrastructure that the continent's education systems have long needed.

From to . From to . From to . The breadth of this cohort — in geography, in methodology, in theme — is itself a statement.

A few of the questions they're pursuing:
🔹 How do school leaders adapt to competency-based education in rural vs urban Kenya? (Dr Maurice Odondo, Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI)

🔹 Can Ubuntu-informed digital leadership advance equitable teaching in Lesotho's secondary schools? (Dr Musa Ayanwale, National University of Lesotho)

🔹 What do communities of practice look like as a tool for evidence-based education in Botswana? (Prof Philip Bulawa, University of Botswana)

🔹 How does gender-responsive peer-mentorship strengthen instructional leadership in the Amhara Region, ? (Dr Mulugeta Awayehu Gugssa, Bahir Dar University)

Follow this page to meet each grantee as we introduce them over the coming weeks.

The numbers behind Cohort 1 of our research grant.

Last Friday, we announced the ACSL Research Grants Programme: $865,000 committed to school leadership research across 15 African countries. If you have not, read the story here: https://africancentreforschoolleadership.org/acsl-commits-865000-in-cohort-1-of-its-school-leadership-research-grant-in-africa-largest-known-investment-in-school-leadership-research-on-the-continent/

Today, we unpack the data.

- Two categories. 39 grantees. Two grant types. One shared mission: building an evidence base that Africa owns.

- 25 descriptive action research (DAR) grants — up to $15,000, 12-month studies by individual researchers.

- 14 Comparative Action Research (CAR) grants — up to $35,000, 24-month studies by institutions and consortia.

- 8 women-led research grants across the cohort.

Every grantee delivers a policy brief to their national ministry and a peer-reviewed journal article and participates in ACSL's structured peer learning, mentorship, and coaching platform.

At ACSL, research doesn't sit on a shelf.

And the 83% statistic that sits at the heart of this programme: that's the proportion of researchers in Africa who study school leadership only as part of something else – not as a field in its own right. Cohort 1 is a direct response to that gap.

👥 On Wednesday, you will meet the 39 researchers behind these numbers.



ADEA - Association for the Development of Education in Africa | VVOB - education for development | ESSA - Education Sub Saharan Africa | Unesco International Institute for Educational Planning - IIEP | Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa - TESSA | Institute for Educational Planning & Administration - IEPA | Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI | Wuod Othim | Chinedu Anarado | Sabre Education | Mastercard Foundation | FAWE Africa

We are excited to start the week with brilliant news!

We are excited and proud to announce that 39 African researchers across 14 countries on the continent have been awarded grants under Cohort 1 of the ACSL Research Grants Programme — an initial $865,000.00 commitment to build the evidence base that African school leadership policy and ecosystems urgently need.

For too long, critical decisions about how Africa's school leaders are selected, trained, and supported have been made without the evidence base they deserve.

ACSL has taken a defining step to change that.

This effort responds to what our Continental School Leadership Mapping report confirmed: that school leadership research in Africa is fragmented, underfunded, and often disconnected from the policy decisions it should inform. For instance, 83% of researchers studied school leadership only as part of broader education studies — not as a dedicated field. Cohort 1 of our grant initiative begins to change that.

The 39 grantees — doctoral holders, postdoctoral researchers, and senior research fellows — will pursue studies across eight thematic priorities, from Afrocentric leadership models and indigenous knowledge systems to school leadership in emergencies and crisis contexts. Every grantee is required to produce a policy brief for their national ministry to close the loop between evidence and action.

This is Africa-led research, grounded in African realities, designed to reach the people making decisions.

📖 Read the full announcement: https://africancentreforschoolleadership.org/acsl-commits-865000-in-cohort-1-of-its-school-leadership-research-grant-in-africa-largest-known-investment-in-school-leadership-research-on-the-continent/

📊 In the next few days, we'll share a breakdown of the data behind Cohort 1.

You will also get a chance to meet everyone of our 39 awardees.



Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI | Unesco International Institute for Educational Planning - IIEP | ADEA - Association for the Development of Education in Africa | Wuod Othim | UNICEF Africa | Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa - TESSA | Transforming Teaching, Education & Learning - Ghana | VVOB - education for development | ESSA - Education Sub Saharan Africa | FAWE Africa | GEM Report Unesco

African Ministers have made it official!

The 13th Conference and 15th Roundtable of the Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities, AFTRA, ended this week in Gaborone, .

In the communiqué from the ministerial session, Ministers of Education across Africa affirmed that effective school leadership is a key determinant of teacher retention, professional performance, and improved learner outcomes — and committed to strengthening school leadership training as a specialized professional track across the continent.

This is a landmark statement for several reasons.

For the first time within the AFTRA framework, ministers have formally distinguished school leadership from the broader teaching profession—recognizing it as a distinct area of expertise requiring its own standards, preparation pathways, and sustained policy investment.

ACSL was in the room. Our colleagues Dr. Leyla H Abdullahi and Chantal Kabanda Dusabe engaged ministers directly at the conference, making the evidence-based case for school leadership professionalization and introducing ACSL's continental mandate and research base to one of Africa's most influential gatherings of education regulatory authorities.

The conference — convened under the theme "Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession: Implications for Africa" and officially opened by President of Botswana Duma Boko — brought together Ministers of Education, national teaching regulatory bodies, Unesco International Institute for Educational Planning - IIEP, UNICEF Africa, and senior education leaders from across the African Union.

From to , the continental argument is no longer disputed. School leaders are professionals. And Africa's ministers are now on record saying so.

👉 Read the full brief at: https://africancentreforschoolleadership.org/african-ministers-commit-to-school-leadership-as-a-specialised-professional-track-at-aftra-conference-in-botswana/

Something exciting is coming for school leadership development in Africa — and this week, we took a major step toward it. 🚀

The ACSL team wrapped up two days of hands-on training on our new Moodle Learning Management System, developed in partnership with EduTab Africa.

Colleagues joined from Nairobi and online to learn how to manage the platform, build courses, and support learners — all in preparation for the launch of ACSL's blended professional development offer for school leaders, policymakers, professional development providers, and researchers across the continent.

The energy in the room across both days said it all. This is a team that is ready to build.

Stay close to this page — the ACSL LMS is coming soon, and it will change how school leadership professional development is delivered across Africa.



Wuod Othim was in the room!

The 1st Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI (KEMI) International Conference ended last Friday, and the reflections are still coming in from across the continent.

This morning, colleagues from KEMI came by the ACSL Office in Nairobi for a post-conference conversation—celebrating the successes of a landmark week and mapping out how we take the partnership forward, particularly on school leadership policy and practice.

Our relationship with KEMI is not new. Since 2020, Kenya has been one of ACSL's founding country partners—alongside Ghana and Rwanda—in building the evidence and institutional base for school leadership development in Africa. What happened last week was a milestone in a journey that started years ago.

We are committed to going further — and to ensuring that the conversations held in those conference rooms translate into real change in Kenya's schools and beyond.

Later this week, we will be sharing our full reflections and key takeaways from the conference.

But we want to hear from you first 👇 — what do you think needs to happen to ensure the outcomes from the KEMI conference are actually implemented on the ground?

The 1st Kenya Education Management Institute-KEMI International Conference opened this morning in — and the tone was set from the very first remarks.

Dr. Maurice Odondo, PhD. CEO of KEMI, framed the week's agenda with clarity: "Leadership is no longer administrative; it is transformational, adaptive, and future-oriented." He called on participants to move beyond dialogue to "practical, scalable solutions that will impact classrooms, institutions, and policy spaces."

The official opening was delivered by Dr. Elyas Abdi, Director General at the State Department for Basic Education, representing Principal Secretary Amb. Julius Bitok. His message was direct: "The future of education depends not only on policies we design but also on the leadership we demonstrate. Let this not be just another conference but a turning point for action and impact."

The morning also featured a powerful keynote address by the Executive Secretary of ADEA - Association for the Development of Education in Africa, Albert Nsengiyumva, who called for political commitment to engaging and addressing challenges facing education systems in Africa.

We also witnessed the presentation of the Kenya edition of the 2025 UNESCO Spotlight Report Series, facilitated jointly by Manos Antoninis (Director, GEM Report Unesco), Martin Kungania (Deputy Director, Ministry of Education - Kenya), and Prof. Martin Mutegi (University of Nairobi). The report reinforces what ACSL (co-author of the document, alongside the GEM Report and the African Union) has long championed: that school leadership is not peripheral to education quality — it is central to it.

We also witnessed a powerful panel discussion, moderated by Wuod Othim, on Repositioning School Leadership as a Strategic Policy Driver for Education Transformation, bringing together the views of policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to examine what it takes for school leadership to move from policy text to classroom reality. Some of these include Prof. George K.T. Oduro, Dr. Kawira Gikambi, Dr. Abubakar Tarah, Boaz Munga, Abraham Okumba, and Prof. Mary Otieno.

It is Day 1. Five more days of this to come.