2023 in Review: Outlook, Progress, and Looking Ahead!
Despite the ever-changing global landscape, we have remained true to our vision: guaranteeing that all children and youth learn
and prosper, particularly those who are left behind. The year 2023 will remain a special one in Zizi Afrique’s history as it marked
our evolution from a small Kenyan organization to a mid-sized African organization. It was a remarkably successful year as it laid
a solid foundation for us to move to our next level of impact.
Dr. Kahaki Kimani – Board Chairperson
Dr. John Mugo – Executive Director
What the mid-term review told us: Keep the Vision, Sharpen the Focus!
Zizi Afrique Foundation has existed as an independent organization since August 2018. The initial years sought to establish the foundations for impact-at-scale, exploring the prospects for competency-building in areas of foundational literacy and numeracy
(early transition) and technical and vocational training (late transition). In late 2019, the development of a strategic plan commenced. However, this process stalled with the pronouncement of COVID-19 in early 2020, and the organization moved to survival mode, adapting rapidly to respond to the crisis of learning over the emergency period.
Action Points for 2023–2025
Under Pillar One: Research, Evidence Generation and Learning
We leveraged the co-creation approach to conduct two experiments with the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Kenya.
Policy Learning for Universal Secondary Education
The Policy Learning for Universal Secondary (PLUS) Education aimed at generating evidence and testing the levers of transitioning to secondary school. The initiative is anchored on the 100 percent transition directive that aims at getting every learner who
completes primary school to transition to secondary school. It is unique in that it focuses on how effectively the policy can be implemented while catalyzing the use of evidence for decision making
We embarked on an initiative to unlock the use and users of education data
Secondly, leveraging on the Education Evidence for Action, Zizi Afrique began working on a project to unlock the use and users
of data in the education system. ZAF envisions democratizing the use of education evidence by expanding the use (scaling up)
and users (scaling out) of data to include sub-nationals. The initiative hopes to shift the traditional mindset and practice, where
education data flows from lower units such as schools through the system to the national level, while policies, guidelines, and
directions flow back to the lower levels for implementation.
We expanded our research and evidence portfolio with two new frontiers venturing into two new areas of work.
The Future of Work
2023 was a remarkable year for Zizi Afrique as it formed strong networks with the labour markets through the Whole Youth Development (WYD) program. In 2024 under the Future of Work, Zizi Afrique seeks to set up an observatory to generate real-time
data and evidence on labour markets, particularly connecting youth skills with employers. The data will inform forecasting of
future job demands, and necessary interventions (investments and policy) that can match the needs of the labour market while at
the same time informing training needs, hence positioning TVETs to produce skills that are relevant to the labour market.
Early Childhood Development (ECD)
Much of Zizi’s work has focused on addressing the learning crisis and the lack of foundational skills for thriving. The second frontier recognizes the fundamental role that the first years of development, specifically 0–3 years, play in foundational learning.
These years are crucial for cognitive, physical, and socio-emotional development thus the urgency to understand these years
could not be overstated. Because of this, from 2023, Zizi has partnered with seven counties to scoop on the Early Childhood Development (ECD) space, understand the political economy and power that influence ECD programming and investments, existing
interventions and innovation, including those at and by grassroots organizations, as well as capacity needs necessary for creating
sustainability and scale interventions
We successfully hosted three transformative Regional Conferences to advance learning for African Children.
The Values and Life Skills- Africa (Vali-A) Conference
ALiVE held the Values and Life skills- Africa (VaLi-A) conference from 21st–23rd June 2023. The conference was a milestone as
it was the first of its kind to be held in Africa. It was held in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme Unlocking the Power of Values and Life Skills in Context. It brought together 185 participants from eleven countries. Among the participants were representatives from government institutions from the respective countries, UN Agencies, civil society organizations, researchers, universities, and practicing
teachers.
Early Childhood Development (ECD) 2023 Africa Evidence Forum on Foundational Learning.
The 2023 Africa Evidence Forum on Foundational Learning forum was
held from 3rd to 4th April 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference,
themed Delivering Stronger Foundational Learning for All Children
Post COVID-19 sought to explore what works in Foundational Learning and how effective strategies could be scaled up in low-resource
contexts. The conference brought together over 100 evidence producers, academics, and researchers from selected Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA)
countries alongside officials from education ministries to share and discuss the body of evidence on what works to strengthen and transform
foundational learning.
ZAF as the secretariat and Chair of the network led the hosting of the 5th Biennial Conference, which was held at Tom Mboya
University from Tuesday, November 28th to Thursday, November 30th, 2023. The theme of the conference was Revitalizing the Evidence Community for Kenya’s Education. It was attended by 210 participants from the Ministry’s state departments, the Commission for University Education, academia, development partners, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and members of EE4A.
Unique to this conference was the attendance of 40 Deans of Education from Public and Private Universities in Kenya
Under Pillar Two: Advocacy for Policy Change and Implementation.
We scaled up our work with others to shape policy for system wide change by using the evidence we have generated to mobilize
and persuade strategic actors to pay attention to and support the crisis of learning and training.
We strengthened our convening stature by continuing to incubate three networks for collective impact.
In Kenya and across the continent, there is immense duplication of efforts and resource deployment in the education sector. Often, you meet partners who do the same thing in different parts of the country but are unaware of each other, calling for effective
coordination of partners. ZAF is a staunch advocate of collaboration and partnerships for the advancement of learning for all
children.
ZAF had the pleasure of hosting three networks in 2023. The Regional Education Learning Initiative Africa (RELI-Africa); The
Education Evidence for Action (EE4A); and the TVET Values and Life Skills Working Group (TVET_VaLi). By hosting these key
networks, ZAF has strengthened its capacity to convene and lead collaborative work in Education
We strengthened our engagement and influence within the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) space.
In 2023, we witnessed the collective energy and agency of stakeholders in the Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) through the VaLi network. Our role involved coordinating this network as a secretariat, convening members, and drafting two policy briefs on thematic issues around TVET. During the year, VaLi also hosted thematic meetings to discuss among other issues, TVET industry linkages, youth employability, and access to TVET opportunities for persons with disability, with a focus on youth. In addition, ZAF and VaLi partnered with the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) and packaged sector-specific guidelines on Safeguarding, which will be rolled out across over 2,300 TVET institutions, benefitting an estimated 500,000+ trainees.
We contributed to the National Education Sector Strategic Plan.
At the national level, we left our blueprint in two policy documents including the National Education Sector Strategy Plan (NESSP 2023 – 2027) and the National Accelerated Education Guidelines (NAEGs). In the former, we made specific inputs on the foundational learning section of the policy document. The AEGs have been packaged to guide education stakeholders on how to conduct
remediation, catch-up, bridging, and accelerated education programs. Once rolled out, the provisions of this document will benefit
over 10 million children (about half the population of New York) enrolled in primary schools countrywide.
The Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) is a collaborative initiative of 8 local organizations that focuses on ehancing the capacity of education systems that focus on life skills and values (Pedagogy, curriculum, and assessments); collaboratively develop/adapt contextualized assessment tools for 6–17-year olds; generate evidence by conducting assessments
and collating evidence from other life skills approaches (both in assessments and nurturing); then use the evidence for learning
and public policy advocacy
Under Pillar Three: Innovations for Policy and Practice.
We successfully piloted two innovations to support children left behind in reading and writing
We expanded our partnership with families and communities to catalyze their agency for learning.
Engaging parents in their children’s learning boosts the morale of the children, their attitude and academic achievements, and
promotes their ability to socially adjust in life (ZAF, 2023). However, poverty, illiteracy, strained relationships with teachers and
school leaders, and limited understanding of curriculum continue to impede parental participation in their children’s learning
(RELI, 2023)