2020

IGNITE AFRICA

EDUCATION:
Re-Shaping The Learning
Promise In Africa
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Announcement letter from the Founder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Are you bold enough to transform the education system

through a venture that boosts the learning capacity and positive
outcomes of 100,000 children and youth within a decade?

1. Definition: The Education Global Promise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2. The Learning Crisis: When attending school

doesn’t mean learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Why are millions of children and youth prevented from quality

education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

What you should understand and can change with your venture

3. Three Dimensions of the Problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

• Problem Dimension one: Learning outcomes are poor.
Low levels, high inequality, and slow progress
• Problem Dimension two: Immediate
causes – Schools are failing learners
• Problem Dimension three: Deeper causes
– Systems are failing schools
4. An Africa United in purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
• IGNITE AFRICA CHALLENGE Impact Focus Dimensions (IFD)
• IGNITE AFRICA CHALLENGE Impact Focus Areas (IFA)

Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa | 3

Announcement Letter
From The Founder

T
The leopard is chasing us
and we are still asking if it
is a male or a female. This
African proverb has been on
my mind for the past months.

We have become more

conscious as a society
that the power of Africa
relies on its people; we
have seen the tremendous
progress we have had as
a continent, in terms of
economic development and
infrastructure investment
during the past decade.

Governments, private happen by being pioneers on

institutions and international
organizations are working
towards tackling the numerous
social challenges we face but
their efforts is not enough;
we still have a long way to go.
That is why we have decided
to add our experience and
passion to this transformational
conversation and create a
space for incorporating the
voice of the greatest potential
our continent has: its youth.
Inspired by the well-known
Nelson Mandela’s quote “It
always seems impossible until
it’s done”; we decided to believe
we can make the impossible
propelling the change that in a
traditional view might appear as
impossible. The urgency of the
transformation is on the horizon,
and we are still discussing who
is the most adequate to make it
happen, instead of taking action
all of us, right now. Our focus
should be on the right questions,
right approaches and models.
In line with the African Union’s
2063 Agenda and its aspirations,
we have committed to creating
a prosperous Africa based on
inclusive growth and whose
sustainable development is
people-driven, relying on the
potential of African youth.

4 | Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa

We have partnered with I look forward to seeing
institutions and experts to the groundbreaking ideas
provide a platform not only you have to tackle this very
to nurture and promote important social issue.
your talent, but to build a
brighter future together in Welcome to this lifelong
a sustainable way. We are community of visionary
launching a strong movement leaders transforming Africa.
built by and for young leaders
to redesign the educational Welcome to IGNITE AFRICA.
and entrepreneurial practices
in Africa through a non-
conventional approach.
Fahad Garba Aliyu
We have created a strong Founder and Executive Director
curriculum to not only equip Ignite Africa Challenge
you with skills for business,
but to certify your knowledge
for thinking systemically,
through a high level fellowship
program that will unlock your
true potential. To know how
to solve root problems, to
find root causes, and solve
our shared challenges in an
integrated and dignifying way.
We are looking for bold brave leaders
As Executive Director and
Founder of IGNITE AFRICA that are willing to transform
CHALLENGE, I am inviting you
to be part of the generation the education system through a venture
that will demonstrate to the
world our understanding and that boosts the learning capacity
ability to develop human
capacity in our beloved Africa, and positive outcomes of
and be the driving force
for change from within. 100,000 children and youth

In our second edition, we

within a decade.
are challenging you to
become the architects, the
shapers and producers of
an innovative education
framework that will transform
the future of our continent
for generations to come.

Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa | 5

 Knowledge is power.
Information is liberating.
Education is the premise
of progress,
in every society,
in every family.
- Kofi Annan
Definition:
The Education
Global Promise
Education is not a privilege. It is a
human right.
SSystem structures are tough to
Education as a human right means:
• the right to education is legally guaranteed
for all without any discrimination.
• states have the obligation to protect,
respect, and fulfil the right to education.
• there are ways to hold states accountable
for violations or deprivations of the
right to education.
Education as understood by IGNITE
AFRICA is a fundamental human right
that should fulfill the promise of freedom
for all, boosting more jobs, higher wages,
innovation, and stronger societies.
And it must be based on measurable
Learning Indicators and Outcomes.
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). 1999. General Comment 13: The Right to
1.
Education (Art. 13 of the Covenant), (Doc. E/C.12/1999/10.) (CESCR General Comment 13) para. 1
Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa
change, but we are tougher and
smarter. We are challenging you
to reimagine education practices
whether in or outside the classrooms.
We are challenging you to become
the CEO that will provide innovative
solutions to the learning crisis.
Our competitors and fellows
must be driven by passion and
purpose. You should focus on the
impact your venture will have to
motivate the students to learn
effectively; to reshape a better
education system for unveiling the
potential to contribute to human
capital, well-beings, and wealth.
We know we have the intention
to make this promise a reality, but
it will take more than promises…
What are you willing to do to
reach our common aspirations and
fulfilling the biggest expectations
leaving no one behind?
‘A well-educated, enlightened and
active mind, able to wander freely
and widely, is one of the joys and
rewards of human existence.’
- The Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights1
| 7
The Education Crises:
When Attending School
Doesn’t Mean Learning

E
Education has been the
global promise for freedom
and better opportunities
which for years have been on
discourse, but in reality, the
vast majorities in our countries
haven’t had access to it.

We want you to understand

Education as not a privilege
that a few should have, but
as an essential human right.
A right that aims to empower
people’s lives by developing
their skills, learning and other
capacities, human dignity, self-
esteem, and self-confidence.
We are faced with major issues
in the education system:
children who are still out of
school and who have little
chance of acquiring basic
skills, starting with reading
and mathematics. Across Sub-
Saharan Africa, for example,
one in every three children,
adolescents and youth are
out of school, with girls more
likely to be excluded than
boys (UNESCO Institute for
Statistics (UIS) and Global
Education Monitoring
Report (GEMR), 2016).
While enrollment is still an overwhelming
challenge, those who are lucky enough
to be in school are at risk of dropping
out before they gain these skills; and the
ones that stay, lack access to necessary
materials and adequate infrastructure,
continuing the pervasive problem of
poor-quality education (UNESCO, 2018).
As stated in the World Bank (2018) report:
The learning crisis is a moral crisis. When
delivered well, education cures a host
of societal ills and boosts sustainable
development. For individuals, it promotes
employment, earnings, health, and
poverty reduction. For societies, it spurs
innovation, strengthens institutions,
and fosters social cohesion.

8 | Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa

 Education is the
passport to the future,
for tomorrow
belongs to those
who prepare for it
today.
- Malcolm X
Why are Millions of Children
and Youth Prevented From
Quality Education
What you should understand and can change with your venture
Three dimensions
of the problem
Education nowadays, far from
being part of the solution
to societal problems, is
widening the gaps since it
is not effectively offered to
the already disadvantaged
individuals. The current
systemic structures, exclude
individuals that need quality
education the most.
We have taken the World
Bank’s three dimensions of
the education crisis in both
teaching and learning: poor
outcomes, immediate causes,
and the deeper causes.
Problem Dimension one:
Learning outcomes are poor.
Low levels, high inequality,
and slow progress
Even though school
enrolment rate is at its
historical highest, where more
children and young people
are attending schools, most
of them are not learning. The
curriculums are outdated,
they lack motivated and
prepared teachers, and mostly
have unprepared learners.
10 | Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa
Problem Dimension
two: Immediate causes –
Schools are failing learners
Non-structural Barriers to
getting quality education
• Poor School Conditions
For those children, girls and
boys, who are lucky enough
to enrol in school, the poor
conditions can interfere
with the learning process.
Schools cannot cope with
the demand, primary schools
have more than 50 pupils
per class, approximately
80% of the schools lack
access to electricity, and
less than half have access
to drinking water.
• Poor learning conditions
The overcrowded classrooms
can disincentive the
students from learning,
they lack needed materials,
or use outdated textbooks
– often shared by six or
more students – learning
and teaching materials
are in short supply
(Global Citizen, 2019).
Poor learning conditions
prevent schools from creating
a culture of creativity,
with innovation as the
center of the process.
• Non qualified nor
motivated teachers
Teacher effectiveness has been
found to be the most important
predictor of student learning.
There not enough teachers
to achieve universal primary
or secondary education and
many of the teachers that
are currently working are
untrained. As a result, children
aren’t receiving a proper
education. To achieve universal
primary and secondary
education by 2030, the region
needs 7.6 million new teachers
to fill posts left vacant by
those leaving the profession.
We need more and better,
motivated and equipped
teachers that can inspire their
students to effectively acquire
the skills for adaptability,
creativity, and lifelong learning.
We need to redefine the job
of the heroes and heroines
that transform lives, making
teaching a respectful and
attractive profession.
Problem Dimension three:
Deeper causes – Systems
are failing schools
Systemic barriers to getting
quality education
• Inequality and exclusion
All too often, children who are
born poor, female, or in rural
or conflict-affected regions,
face extreme disadvantage in
education and, despite great
gains in school enrolment,
today, about 60 million
primary school-age children
(6-11 years old) are missing
from classrooms. And half
of them live in the Sub-
Saharan Africa (UNESCO
Institute of Statistics, 2018)
• Gender Gap
Millions of young people
around the world, and
particularly young girls in Africa,
are failing to excel because
they continue to be denied
access to quality education.
The most fortunate of them,
will be provided with 5 years
of schooling on average, which
not only constitute a great
waste of resources and positive
outcomes, but represents the
biggest failure and mistake
we are doing as a society.
Just to put it in perspective,
in West and Central Africa, if a
girls has not entered primary
school by age 10, chances are
she never will. For teenage
girls it becomes tougher,
once they start growing she
might be force to abandon
school for getting ready for
marriage, to help with chores,
or out of fear or harassment.
• A radical changing world
New technologies that are
disrupting industries and
changing the nature of work
will increase the demand for
high-skilled labor and make
many low- and medium-skilled
jobs obsolete. This skills gap
threatens to have far-reaching
Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa
economic, social, and political
repercussions. The growing
skills gap will stunt global
economic growth and reverse
progress toward ending
extreme poverty, determining
an unbright future for a billion
youth in Africa by 2050.
• Global instability in the dire
Historical analysis shows that
inequality fuels unrest and
when educational inequality
doubles, the probability of
conflict more than doubles
(The Education Commission).
Where economic,
technological, demographic,
and geopolitical trends
collide with weak education
systems, the risks of instability,
radicalization, and economic
decline are at their greatest. If
the world does not equip all
young people with the skills
they will need to participate
in the future economy, the
costs of inaction and delay
could be irreparable.
| 11
The Chronic
Leadership Failure

A
At IGNITE AFRICA CHALLENGE
we are convinced that the
education crisis can and should
be anchored on local solutions.
We aim to add a glimpse
public, and social sectors. This
way, we are bringing forward
our cross-sector experience
through an innovative model
proposal for our continent.
of critical understanding
of the social world and to We are looking for creative
guide you in a journey where leaders that gives coherence
social entrepreneurship and alignment with an
can be the most effective authentic learning process
means for the solution. within our education systems.

We aim to change the general

notion of an Africa that relies Figure 0.15 - Coherence and
on external aid to one that alignment toward learning
unleashes its human capital
potential through its youth as
catalyst of change from within.

We are convinced that young

people themselves are better
placed to identify the obstacles
faced in education and find
ways to overcome them. We
trust in their creativity and
talent to embrace a cause
and become the leaders
Africa needs and deserves.

We are calling you to cut the

chronic leadership failure that
institutions and governments,
haven’t been able to fix;
instead, we urge you to be
part of this collective impact
platform that encourages and
promotes the triple strength
leadership, engaging and
collaborating across the private,

12 | Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa

AN AFRICA UNITED IN PURPOSE

A
Accepting the IGNITE AFRICA Challenge,
means you embrace the possibility of crafting
a new and brighter future for you and your
community. We give you a set of dimensions
and areas to focus your venture on, as it
•

•
Innovation and Technology
in Education;

Knowledge –and Justice– for all

might be most effectively addressed. -- Whole Brain: Psycho-

You can focus your solution on building the
foundations of the human capital (Childhood
development) or in maximizing the untapped
human capital (Youth development).
Also, you can address the Education crisis
by one or both Impact Focus Dimensions:
teaching or learning dimension; one of our
Systemic challenges: Individuals, or School/
initiatives Management; and focus on our
proposed Impact Focus Areas (IFA):
motor and cognitive
development (Childhood)
-- Skills and Values for the
New Economy (Youth)
• Gender Equality in Education;
• Arts and Culture – solidarity,
tolerance, and co-existence
• Education in Crisis Zones – fragile,
conflict, and/or violence context

Education
Crises
od Yo
dho uth
Chil
Impact Measurement

Innovation & Technology

Data Gathering and

Teaching Whole Brain:

Psycho-motor Skills for the
& Cognitive New Economy
Development

Gender Equality
Arts and Culture
Inclusion: Minorities & Disabled
Learning Education in Crisis Zones

Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa | 13

 Eight -
Inalienable
Dignity

Education

Formal
Non-Formal
Informal
Key Right Universal
Instrumental
in executing
other rights
• Economic
• Social Teaching Learning
• Cultural High
• Civic Priority
• Political
& Multiplier Benefit
s on the Individual
rights
Exte ety
rnal Po ci
sitive Effects on Wider So

* Cognitive and physical development, our

understanding of the world, how we think, our values,
identity, our experience of the world, knowledge and
skills we develop that helps us to negotiate life

Finally, remember that that restores people’s faith in

what isn’t measured cannot
be known, nor changed.
Make sure to have a strong
data gathering and Impact
measurement proposal, to
keep track of the progress
you aim to achieve.
It’s time for you to redefine
the system with us. It’s time
for you to fulfill the promise
of education, one that
provides positive learning
and teaching experience
development and progress;
that ensure youth have skills
employers are seeking and
the skills they need to start
sustainable businesses; teachers
who can respond to their
professional calling; and citizens
who have the values and
reasoning abilities to contribute
to civic life and social cohesion.
It’s time for you to restore
your society from its very
deep foundations.

14 | Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa

Authors
FAHAD GARBA ALIYU
Executive Director and Founder
Ignite Africa Challenge

PILAR AVENDAÑO
Content Director
Ignite Africa Challenge

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Ignite Africa Challenge team has compiled research for this case from known and credible
sources. The authors have attempted to use accurate information as much as dynamic data can
be accurately measured and reported. The authors explicitly disclaim to the extent permitted
by law responsibility for the accuracy, content, or availability of information located throughout
this case or for any damage incurred owing to use of the information contained therein.

Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa | 15

 Inspiration
Toolbox
• World Bank Group - Successful
teachers, successful students
• EKStep India
• World Bank Group – Global
Education Policy Dashboard
• Human Capital Project
• Project Zero
• Harvard Graduate School of
Education - Usable Knowledge

16 | Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa

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Andrews, M., Pritchett, L., & Woolcock, M. (2017). Escaping Capability Traps
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Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action(51), 234-44.

Global Citizen. (24 de 01 de 2019). Global Citizen. Obtenido de 10 Barriers

to Education Around the World: https://www.globalcitizen.org/
en/content/10-barriers-to-education-around-the-world-2/

International Monetary Fund. (29 de 05 de 2014). International Monetary

Fund, Africa Rising. Obtenido de Africa Rising - Building to the Future,
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www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp052914

Nega, B., & Schneider, G. (2016). Africa Rising? Short-Term Growth vs.
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The Education Commission. (s.f.). The Learning Generation. Obtenido de

The Learning Generation: Investing in education for a changing
world: https://report.educationcommission.org/report/

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Data Release: One in Every Five Children, Adolescents and Youth is
Out of School: http://uis.unesco.org/en/news/education-data-release-
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UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2017). More Than One-Half of Children and Adolescents
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http://uis.unesco.org/apps/visualisations/no-girl-left-behind/#lastmile-3

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Realize Education’s Promise. Washington DC: World Bank.

Education: Re-shaping the Learning Promise in Africa | 17

www.igniteafricachallenge.org