UNESCO IICBA in 3 simple fliers: 2023 Highlights, 2024 Work Program, and the First Africa Teachers Report

Sharing information through short, somewhat visual fliers is often better than through longer reports, even if those reports are useful for readers who may want or may need more details. If you would like to know about IICBA in a quick and simple way. You may be interested in three new fliers. 

The first flier provides highlights on IICBA for the calendar year 2023 (we will also prepare an annual report soon). Last year IICBA adopted a new strategic plan and a new motto to crystalize its mission in a few words: “Empowering teachers for all learners to thrive.” IICBA now implements this mission through three main lines of action: (1) research and knowledge; (2) policy dialogue and advocacy; and (3) capacity enhancement. Research informs policy dialogue and advocacy, which in turn help set priorities for capacity enhancement. The flier provides a few highlights for each line of action:

• Research and Knowledge: In 2023, IICBA significantly expanded its research work, including with the launch of new publication series and grants from new donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 
• Policy dialogue and advocacy: In 2023, IICBA organized or presented its work in close to 100 events, many of which focused on policy and advocacy. New multi-year funding has been successfully raised to expand this work in coming years.
• Capacity enhancement: In 2023, IICBA launched its Executive Education and Policy Academy, a new eLearning portal, and a popular webinar series. It also published a range of training guides for teachers in new thematic areas.

The second flier provides information on IICBA’s work program for 2024. IICBA receives a small annual core allocation from UNESCO HQ and relies mostly on external grants (voluntary contributions) to carry its work. Through grant applications submitted in 2023, IICBA raised close to US$17 million in new external funding. A few of these grants are still pending formal approval, so the final tally may increase or decrease slightly. This new funding includes several projects in collaboration with partners as well as some multi-year allocations, therefore our annual budget is smaller, but it is growing rapidly. IICBA’s planned budget for 2024 is at over US$8 million. The flier lists the main projects externally funded projects as well as selected other work done by the Institute.

The third flier is about the recently released first Africa Teachers Report on the role of teachers and girls’ education in improving education for girls and ending child marriage. The report argues for investments in improving foundational learning since lack of learning is one of the main reasons why so many children, including girls, drop out of school prematurely. The report advocates for investments in teachers and school leaders, including increasing the share of female teachers and school leaders. The conference version of the report was released at two events at the European Union on January 31 and February 5. We will continue to improve on this version and are planning to also prepare a range of country reports. More generally, you can find our research publications on our new website, and for some series, we welcome external submissions. 

These three fliers cover only part of what the IICBA team is working on, but we hope that they will be useful for you to get to know our work a bit better. If you have ideas for collaborations, please do not hesitate to contact us (our email provided in the fliers). Thank you!