Teachers are key to inclusive and equitable quality education for all. This is recognized in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4’s Target C aim to “By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries…”.

There are various initiatives worldwide supporting developing countries to enhance teacher policies and practices. Unfortunately, these efforts usually stand alone and are not always coordinated or synergized, limiting their potential impact.

In an effort to reinforce coordination among key international organizations and national actors working on teacher policy, Education International (EI), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNHCR, UNICEF, the World Bank, UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers (TTF) have joined together through the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI) on “Strengthening Multi-Partner Cooperation to Support Teacher Policy and Improve Learning”, supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). This initiative aims to strengthen national teacher policies in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda by supporting education authorities at the country level.

From 19-21 February 2019, IICBA hosted a National Project Officer (NPO) and Country Focal Point (CFP) Coordination Meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the Initiative. In attendance were around 25 participants, including the NPO and CFP from Burkina Faso, Ghana and Malawi, development partners and IICBA staff.

During the meeting countries presented their country mapping exercise and worked to develop their Country Project Document and corresponding Project Implementation Plan. Development partners gave presentations on their expertise, areas of work and ongoing activities in each of the four countries. This allowed for common areas of collaboration to be discussed. Participants also consolidated the Cooperation Framework, which documents working structures and mechanisms and serves as the basis for the evaluation of the initiative, reflecting on how countries and partner organizations can best collaborate and achieve experienced results in such partnerships.

Partners and countries representatives were excited to learn more about IICBA’s work in teacher policy and development. The NPOs and CFPs were particularly interested in learning more about IICBA’s efforts towards a Teacher Support and Motivation Framework. IICBA will share its resources with participants, many of which are available online at: http://www.iicba.unesco.org/?q=node/140. In the coming weeks country teams will finalize their Project Document and Implementation Plan and commence in-country activities.