Our Work

Transforming the Learning Ecosystem

We use research to generate evidence and use the evidence to persuade key actors to address critical areas.  We are currently rolling out a critical thinking activation model (ACT Now) in Ugandan secondary school. With ACT Now, we envision an education system that prepares learners who are equipped to respond to 21st Century challenges. We are Uganda’s country hub for Regional Education Learning Initiative (RELI). RELI is a member-driven initiative of over 70 organisations in East Africa that are working to ensure inclusive learning outcomes for children in the region. Under RELI, we are also Uganda’s lead for the Assessment of Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) project.

Activate Critical Thinking (ACT) NOW

Every second that goes by, people are pressed to make good decisions. To do so, they must possess high values, skills and competencies. In today’s fast-paced life, with its technological advancements, demanding work dynamics and socio-economic pressures, parents have limited quality time to interact with their children. Schools, then, become ever more important partners in forming self-aware, responsible and thriving individuals.

However, a recent study conducted by some of our researchers on Uganda’s education system, revealed that there was an almost exclusive reliance on teaching techniques that encourage regurgitation, cramming and rote learning. These methods of teaching do not support critical thinking and the growth of life skills.

To bridge such learning gaps, we run a model; Activate Critical Thinking Now (ACT NOW) in Ugandan secondary schools to enhance the use of high order thinking skills at all education levels. ACT Now adopts a whole system approach, activating critical thinking in learners, teachers and administrators. We journey with teachers to design and implement lesson plans which unlock the power of thinking in learners. We work with school leaders to promote a culture where critical thinking skills are fundamental outcome of education, through contextualized leadership programmes. Our model aims to enhance teachers’ pedagogical practices and highlight pertinent learning outcomes among learners.

Assessment of Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE)

In 2018, RELI’s Values and Life Skills (VaLi) thematic cluster identified the need for strengthening the integration and development of 21st Century skills, and commenced work around this.

Members belonging to more than 20 Civil Society Organizations in the three East African countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania then committed to collaborate in deepening their understanding on what works in nurturing and developing values and life skills, and developing context-relevant assessments to measure progress, share learnings and inform system change across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

In the first-round assessments, ALiVE focuses on 4 competencies; Problem solving, Self-Awareness, Collaboration and Respect.

ALiVE looks at;

  • Develop context-relevant, open-source tools for assessing life skills in East Africa;
  • Undertake a household assessment targeting adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, both in and out of school (generate the evidence);
  • Use the evidence to draw attention to and increase awareness on the worth of these competencies among stakeholders (public policy advocacy);
  • Elevate RELI-VaLi to a regional community of practice on methods and measurement of life skills, replicable at the national and regional levels for sustainability (transnational alliance building);
  • Enhance peer learning and feedback among the RELI member organizations working on improving learning outcomes in East Africa (learning, sharing & capacity strengthening.)

PALICE

We envision a society free from gender bias and discrimination regarding training opportunities and the labour market. This is, however, not the case in vocational training institutions that have for long been male-dominated. That is why we have a Gender Equality in Training (GET) programme that emphasises bringing on board girls to participate in vocational training. Vocational training is key in addressing unemployment because its strength is largely seen in the difference between theoretical knowledge against practical skills. With GET, we are laying the ground for girls so that they are not left behind.

Youth Skilling

Despite the high levels of education in Uganda, employers continue to lament about the lack of relevant skills from most youth that graduate from higher institutions of learning.

When employers look for new employees, they want to find someone who has the skills to do the job well. To bridge such skills gaps and enable youth find gainful employment, we are partnering with AVSI to contribute to increased agri-skills levels and gainful employment of youth in the agriculture sector in Uganda through the Skilling in Agripreneurship for increased Youth Employment (SAY) project. The project is aimed at addressing challenges and barriers that have limited the engagement of working-age youth in agribusiness. These include low employable skills for high-paying agribusiness jobs, limited and constrained access to capital for agripreneurship, unfavourable employment terms in the private sector, among others.

Teaching at the Right Level

LGF piloted the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach in six schools from the host and refugee communities in Palabek Refugee Settlement, Lamwo district. The schools included Awich, Aywee, World View, Unity, Palabek Kal and Gem primary schools. In order to assess the changes in the achievement levels of the learners after a period implementing TaRL activities, LGF conducted an endline in the implementation schools.

Specifically, the endline was conducted to assess the learners’ foundational reading and mathematics skills and to ascertain the change in learners’ reading and mathematics levels as a result of the TaRL intervention. The results revealed improvements in the achievement levels of learners over the period of the TaRL intervention. Higher levels of achievement were observed across all the classes in both mathematics and literacy but it was also deemed important to increase on the length of the intervention in order to allow teachers to fully effectively implement the knowledge and skills acquired.

BRICE

To strengthen non-formal and formal education systems in Uganda and South Sudan, LGF was in 2018 – 2022 part of an Oxfam-led consortium which implemented the Building Resilience in Crisis Through Education (BRiCE) project.
Under the project, LGF contributed to safer and better teaching and learning in formal and alternative educational through providing training packages on the meaning of education, gender and conflict educational approach, among others.
LGF also offered training to teachers in Early Grade Literacy and Mathematics, remedial learning (TaRL) and Accelerated Education Programmes. Following the directive by the Ministry of Education and Sports to all schools to implement an abridged primary school curriculum following the COVID-19 learning loss at the time, LGF trained 232 teachers in using the abridged curriculum. LGF supported teachers with classroom observation, peer to peer classroom visits and also introduced the popular Teacher Learning Circles (TLCs) approach to promote peer to peer learning among the teachers.

PALICE

LGF is a strong advocate of Learning through play and is an active member of the Learning through Play Community of Practice (CoP) in Uganda. Under the Play and Learning in Children’s Eyes (PALICE) consortium led by FHI360 and with other major partners such as University of Notre Dame, University of Toronto, Institute of Informatics and Development, and Universidad de los Andes, the partners set out to develop and validate a set of formative tools designed to help teachers in low-and middle-income countries assess and improve their practice in Learning through Play (LtP), through a deeper understanding of how children experience LtP in their classrooms. Two modalities of data collection, with their corresponding modules and items are being developed: the Formative Observation and Reflection Assessment (FORA), intended for use by ECD and primary education teachers as they implement a LtP practice in the classroom; and the Children’s Experiences of LtP Protocol (CELP), intended for use by a coach or instructional support staff, by soliciting direct insights from children about their LtP experiences. 

Over the two years, the PALICE research consortium developed, and pilot tested the tools in three countries of Bangladesh, Colombia, and Uganda, each with their own language versions.

Gender Responsive Pedagogy and Climate Education

To promote gender education and climate education, LGF is part of an Oxfam-led consortium implementing the Humanitarian Development and Peace Initiative for Crisis Affected Population in Uganda in West Nile, commonly known as DANIDA SPII. The change objectives of the project are: Just societies, Leaving No One Behind, and Climate Justice are aligned and respond to fragile contexts, displacement, climate and green solutions. The project is being implemented in three refugee hosting districts of Yumbe, Madi-Okollo and Terego.

The refugee settlements in particular are: Rhino Camp (Terego and Madi-Okollo); Bidi Bidi (Yumbe) and Imvepi (Terego). LGF is taking lead in the implementation of education related interventions in the project ranging from designing and adaptation of manuals for green skills (tree planning, briquettes, energy saving stoves), adaptation of TEDP manuals and capacity building of instructors, promotion of gender responsive pedagogy and advocating for gender equity through promoting equal access to trainings for all through support like creation of child care corners for young mothers

Be Well Teach Well

Under the Be Well Teach Well (BWTW) research-practice project led by the University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, LGF participated in developing tools that measure teacher well-being in order to provide evidence-based recommendations and practical tools to use in Uganda.

The wellbeing research looked at answering two related questions:

  1. How do teachers in a sample of settlement and non-settlement primary schools define their own wellbeing? What factors do they prioritize? What differences emerge among female and male teachers?
  2. What are the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of a well-being survey co- designed with teachers? Are there differences in the responses of female and male teachers?

We also provide work readiness and soft skills training to youth and currently we are doing it under the Integrated Child and Youth Development Activity (ICYD) project in Wakiso, Luwero. For work readiness, we provide entrepreneurship and financial literacy training and transitional support by linking youth to enterprise development.

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