Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa research project
RTI-A
Understanding what keeps teachers in the classroom in crisis-affected communities
A Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa research project, with LGF leading the research in Uganda
Teachers hold education together when communities face conflict and displacement. Yet in crisis-affected parts of the Great Lakes region, low wellbeing and high attrition are among the biggest obstacles to learning. Much is known about what pushes teachers out of the profession. Far less is known about what helps them stay and thrive, despite difficult conditions.
Luigi Giussani Foundation (LGF) is part of a research consortium working to fill that gap. The project is called The drivers of teacher wellbeing and retention in contexts of protracted violence and displacement. It is funded through the Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (RTIA) and runs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. In Uganda, the research focuses on refugee-hosting areas in West Nile and Kitgum.
Learning from what already works
The study starts from a simple idea: some schools and communities are already succeeding in supporting their teachers, even in tough circumstances. The project aims to find them, understand why they work, and share the lessons with policymakers and practitioners.
It examines three drivers of teacher wellbeing and retention:
- Teacher and community strategies: informal peer and community networks, including support for marginalised teachers such as refugee teachers and those from minority language groups.
- School leadership and education governance: how headteachers and district education offices support, deploy and retain teachers.
- Peer-based professional support: mentoring, peer learning and teacher professional development.
How the research works
The research puts teachers’ own voices first. It has three phases:
- Positive deviance inquiry: identifying about 15 schools in each country with better-than-expected teacher retention and wellbeing.
- Comparative case studies: studying around 30 schools per country through interviews, focus groups, school observation and teacher journaling. All methods are trauma-sensitive.
- Policy relevance: working with education stakeholders at district, national and regional levels to look at how the findings can be scaled.
Across both countries, the team expects to carry out about 200 key informant interviews and 30 focus group discussions. They will complement this with analysis of existing national and regional datasets.
Turning evidence into policy
The findings are meant to inform real decisions, including the DRC’s first Education in Emergencies strategy and Uganda’s Education Response Plan for Refugees and Host Communities.
The partners
The project is led by the Institute of Development Studies, with the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu, the Secrétariat Permanent d’Appui et de Coordination du secteur de l’Éducation (SPACE) in the DRC, Oxfam Uganda, Oxfam Denmark and LGF.
