Côte d'Ivoire Advances Its National Education Research Agenda

The Laboratoire pour l'Éducation (Ed Lab), housed within the Directorate of Studies, Strategies, Planning, and Statistics (DESPS) of Côte d'Ivoire's Ministry of National Education, Literacy, and Technical Education (MENAET in French), with the technical support of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), is implementing a national Education Research Agenda to strengthen the production and use of rigorous evidence in education policy and programming. The agenda promotes impact evaluations, pilot projects, and exploratory studies organized around four thematic priorities: pedagogical approaches, the teaching workforce, barriers to school enrollment, and education system planning. The agenda also emphasizes the development of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems to support the implementation of evidence-informed policies at scale.

From May 18 to 22, 2026, the Ed Lab convened a five-day in-person workshop in Yamoussoukro to draft, harmonize, and pre-validate the terms of reference (ToR) for priority studies preselected under the national Education Research Agenda, ahead of competitive calls for proposals. The workshop was designed around a co-construction approach, ensuring that research questions and methodological frameworks reflect the priorities and realities of Côte d'Ivoire's education system. It brought together Ed Lab staff and key technical resource persons from MENAET in a structured participatory setting.  Following the workshop, the MENAET will issue a call for applications through the Ed Lab for its first competitive education research fund.

Working in thematic subgroups, participants defined research questions, conceptual and methodological frameworks, key deliverables, and preliminary budget estimates for each priority study to ensure scientific coherence and structural consistency across all ToRs.

The workshop produced a consolidated set of harmonized ToRs ready for institutional validation, an operational roadmap for launching upcoming calls for proposals, and a synthesis report documenting key decisions and next steps. Through this initiative, IPA and its partners reaffirm their commitment to strengthening the evidence base for education policy and supporting evidence-informed decision-making in Côte d'Ivoire.

Participants who attended the workshop. © 2026 Jean Luc Yao