Overview

The Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA in French) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) with the financial support of the Jacobs Foundation have partnered to establish an education-focused Embedded Evidence Lab (known as the “Ed Lab”). The Lab aims to embed rigorous research and data analysis into the MENA’s decision-making processes in order to improve learning outcomes.

Context

Between 2016 and 2022, IPA served as an implementation partner for the Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (TRECC) initiative, led by the Jacobs Foundation and the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, to improve early childhood development and education quality. Through TRECC, IPA helped test and refine 13 educational and parenting approaches, several of which were later scaled nationally by the government. During the program, IPA also assessed the MENA’s capacity for learning and innovation, identifying key gaps in data quality, monitoring systems, and evidence use. These findings, combined with MENA’s growing commitment to data-driven decision-making, led to the idea of establishing an Education Evidence Lab. Supported by the Jacobs Foundation, the Ministry engaged IPA to design and implement this lab, building on IPA’s extensive experience setting up similar government-led evidence units in other countries.

Anchored within the Direction des Études, des Stratégies, de la Planification et des Statistiques (DESPS), the Ed Lab facilitates the integration of rigorous research and data analysis into policy and program development processes to address Côte d’Ivoire’s education challenges. The Lab is currently composed of eight government staff members. IPA is providing technical support to the MENA to set up the Ed Lab through financial support from the Jacobs Foundation. The MENA and IPA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, formalizing the collaboration for the establishment and operation of the Ed Lab. This MOU delineates the roles, responsibilities, and commitments of both parties.

Lab Approach

The Côte d’Ivoire Ed Lab operates through a three-stage learning cycle, embedding evidence within government processes.

Stage 1: Policy Challenges Mapping
The Ed Lab facilitated consultations with MENA directorates and senior officials to identify priority education challenges, such as weak foundational learning outcomes or teacher attrition. Through workshops and scoping exercises, the Ed Lab helped MENA translate these challenges into concrete research and learning questions, laying the foundation for the Lab’s Research and Learning Agenda (RLA).

Stage 2: Data and Evidence Generation
The Ed Lab commissions learning strategies and products to answer these learning questions. These learning strategies include evidence syntheses, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) workshops and technical assistance, (quasi) experimental or mixed methods, descriptive analysis, ad hoc data collection, and data systems strengthening, and are co-created with MENA directorates and key education sector partners.

Stage 3: Applying Data and Evidence to Policy
The Ed Lab works with MENA directorates to share lab findings and integrate them into policies and programs. Findings are shared with MENA staff through policy briefs and dissemination events (e.g. Lier l’Innovation et la Recherche en Éducation (LIRE), Journées Ouvertes pour l’Utilisation de la Recherche et l’Innovation en Éducation (JOURIE)) or pause and reflect workshops to discuss how these results will be used.

Lab Achievements

Since its inception, the Côte d’Ivoire Ed Lab has made significant progress in embedding evidence use within MENA. Working hand in hand with government counterparts, the Lab has supported institutional design, strengthened data practices, and co-created a forward-looking research agenda to guide education policy. Key achievements include:

1. Lab Design and Institutionalization
The Côte d’Ivoire Ed Lab was designed through a broad consultative process that brought together government leaders, development partners, and local researchers. Through these discussions, IPA helped define the Lab’s purpose and identify the education system’s most pressing data and evidence gaps. As a result, the DESPS was selected as the Lab’s host unit, and the Cabinet formally endorsed its creation.

Working closely with the MENA, IPA integrated the Lab’s activities into the Ministry’s work plan and supported national reform efforts such as the États Généraux de l’Éducation Nationale et de l’Alphabétisation (EGENA). IPA contributed by mapping existing evidence to policy priorities, preparing policy briefs, and co-developing a Theory of Change with the AVSI Foundation. To ground the Lab’s work in reality, IPA also assessed MENA’s data and evidence-use practices. The insights gained from that assessment continue to shape the Lab’s mission to make evidence generation, sharing, and learning an integral part of Côte d’Ivoire’s education policy process.

In early 2023, the MENA registered the Ed Lab among its priority reforms. With technical support from IPA, the DESPS worked to integrate the Ed Lab into the DESPS’s organogram, establish a 2-year workplan, and officially launch the Ed Lab in July 2023. Furthermore, the Ed Lab and its associated activities and outcomes have been included in the education section of the government’s 2026-2030 National Development Plan to illustrate how the MENA plans to use evidence to inform its actions, and strengthen the institutionalization of the Ed Lab.

2. Achievements
The Ed Lab provides technical and analytical support to strengthen the generation and use of evidence within Côte d’Ivoire’s education system. Through close collaboration with the MENA and its partners, the Lab delivers a range of services that build capacity, promote learning, and enhance data-driven decision-making.

Co-Creating a Research and Learning Agenda: The Lab brought together researchers, policymakers, and education partners in a series of participatory workshops to co-create a Research and Learning Agenda (RLA) aligned with government priorities. This agenda serves as a shared roadmap for generating and applying evidence across key education initiatives, ensuring that research responds directly to the sector’s most pressing needs.

Building Capacity through Training and Peer Learning: To strengthen evidence use within MENA, the lab organized a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) training workshop that reached more than 100 staff across 20 directorates. Participants developed 19 preliminary MEL plans for major programs and reforms, many of which have already informed program delivery. The lab also established a community of practice to sustain peer learning and foster collaboration among MENA directorates, helping to embed a culture of continuous improvement.

Developing a Local Evidence Repository: Recognizing the importance of accessible, localized knowledge, the lab collaborated with MENA directorates and partners, including the Jacobs Foundation, World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF to collect, map, and synthesize education studies conducted in Côte d’Ivoire. This effort resulted in a local evidence repository cataloguing over 40 completed studies and 20 ongoing or planned ones guided by the research and learning agenda. The lab has used this repository to produce an evidence synthesis supporting the Programme National d’Amélioration des Premiers Apprentissages Scolaires (PNAPAS) and to inform ongoing descriptive research on school dropout aimed at understanding factors that hinder retention and learning continuity.

3. Enhanced Knowledge to Improve Early Learning Outcomes:
The Ed Lab conducted several actions in order to inform PNAPAS, a national program to improve early literacy and mathematics skills in primary school students through structured teaching methods and teacher training. The first large results dissemination event organized by the Ed Lab was held in December  2024 on the PNAPAS. For the inaugural edition of this event, titled “Journées Ouvertes pour l’Utilisation de la Recherche et de l’Innovation en Éducation (JOURIE),” studies were presented on priority topics including student dropout, teacher training, and pedagogical approaches like Teaching at the Right Level. Following the event, the Ed Lab used the studies presented as well as rigorous studies from the local evidence repository to draft an evidence synthesis on the PNAPAS. This evidence synthesis is currently used by the Ed Lab to provide recommendations to improve teacher training practices and program content  for more than 100,000 primary school teachers across 18,000 elementary schools in Côte d'Ivoire, positively impacting the learning outcomes of 4 million students.  

Building on the MEL plans created during the training, the Lab also supported the Directorate of Orientation and Scholarship (DOB) in piloting the program “Suivi individualisé des élèves à risque de décrochage,” which identifies and supports students at risk of dropping out. Through this initiative, field staff were trained to detect early warning signs and provide tailored support to vulnerable learners, helping schools improve retention and prevent dropout across the system.