Location: Accra, Ghana

Over the last decade, Ghana Education Service (GES) and IPA Ghana have nurtured a strong collaborative relationship and network which have become considerably more prominent in both practice and research. During these times of economic downturn, a drive for policy-implementing bodies such as GES to make use of the best evidence-supported approaches to decision-making is even more crucial.

On January 25, 2023, IPA Ghana received an honorary visit from the Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access of the GES, Dr. Kwabena B. Tandoh which centered on the following:

1. The need for establishing a working memorandum of understanding between IPA Ghana and GES
2. Generation of a research repository for the GES and IPA
3. Developing an impact roadmap for research conducted in the education sector
4. Provision of technical assistance from IPA to special units in GES
5. Establishing streamlined and approved channels of communication

In his remarks, Dr. Tandoh’s had this to say about the meeting:

“We often have partners coming into the GES office to have meetings with the officials. However, visiting IPA offices allowed me to have a different understanding of what IPA does, somewhat like a bird's eye view of their work. This is often challenging to achieve in the meetings held at our offices as it does not give an opportunity to have a  holistic understanding of the support partners can provide to us. This meeting at IPA offices allowed me to have a fuller understanding, made room for deeper conversations, as well as allowed me to see the operations which were important in informing the discussions on how we can further strengthen our relationships and collaboration. Both IPA and GES are implementers and this meeting helped discuss and establish how we can have our work aligned more closely and effectively to fit our work towards improving the learning outcomes of the Ghanaian children.”