API approaches in education that lead to social change

MDF & ACER will present research on how Advocacy and Policy Influencing (API) approaches by different Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) lead to social change. The main objective of the research conducted was to evaluate CSOs actionable learning related to advocacy efforts, and to enhance a specific area of their practice through linking it to adaptive management with an aim of producing recommendations to contribute to improvements in relevant practices.

The researchers from the Education Out Loud (EOL) programme in Asia and Africa that we worked with, focus on advocacy and/or social accountability in their work. One of their aims is to provide support for civil society to become active and influential in shaping education policy, so it can assist with the needs of communities in their region, as well as overall with the broad goal of the EOL programme.

We examined different participatory approaches, methodologies, strategies and tools for API, and explored both opportunities and limitations they present for CSOs in their API work and how some of the challenges they face in the development and implementation of API are addressed. In addition, we evaluated and conducted critical analysis of education advocacy approaches and evidence-based advocacy practices of CSOs in selected countries to identify and introduce improvements in the processes related to the design and implementation of API.

The methodology made use of Theory of Change (ToC) and Social Change Matrix (SCM) for the design, implementation and evaluation of API initiatives to support change in education systems. The main analysis focused on synthesizing the findings to assess the effectiveness of the current advocacy strategies and organizational capacity to implement them. In these programmes, education is a catalyst for change, and by reviewing their advocacy approaches, and engaging in action research, we can ensure that the route to change is evidenced and mapped out.

One of the outputs for this work is a global workshop, together with individual learning workshops and the online learning modules, all designed to share how action research based on the initial assumptions made by CSOs can scale up power and protest for equality. The purpose of these education advocacy learning workshops is to learn from the project and to connect these to API for Inclusive Education and for other countries to learn from these examples and identify what this may mean for their advocacy approaches and strategies in their contexts.