Helpdesk Reports
The main barriers to women’s economic inclusion in Tanzania are: time poverty (because women have to spend so much time on household chores); lack of education; reproductive health pressures; lack of assets and access to financial services; in the case of agriculture – lack of access to male labour and inputs such as fertiliser; in… Read more
With 2.1 billion people – mostly in rural areas – lacking safely managed drinking water and reported low rural water supply functionality rates, the Sustainable Development Goals pose a triple challenge: to reach unserved mostly rural population groups, to raise service levels, and to sustain existing and future services. This assessment uses a multi-country case… Read more
This Helpdesk report has been commissioned to help understand the extent to which the education system currently meets young people’s needs and how far the school represents a safe space for young people. In line with the plan to gather insights and identify trends, themes and areas for discussion for policy meetings about the wider… Read more
This report provides a rapid literature review of the evidence on what data and evidence exists, to identify, categorise and support children with disabilities to access education and achieve measurable learning outcomes in Tanzania and other similar resource-constrained contexts. Literature focused on the debate between mainstream and specialist education for children with disabilities is discussed…. Read more
In general systematic and rigorous reviews find limited (and little robust) evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to engage parents in their children’s learning in resource-constrained countries – when looking at parental participation in their children’s literacy development and parental engagement with schools. Effects tend to be mixed, with scarce evidence making it hard to… Read more
The evidence found for this report shows that vending machines have been used to make contraceptives available to vulnerable groups in low and middle income countries in a number of programmes. Examples from different parts of the world include: A six-year HIV prevention pilot programme started in 2009, which plans to install 100 CVMs using… Read more
Right to Play (former Olympic Aid), is an athlete-driven international humanitarian organisation which uses sport and play as a development tool for children and youth. The central delivery method is through international volunteers who teach RTP modules to local coaches based in refugee camps, at schools, or in community based organisations. This review was commissioned… Read more
Given that 45 per cent of child deaths (that’s nearly half) are because of undernutriton, tackling it should be the highest of priorities for our decision makers. It is also very relevant to note, that a majority of those deaths are amongst the most vulnerable and poorest communities. With this in mind, as most people,… Read more
This article examines the outcomes of affirmative action policies aimed at improving access for women students to university education in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Different interpretations of affirmative action are found in the three countries. These include lower entry scores, remedial pre-university programmes and financial assistance. There are limitations and weaknesses inherent in the piecemeal… Read more
Across East Africa, significant resources are dedicated to large-scale assessments designed to measure learning outcomes. Taking Uganda as an example, there are national exams at the end of primary and secondary school, an annual sample assessment of students from three year groups, a citizen-led assessment of 6 -16 year olds, regular donor-led assessments tied to… Read more
This paper reviews the evidence on the impact of learning assessments on education policy and teaching practice across East Africa. The study focuses principally on Uganda, and then considers the experience in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda to highlight common issues and suggest examples of best practice. It particularly examines national examinations at primary and secondary… Read more