This blog is authored by Quentin Wodon, Director of UNESCO's International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA).
UNESCO IICBA is a category 1 UNESCO institute based in Addis Ababa. Focusing on strengthening the teaching profession and improving educational outcomes in Africa, the Institute works with a wide range of partners towards “Empowering teachers for all learners to thrive”, its new motto adopted in 2023. In March 2026, IICBA’s Governing Board approved the Institute’s strategic plan update for 2026-2028. The strategic plan builds on progress achieved in recent years. This post provides a brief review of this progress and outlines some of the Institute’s priorities going forward.
Progress in recent years
As noted in its latest annual progress report, the Institute had a strong performance in recent years. In 2023, IICBA adopted a new strategy with three main lines of action: research and knowledge, policy dialogue and advocacy, and capacity enhancement. The first two lines of action were relatively new as the Institute had previously focused mostly on capacity enhancement. The logic of the new strategic plan or its theory of change was simple: research and knowledge should guide policy dialogue and advocacy, which in turn should inform priorities for capacity enhancement activities.
Guided by its new strategic plan, IICBA has mobilized since 2023 by itself or with partners close to $30 million in new funding from donors. This has led to a 4-fold increase in the annual budget versus the five-year average before the adoption of its new strategic plan in 2023. In comparison to baseline data for 2022, the annual number of individuals trained by the Institute has increased about 15-fold, the number of users of IICBA’s website 25-fold, and the number of research publications over 25-fold.
Partnerships have also been strengthened. IICBA helped draft the African Union’s new Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA) 2026-2035 (African Union Commission, 2025a) and a separate strategy on mental health and psycho-social support for teachers (African Union Commission, 2025b). The Institute is now also implementing several projects jointly with the African Union. Another great partner for IICBA is the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA), the organization federating Ministries of Education, Teacher Service Commissions, and Teacher Councils on the continent. IICBA and AFTRA are also implementing several projects together.
With a strong pipeline of projects for the next few years, the Institute hopes to increase its impact further going forward. This may require some shifts. Many countries in the global south and especially in Africa are facing today what I would call a “triple D” crisis: high levels of debt, lower levels of support from donors, and rising constraints to development. This crisis calls for being creative in developing new approaches to investing in education, including for teacher professional development.
Strategic Plan Update
The strategic plan update recently approved by the Institute’s Governing Board follows the same structure as the previous strategy adopted in 2023, thus keeping the same three main lines of action since they remain relevant today. Yet within each line of action, there are a few shifts.
Research and Knowledge
For research and knowledge, potential areas of emphasis for the next three years could include both traditional and new topics. Traditional topics would include: (i) Teacher policies, i.e. documenting policies across countries; (ii) Teacher professional development, both in-service and pre-service; (iii) Attractiveness of the profession, including salaries and benefits, but also mental health and well-being. New topics at least for IICBA could include: include (iv) Teacher management information systems; (v) Teaching for programs for children out of school (accelerated learning programmes); (vi) Digitalization and AI, including both their opportunities and associated risks; (v) Higher education, including challenges faced by universities and teacher training g institutions; (vi); School leadership, including best practice onboarding programs; and (vii) Economic analysis of teacher issues in the context of limited fiscal space for education. This list of topics is only indicative as other themes could be considered based on demand from countries. In addition, IICBA will aim to expand its Africa Education Knowledge Platform launched in 2025 to make research more widely accessible.
Policy dialogue and advocacy
Priorities for 2026-2028 for policy dialogue will need to be based on demand from countries, but the areas mentioned above for research and knowledge will likely lead to opportunities for policy dialogue. Various avenues and events will continue to be used for dialogue. But on implementation, three aspects are emphasized in the new strategic plan update. First, a key constraint to the adoption of promising interventions and policies by Ministries of Education is uncertainty about cost and how to scale-up pilots. This is especially important today as countries have limited fiscal space to invest in education and are also suffering from lower support from donors and other constraints to development. IICBA will need to pay closer attention to how much interventions or policies may cost and whether they represent a good investment given budget constraints. Based on country or partner suggestions, IICBA may also conduct investment cases to advocate for specific interventions or policies. Second, dissemination is key for use of research for policy. IICBA will need to further strengthen its communications, for example building on recent gains in website users. Third, IICBA has mostly focused its work on public schools, teacher training institutions, and higher education institutions. This remains the priority but ensuring that some of the work of the Institute also reaches private schools and institutions is also warranted given their large footprint in Africa.
Capacity enhancement
Capacity enhancement on teacher professional development and education policies has long been IICBA’s core area of expertise, and it will continue to be the Institute’s “bread and butter.” In terms of priorities going forward, a few areas are worth considering. First, to tackle the issues of teacher professional development and teacher shortages, IICBA will need to expand further its emerging work with teacher training institutions while also ensuring that Ministries of Education and other teaching regulatory authorities implement standards and policies for teacher careers and professional development. IICBA will also aim to develop diagnostic tools appropriate for low and middle-income contexts to facilitate the assessment of existing policies and suggest reforms at the country level, for both pre-service and in-service professional development as well as teacher policies.
Second, IICBA expanded its work on teacher well-being in recent years, including issues related to mental health and psycho-social support for teachers. One small innovation was the implementation of low-cost online surveys with Ministries of Education and other teaching regulatory authorities. This will remain a priority as there is high demand for this type of support, and improving teacher well-being is key to improve the attractiveness of the profession.
Third, given opportunities as well as risks related to digitalization and the use of AI, IICBA will need to expand its expertise in those areas, including through the provision of asynchronous self-paced online courses that could be combined with opportunities brought by AI.
Fourth, IICBA also has a responsibility to give voice to teachers, ensure that they are recognized for their work, and promote their inclusion in policy dialogues. This would require working more closely with teacher unions as well as Ministries. One way to recognize teachers is through teacher awards, which IICBA will continue to support at the continental and country levels. IICBA will also continue to conduct interviews with great teachers and other education practitioners so that their experience can be shared.
Finally, one key recent development has been the support that IICBA provides to country system transformation grants funded by the Global Partnership for Education. This work will expand in the next three years with support planned among others for Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, and Mali, with lessons learned informing the broader work of the Institute.
Conclusion
Following the adoption of a new strategic plan a few years ago, IICBA has grown as an Institute thanks to stronger resource mobilization and great support from partners. Apart from an increase in projects and capacity enhancement activities, IICBA has been more active in research and knowledge, and in policy dialogue and advocacy, both of which have helped in achieving impact. At the same time, IICBA remains a small Institute with a limited budget. By itself, it cannot achieve as much as it can together with others. The Institute’s impact depends on its partnerships, both internal (within the UNESCO family) and external (such as with the African Union, AFTRA, and donors, with special thanks to the Government of Japan which has been especially generous towards IICBA in recent years).
IICBA and its staff have been fortunate over the last few years. But one should not forget that the global and African contexts have deteriorated for the education sector, including for resource mobilization. This is also true in other sectors such as health. Many individuals who were working on development projects have lost their job, especially in the global south, and many families who relied on these projects have lost the support they had. This includes teachers who are often poorly paid. This is not a time to be satisfied with the Institute’s performance. This is a time to work even harder to help improve education systems on Africa. IICBA has a great team and a strong pipeline of projects. The team is grateful to all those who have supported the Institute in previous years. But we must do better, and we look forward to engaging in new partnerships. Together, we can strengthen teaching and learning in Africa for the continent to reach its full potential. The need is greater than ever.