Challenge: Preparing Ethiopia’s education system to deliver change 

In recent decades, Ethiopia had made significant progress in expanding access to education. Despite this, internal inefficiency, inequity, and poor education quality persisted as challenges in the sector. There was an urgent need to strengthen: 

  • teacher preparation 
  • data collection and analysis on school and student performance 
  • emergency responses to reduce the impacts of drought, famine, and other disasters on school attendance. 

As the Ethiopian government implemented its ambitious General Education Quality Improvement Programme for Equity (GEQIP-E), funded by the World Bank, there was a need to strengthen the systems required to deliver reform effectively. TARGET (Technical Assistance to Reinforce GEQIP-E in Ethiopia) was established to help build this capacity at national, regional, and local levels. 

Solution: Working with the system, not in parallel 

Lasting change happens when governments have the tools, systems, and expertise they need to lead reform themselves. Through TARGET, we worked with the Ministry of Education and regional education leaders to improve and strengthen the systems that already existed, helping to embed reforms for the long term. 

Our support included: 

  • developing school leaders: reviewing, strengthening, and expanding Ethiopia’s National School Leadership Training programme, bringing together university coaches and teaching and learning experts to support school leaders in their practice 
  • using data to drive improvement: an innovative new system called Data for Delivery gave schools, districts, and government officials clearer, real-time information about performance and progress, helping them to identify challenges and make informed decisions quicker 
  • making education more inclusive: supporting efforts to increase participation of women in school leadership, as well as improving opportunities for girls, students with special educational needs and disabilities, and children from pastoral communities, where opportunities for education can be limited 
  • improving monitoring, evaluation, and research: identifying and sharing what was working on the programme, and conducting research according to ministry needs. 

Impact: Stronger foundations for future improvement 

The agile Data 4 Delivery system that TARGET introduced made education planning more outcomes-led and data-informed, and its radical new method for school leadership training led to significant improvements in practice and school quality. The proportion of school leaders at the level of ‘competent leader’ or above also rose from 15% to 74% in just three years. These successes led the World Bank to scale up both approaches through the subsequent Ethiopian Education Transformation Programme (EETP).

“I used to be a different person, but after TARGET, I have become a good school leader – one that solves problems by holding discussions with his deputies. I also delegate tasks to the various departments, and we work collaboratively to find solutions. I am now capable of working closely with and leading the teachers. I have been able to positively influence the students. Me being a good school leader has impacted the entire school community positively. So, when I say “TARGET is my life”, it would be an understatement. Thank you.” 

– Muluken Temam, school leader

TARGET also made remarkable improvements in making education more inclusive. Within the first three years of the programme, student agreement with the statement ‘There are special places in our school where girls can go to feel safe and protected’ rose from 43% to 97% in TARGET intervention schools. TARGET partners also reported that, because we trained teachers on how to plan lessons for learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), learning connections with this group rose by almost 10%. 

Over its lifetime, TARGET improved education for 5.5 million learners by helping the government strengthen leadership, planning, and decision-making across the system. The programme showed that sustainable education reform is most effective when governments lead the change, supported by partners who make that change possible.

We are proud to continue our important work with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education through the Leaders in Teaching Ethiopia programme, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.