In 2019, the Director-General of the Rwanda Education Board (REB) requested technical assistance from IPA to support REB’s Teacher Management and Staffing Unit through the creation of an embedded lab to strengthen the use of data and evidence. The goal of the lab is to support evidence-driven education policy, improve the use of administrative data for better policies and programs, and promote evidence-informed policy in education to enhance the quality of learning in Rwanda.
This partnership builds on a recent randomized evaluation conducted among Rwandan public-sector primary school teachers, which showed that working under P4P contracts motivated teachers to achieve better learning outcomes for students. As a result of this evaluation, the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) and REB wanted to understand how government structures could further benefit from evidence to enhance the quality of learning outcomes relevant to social and economic development in Rwanda.
It is in this regard that IPA, in collaboration with MINEDUC, convened a full-day inception workshop to officially launch the embedded evidence lab. Key objectives for the workshop included:
- Discussing the embedded lab initiative design and sharing its achievements with key stakeholders;
- Discussing the embedded lab long-term plan and education research agenda;
- Discussing the establishment of a research committee to provide support, guidance, evidence-co-creation, and oversight of the embedded lab initiatives; and
- Conducting evidence ecosystem mapping
Tentative Agenda
|
Time |
Subject |
Facilitator |
|
09:00-09:15 |
Arrival and Registration |
Sophie Mushimiyimana and Melissa Douce Mahoro |
|
09:15-09:30 |
Opening remark & Intro to IPA |
Victoria Isika |
|
09:00:10:00 |
Embedded evidence lab achievements- REB |
REB Representative |
|
10:00-10:15 |
Coffee break |
|
|
10:15-10:45 |
Intro to Embedded evidence lab & long-term plan |
Victoria Isika and Leo Mfura |
|
10:45-11:15 |
Adapting and scaling interventions for teacher value-added |
Dr. Andrew Zeitlin |
|
11:15-11:45 |
Embedded lab—Experience from other countries—Ghana |
Bethany Park |
|
11:45-12:30 |
Feedback on the lab’s plan |
Panelists and Jean Leodomir Habarimana Mfura |
|
12:30-13:30 |
Lunch |
|
|
13:30-15:30 |
Evidence ecosystem mapping exercise (Key stakeholders with influence over evidence use and uptake in each system) |
EDT, Leodomir Mfura, and Victoria Isika |
|
15:30-16:00 |
Discussion on the establishment of the research committee and discussion on quick research topics |
All invitees |
|
16:00-16:15 |
Closing remarks |
MINEDUC representative |
Workshop Speakers/Facilitators
- MINEDUC Representative
- Rwanda Basic Education Board Representative
- Dr. Andrew Zeitlin, Professor, Georgetown University
- Bethany Park, Director of Policy, IPA
- Dr. Victoria Isika, Deputy Country Director, IPA Uganda and Rwanda
- Leodomir Mfura, Research and Policy Manager, IPA Uganda and Rwanda
- Sophie Mushimiyimana, Research and Policy Associate, IPA embedded staff in REB
- Melissa Douce Mahoro, Research and Policy Associate, IPA embedded staff in National Examination & School Inspection Authority (NESA)
