Empowering teachers initiative: teacher professional development at scale

To achieve Sustainable Development Goal Four, quality education for all, the Global South needs access to high-quality teachers. However, the region faces challenges such as large student-to-teacher ratios, limited resources and inadequate education quality. Improving teacher professional development (TPD) is crucial to addressing this need, as teachers play a vital role in creating a stimulating learning environment that fosters curiosity, critical thinking and lifelong learning.

This project is a grant program that seeks to improve teacher practices in the Global South by improving the quality, equality and efficiency of TPD systems. The initiative’s objectives are: to understand how to effectively and efficiently scale quality TPD in the Global South; to strengthen the capacity of in-country education stakeholders to scale quality TPD programs; and to contribute to evidence-informed policy and practices for inclusive and effective TPD.

This initiative will promote research-policy collaborations across the Global South, using evidence-based frameworks and innovations to improve large-scale TPD systems. Governments are expected to adopt an inclusive approach prioritizing equity, quality and efficiency in designing and implementing TPD programs.

This 42-month long initiative will, among other activities, provide grant funding and technical support for up to 10 in-country research teams working closely with governments to equitably scale high-quality TPD innovations.