ACSL commits $865,000 in cohort 1 of its school leadership research grant in Africa – largest known investment in school leadership research on the continent
New research grants programme is translating continental mapping findings into an African-led evidence agenda — targeting the systemic gaps that have left school leadership policy without the evidence base it needs
NAIROBI, 15th May 2026 – The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is pleased to announce that 39 beneficiaries have received research grants under the Cohort 1 of its Research Grants Programme, committing USD865,000 to school leadership research across 14 African countries. The Research Grants Programme represents the largest known investment dedicated specifically to school leadership research on the African continent — and a defining step towards building an evidence base that is Africa-led, contextually grounded, and directly connected to the policy decisions shaping how school leaders are trained, supported, and held accountable.
The announcement comes less than two months after ACSL presented the findings of its Continental Mapping of School Leadership Initiatives in Africa at the 1st KEMI International Conference in Nairobi — the first continental-scale evidence synthesis on school leadership ever conducted. The Research Grants Programme is the direct operational response to what that mapping found.
The 2025 continental mapping exercise, conducted across 14 African countries through surveys, interviews, and documentary reviews, confirmed that school leadership research in Africa is fragmented, chronically underfunded, and insufficiently connected to the policy processes it is meant to inform. Most strikingly, 83 per cent of researchers examined school leadership only as part of broader education studies — not as a dedicated field of inquiry. The result is a critical evidence gap at precisely the level of the system where it is most costly. Policymakers designing leadership standards, governments investing in professional development, and school communities trying to hold leaders accountable are all making decisions in a near-vacuum of relevant, policy-responsive research. These findings were reinforced at the 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra, where African ministers and senior policymakers named school leadership evidence generation as a continental priority for the coming decade — signalling that the growing political recognition of school leadership as a driver of education quality must now be matched by investment in the knowledge systems that can sustain it. The Research Grants Programme is ACSL’s direct answer to both signals.
Selected through a rigorous multi-stage review process led by ACSL’s Research Advisory Committee, the 39 grantees include doctoral holders, postdoctoral researchers, and senior research fellows from Tanzania — both Mainland and Zanzibar — Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and nine other African countries. In line with ACSL’s Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) commitments, priority was given to researchers working in arid and semi-arid regions, conflict-affected areas, and rural communities — ensuring that the evidence generated reflects the realities of populations too often absent from current research.
Cohort 1 is organised around eight thematic priorities drawn directly from the continental mapping, co-created continental school leadership research agenda and the 2025 ADEA Triennale outcomes: leadership preparation and development pathways; Afrocentric leadership models and indigenous knowledge systems; equity, inclusion, and social justice in school leadership; digital transformation and educational technology; leadership influence on teacher practice and learning outcomes; system enablers for effective leadership; distributed and middle leadership; and school leadership in emergencies and crisis contexts. The programme’s thematic architecture is aligned with the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2016–2025), anchoring it within Africa’s broader education transformation agenda. Twenty-five Descriptive Action Research grants of up to USD15,000 per researcher support studies of up to 12 months; fourteen Comparative Action Research grants of up to USD35,000 per researcher support studies running up to 24 months.
The diversity of researchers joining the programme reflects both the breadth of the continental evidence gap and the appetite for rigorous, policy and practice -oriented school leadership research across African institutions. “I am particularly excited because I conceived the original research idea following my years of research involvement in Botswana,” said Obumneke Ugwu, a Cohort 1 grantee affiliated with Rainbow Education Consultancy Services. “This also marks my first international research contract since establishing my consultancy. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to research that strengthens school leadership and educational transformation across Africa.” Ugwu’s reflection captures something central to the programme’s design intent — not simply to fund individual studies, but to build a generation of African researchers who own and sustain dedicated school leadership evidence base long after each grant cycle closes.
That intent is embedded in the programme’s structure. A critical design feature is its accountability to policy impact, not merely academic output. Every grantee is required to produce a policy brief for submission to the relevant government ministry in their country, alongside at least one peer-reviewed journal article — closing the loop between what researchers find and what policymakers can act on. All 39 grantees will also participate in the ACSL Blended Exchange and Learning Trajectory (BELT), a structured peer learning, mentorship, and coaching platform delivered in collaboration with ACSL’s Research Advisory Committee and Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), ensuring that researchers work as part of a connected, continent-wide community rather than in isolation.
For Dr. Leyla Abdullahi, ACSL’s Director of Research and Programme Delivery, the programme’s significance extends far beyond the immediate research outputs. “The Continental Mapping confirmed something many of us had long observed but had never documented at this scale: across Africa, critical decisions about how school leaders are selected, trained, and supported are often being made with limited contextually grounded evidence,” she said. “This grants programme is therefore not simply about funding research. It is about strengthening an Africa-led research ecosystem that reflects African realities, priorities, and knowledge systems, while ensuring that evidence reaches the policymakers and practitioners shaping education systems.”
She further emphasised that the programme is also contributing to the co-creation of a continental school leadership research agenda and responding to the research needs identified through that agenda by bringing together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to identify shared priorities, emerging gaps, and actionable pathways for strengthening school leadership across diverse African contexts. “The 39 researchers we are supporting in Cohort 1 are part of a growing movement to build a sustainable and policy-responsive research infrastructure that Africa owns and drives.”
Research findings will be shared through relevant government forums, national and international education conferences, peer-reviewed publications, and digital platforms — ensuring that evidence reaches not only academic audiences but also the ministries, communities and schools it is intended to serve.