NAIROBI, 14th October 2026 – The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) has launched a Research Community of Learning (CoL), a continental platform to connect African school leadership researchers with the policymakers and practitioners who put evidence to use. The community was introduced at its inaugural webinar on 6 October 2026, which brought together researchers, school leaders, policymakers, practitioners and education partners. Its WhatsApp platform already has more than 500 members from diverse African countries, institutions and professional backgrounds.
The webinar explored how research, African philosophies and indigenous knowledge systems can shape school leadership policy and practice that reflects the realities of African education systems. Opening the session, Head of Research at ACSL, Dr Edmund Aalangdong said the aim is evidence that is used, not just published.
“We do not want to generate research that remains on the shelves. We want African-led evidence that informs policy decisions, strengthens professional development, improves school leadership practices, advances gender equality and inclusion,” he said.
He added that the Community of Learning is meant to be more than a network or a series of webinars: a sustained, African-led platform where researchers, policymakers, practitioners and partners exchange knowledge, collaborate and learn from one another.
ACSL Research Officer, Stephen Acquah explained that the community grew out of the need to bring African school leadership researchers together to address identified knowledge gaps.
“The Community of Learning is intended to provide a continental space for researchers, practitioners and policymakers to connect, share resources, exchange ideas and develop professional relationships. It will also create opportunities for mentorship, peer feedback, research methods support and research clinics to strengthen the quality of research produced by African scholars,” Acquah said.
That emphasis on African-produced scholarship carried into the session’s substantive discussion, which examined how African philosophies, values and lived experiences can inform leadership approaches grounded in local contexts. Presenting on the topic; Afrocentric philosophies and school leadership research, Prof Frederick Ebot of the University of Buea (Cameroon) urged researchers to draw on African theories.
“If you are here and you are a professor supporting students with their research, we should be able to use our own theories. If we start using our own philosophies, our own theories, I think it will take us a long way. Only we can bring it in front of our students. If we don’t encourage them, they will continue using European philosophies,” he said.
The inaugural webinar is the start of ongoing engagement, with the community’s work extending beyond individual events. In her closing remarks, Director of Research and Programme Delivery at ESSA, Dr Leila Abdullahi said the growing membership has the potential to strengthen African-led research.
“Our collective expertise, experience, and network have tremendous potential to strengthen African-led research and school leadership,” she said.
She pointed to members’ willingness to learn, share knowledge and engage in peer-to-peer exchange as the foundation for the community’s development. Participants were encouraged to share useful resources, offer mentorship, propose learning activities and raise policy and practice questions for research discussions.
On this World Teachers’ Day, the African Centre for School Leadership stands in solidarity with the teachers of Africa. Every day, in crowded classrooms, with limited resources and through demanding curriculum reforms, they give young people a real chance to learn, to work and to lead. We honour that commitment.
We also restate the conviction that drives our work: teachers do their best work in schools that are well led. A head of school who listens, gives professional guidance, protects time for teaching and opens space for participation shapes whether teachers feel valued, grow in their practice and stay in the profession. Collaboration among teachers does not happen by chance. It is led.
That is why, on a day dedicated to teachers, ACSL speaks about school leaders. Investing in the people who lead schools is one of the most direct ways to invest in the people who teach in them.
Strengthening school leadership across Africa
ACSL is a coalition coordinated by ADEA, ESSA, FAWE and VVOB, working with governments, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, to build school leadership systems that improve teaching and learning. Across the continent, that work is already delivering:
Evidence on where systems stand. With ministries of education and Leaders in Teaching (LiT) partners, ACSL has completed national school leadership mappings in Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and at the continental level, giving governments a clear picture of gaps in policy, professional development, research and coordination, and a roadmap to close them.
African-led research. Through our Research Grants Programme, ACSL has awarded 39 research grants to researchers in 14 African countries, building evidence on what effective school leadership looks like in African schools. A second cohort is now in progress.
Stronger providers of professional development. ACSL works with the institutions that prepare and train school leaders, strengthening how they design and deliver blended, practice-based programmes so that support reaches leaders at scale.
Providing policy and professional development support for school leadership. This is through our engagments with country-level and continental partners including reviewing and updating the continental school leadership policy framework.
Continued support to Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana. Building on ACSL’s foundation phase in these three countries, the Centre continues to accompany national efforts [e.g. supporting the Rwanda Basic Education Board on a national CPD framework for school leaders; and extending technial support to Kenya, through the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI).
Tanzania: school leadership at national scale
In Tanzania, ACSL leads the LEAD component of the Leaders in Teaching initiative (LiT-LEAD), working with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM). This is where our continental commitments become concrete for teachers.
Building leadership capacity nationwide. In August 2025, ADEM and ACSL signed a partnership to deliver a certified blended leadership programme. Launched in Mwanza in May 2026, it will train 16,000 heads of school, deputy heads and Ward Education Officers over five years, reaching about 6,000 secondary schools on the Mainland and in Zanzibar. Its focus is instructional leadership, coaching and mentoring: the skills leaders need to support teachers through competency-based curriculum reform.
Training the trainers. ACSL is strengthening ADEM’s capacity to design and facilitate blended professional development, so that quality leadership training becomes part of the national system, not a one-off project.
Tanzanian evidence for Tanzanian decisions. ACSL is supporting a national research agenda on school leadership, and Tanzanian researchers are among the recipients of ACSL school leadership research grants.
A sector that works together. At Tanzania’s School Leadership Engagement Week in Dar es Salaam in July 2026, more than 100 stakeholders from Tanzania, Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda took stock of the evidence. One concrete result: a School Leadership Sector Coordination Working Group, with ADEM as its secretariat.
Policy that recognises the role. ACSL is supporting the development of a contextualised school leadership policy framework, including gender-responsive guidance on appointment and career progression, so that more women can lead.
What Tanzania’s school leaders are showing us
The leaders we work with already know what support for teachers looks like. For one head of school, it starts with listening:
“I listen to and consider the needs, experiences and challenges of teachers by meeting them individually, listening to their challenges and seeking solutions without discrimination based on age, gender or experience.” — Fadhili Nko, Head of School, Kyaka Secondary School, Missenyi District, Kagera
Another helped a struggling Geography teacher make lessons work without buying materials:
“I was able to help the teacher develop their capacity using real objects from the environment they work in instead of relying on materials bought from shops.” — Audax Mutungwa, Head of School, Mutukula Secondary School, Kagera
A third leader guided a teacher away from punishing learners with a stick. Students re-engaged, and results improved. None of this required new budgets. It required leaders with the skills, time and confidence to coach.
Yet research in Tanzania points to real gaps in leadership and management skills among heads and deputies, limited involvement in teachers’ professional development, and heavy administrative workloads that crowd out instructional leadership. One leader put the need plainly:
“When a school head is appointed, they should receive leadership training before beginning their leadership responsibilities.”
Our commitment
On this World Teachers’ Day, ACSL renews its commitment to teachers by committing to the leaders who support them. We call on governments and partners to treat school leadership as a core part of every teacher agenda: clear professional standards, structured and certified professional development, fair and gender-responsive career pathways, and systems that free leaders to focus on teaching and learning.
To every teacher across Africa: thank you. We will keep working so that every one of you is led by someone equipped to support you.
About ACSL
The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is a coalition of partners coordinated by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and VVOB – education for development. Working in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, ACSL collaborates with governments to strengthen school leadership systems that enhance teaching, learning and student well-being across Africa.
The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is supporting the implementation of the LEAD pillar of the Leaders in Teaching (LiT) initiative in Tanzania, under the coordination of VVOB. The LiT-LEAD initiative is expected to strengthen the capacity of school leaders across Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. The initiative is being delivered by the Agency for the Development of Educational Management in Tanzania (ADEM) under Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), coordinated with PO-RALG on the Mainland and MoEVT in Zanzibar, with the ACSL partner consortium, comprising ADEA, VVOB, ESSA and FAWE, providing technical support in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
Rationale for the Explainer Series
The Explainer Series is conceived as a set of short form video materials that will help improve awareness, understanding and insights on the ACSL LiT-LEAD initiative. They will define the expected beneficiaries, the intended outcome and how the collaboration is expected to drive change and improve learning outcomes in the secondary education context in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
The video materials will build a visual record of the programme as it moves from design into active delivery. The series serves four purposes: drive public awareness; establish accountability; and build a continental case for further investment in school leadership, as a tool to enhance secondary education outcomes. Through this effort, ACSL will also build a visual evidence of the programme’s early engagement and efforts.
This Terms of Reference scopes eight core videos plus a flexible ‘Voices from the Field’ series of additional videos as a shoot list for a production agency. It states each video and the target audience. It also sequences production for ease of planning and delivery, and surfaces the compliance, safeguarding and government-clearance requirements necessary for seamless delivery.
Objectives of the assignment
Each video is tied to one of four objectives, collectively contributing to a defined purpose rather than a topic alone:
Public awareness and legitimacy — leverage the feedback and narration of school leaders and communities in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar to demonstrate how the initiative enhances schools, communities and learning outcomes.
Audience: The public, school leadership stakeholders, ACSL’s continental network.
Continental case-building — capture evidence and gender narratives ACSL can use in its school leadership advocacy beyond Tanzania.
Audience: ACSL leadership, continental partners.
External funder accountability — demonstrate to the Mastercard Foundation that the initiative is being delivered as designed and reaching its target schools and leaders, with credible evidence of results.
Audience: Mastercard Foundation, ACSL leadership.
Government advocacy — position ACSL’s technical support as reinforcing, not replacing, government ownership of the initiative, to support institutionalization in government education ministries.
Audience: MoEST, PO-RALG, MoEVT, other African Ministries of Education.
Language. The assignment covers English and Kiswahili. Most interview subjects — school leaders including head teachers and their deputies, teacher-leaders, parents, community members — will likely speak Kiswahili; any content captured in Kiswahili must have English subtitles inserted during post-production. English-language content should stand as delivered.
Distribution channels: ACSL website and program pages, YouTube and social platforms, Mastercard Foundation reports, screenings at national and regional and continental conference on school leadership.
Scope of work and deliverables
This engagement covers eight core explainer videos plus Video 9, ‘Voices from the Field’ — up to five additional videos tied to Cohort 2 of the LiT-LEAD school leadership professional development providers training in Tanzania. Each video’s working title, target duration, core objective, primary audience and production notes are set out in the table below:
Video
Duration
Core objective
Primary audience
Notes
1. Introducing ACSL-LiT-LEAD in Tanzania
2:30–3:00
Donor accountability + Government advocacy
MCF, government, general public
Framing sign-off required first
2. Strengthening School Leadership in Tanzania
2:45–3:00
Donor accountability (evidence case)
MCF, policy audiences
—
3. Leading a Tanzanian Secondary School
~90 sec
Public awareness
General public, sector stakeholders
From the voices of school leaders in their environment
Cohort 2 beneficiary feedback; schedule and regions to be confirmed.
Shot-level content, speakers and footage for each video are outlined in the original creative brief, which the intending applicants will receive alongside the Terms of Reference.
Duration and timeline
The engagement covers scripting, production and post-production of the videos above. Target completion date is 31 January 2027. Successful agencies should propose a detailed schedule from contract signature to final delivery, building in review checkpoints and branding sign-off as agreed with ACSL at contract signature. Videos are expected to be delivered as they become ready, and not wait until the deadline.
Qualifications and selection criteria
Eligibility (mandatory). ACSL is looking for qualified creative agencies to deliver this assignment, not just a videographer. The agency must be legally registered and operating in Tanzania (Mainland or Zanzibar). A Tanzania-registered branch or local partner of an international firm qualifies. Companies who do not meet this requirement will not be shortlisted.
Agencies responding to this ToR should demonstrate:
Experience producing documentary-style or explainer video content for education, development, or external-funded programs in Africa.
Experience filming in school environments, including documented child safeguarding protocols and consent procedures.
Capacity to manage simultaneous multi-region production logistics within Tanzania, including Zanzibar/Unguja, within the proposed timeline.
Production and post-production capability in both Kiswahili and English, including subtitling.
A portfolio of at least five comparable productions, with samples, including at least one produced for a government agency (mandatory). Portfolio work in the education sector is preferred, and work produced specifically for a government education agency is preferred most.
In addition, they should provide information about their production team (director, camera, editor, local producer/fixer), with CVs, and at least one reference from a prior institutional or funding client.
Compliance and safeguarding requirements
Beneficiary consent. The selected agency is responsible for securing documented consent (signed consent/media release forms) from every individual who appears on camera or is recorded — including parents/guardians and school administration for any student in identifiable footage, and each other featured speaker or participant (head teachers, teachers, community members, research grantees, government officials). Consent must be obtained before filming and must cover the intended use and distribution channels of the footage. Signed consent forms are a deliverable: they must be submitted to ACSL alongside the raw and edited footage, and their absence is grounds to withhold payment for that footage. The successful agency is expected to submit a sample consent form alongside the workplan for review and sign off.
Child safeguarding. Videos 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9 could feature students, classrooms or school assemblies on camera. Minors – persons under 18 years – may appear identifiably on camera, provided authorization is secured from a parent or guardian, another responsible adult, or the relevant institution (the school) — in addition to the signed consent required from every person appearing.
Government filming clearance. Videos 1, 5 and 8 may require filming permission from MoEST, PO-RALG and, separately, MoEVT for Zanzibar (a distinct jurisdiction with its own clearance process). The selected agency is expected to work with the ACSL Tanzania team to process these permits before filming starts. It needs to be built into the lead time for work planning.
Government framing. Videos should be framed as government-facing explainers, with the delivering Ministry positioned as the visible lead and funder/coalition support framed underneath — not the reverse.
Intellectual property. All final video products, raw footage, project files, graphics, animations and other commissioned production assets shall be delivered to ACSL and licensed/transferred for unrestricted institutional, advocacy, communications, digital, broadcast, reporting and archival use. They are considered the intellectual propert of the African Centre for School Leadership. Nothing in this Terms of Reference should be construed to imply liability to ACSL or its partnership with ADEM, MoEST, MoEVT or the Mastercard Foundation.
Reporting arrangements
The selected agency reports to Chinedu Anarado, ACSL Communications and Advocacy Lead, with supervision from Tausi Kiggula, ACSL Communications and Advocacy Officer. Oversight responsibility is envisaged from the LiT-LEAD National Programme Manager who will review and approve scripts, approve final cuts, logo placements and attributions.
Budget and payment terms
Interested agencies should propose a budget for the delivery of the assignment. This should include relevant fees to cover all aspects of the assignment such as transportation, equipment rental where necessary, professional fees etc. Please note that budget/pricing carries some weighting in the selection process. Agencies are encouraged to be as competitive as possible in their pricing, without compromising technical capacity. Proposals must also include a detailed cost breakdown.
Submission requirements
Interested agencies should submit in one folder:
A technical proposal setting out the creative approach for the full video slate, including a proposed visual identity linking the series.
A production timeline from contract signature to final delivery, phased as set out above.
A portfolio of at least five comparable productions, with samples, including at least one produced for a government agency.
A named production team and CVs.
A financial proposal with a cost breakdown by phase and video, and a proposed payment schedule.
At least one institutional or external funder-client reference.
Proposals should be submitted by midnight GMT, 10th October 2026 to adea-applications@afdb.org with the subject: ACSL LiT-LEAD Explainer Video Proposal. Any submission beyond this deadline will be screened out.
Nairobi, Kenya, 28 August 2026 – EAC Member States are placing transformational school leadership more explicit on the regional education agenda, with education leaders emphasising the importance of more relevant school leadership policies, professional development, evidence-informed decision-making and accountability to improve both teaching practices and learning outcomes.
The message emerged at the 2nd East African Community (EAC) Regional Education Conference, held in Nairobi from 25 to 28 August 2026 under the theme “From Commitments to Impact: Fostering Resilient and Future-Ready Systems for Sustainable Development.” The conference brought together more than 600 education leaders, policymakers and stakeholders from the eight EAC Partner States – Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda – to share evidence and practical approaches for strengthening education systems across the region.
School leadership featured prominently in the discussions, including through research examining how leadership, evidence and accountability can contribute to school and system improvements. This reflected a growing focus on what is required to translate regional education commitments into effective action at school level. The Nairobi conference built on the commitments and priorities emerging from the inaugural EAC Regional Education Conference held in Arusha in August 2024, while placing greater emphasis on implementation, accountability and measurable results.
The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) contributed to this dialogue through research on the role of school leadership in using evidence to strengthen teaching and learning. The paper, titled “Reclaiming Data for Learning through School Leadership in Tanzania and Uganda,” was presented under the conference’s data-driven decision-making sub-theme and examined how school leaders generate, interpret and use data to support school improvement.
The research highlights the importance of strengthening school leaders’ capacity to move beyond collecting and reporting data towards using evidence to identify challenges, inform decisions and improve teaching and learning. It also points to the organisational and system-level conditions that can either enable or constrain evidence-informed leadership.
The discussion was complemented by “Strengthening Standards-Based Accountability in School Leadership: Comparative Evidence from East African Community Member States.” Presented in the session on school leadership, accountability and system improvement, the paper examined standards-based accountability as part of efforts to strengthen school leadership and improve education systems across EAC Member States.
Together, the research contributions reinforced the importance of connecting school leadership, evidence and accountability. In fact, effective school leadership requires not only access to information, but also the capacity, professional support and enabling systems needed to turn that information into meaningful actions.
The discussion also drew on emerging country-level evidence from Tanzania and Uganda. In Tanzania, the National School Leadership Mapping Report, disseminated in July 2026 by the Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM) in collaboration with ACSL, highlighted the need to strengthen instructional leadership and professional development while improving coordination across the school leadership ecosystem. Evidence from Uganda similarly points to the need to use school-level data for school improvement rather than only for reporting.
These priorities align with the conference’s preliminary communiqué, in which Member States committed to enhancing transformational school leadership alongside stronger teacher recruitment, retention and continuous professional development. The communiqué also calls for professional development to focus increasingly on sustained, school-based coaching, mentorship and reflective practice, with technology supporting coaching and peer learning for in-service teachers.
The importance of investing in teachers and school leaders together was underscored by Hon. Khamis Abdulla Said, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT), Zanzibar:
“We need to invest in teachers before they engage with students. The regional bloc should focus more on promoting the learning of our teachers and school leaders. By 2028, we expect teachers and school leaders to be able to point to the practical benefits of learning and collaboration.”
The emphasis on professional learning reflects the close relationship between teaching and school leadership. School leaders help create the conditions in which teachers can collaborate, reflect on practice, use evidence and continuously strengthen their work.
The conference also placed these priorities within a broader focus on implementation and accountability. Discussions included strengthening evidence ecosystems, improving data use and translating evidence into action. The preliminary communiqué calls for stronger use of data and evidence in decision-making, and for commitments to be carried from national to subnational and community levels.
Progress towards 2028 will be tracked through an accountability framework setting out regional and country-owned priorities, targets and milestones.
The Nairobi conference provided an opportunity to bring research and country-level evidence into a regional policy dialogue on strengthening school leadership, professional learning, evidence use and accountability.
As East Africa moves from commitments to actions and impact, ensuring that school leaders are equipped, supported and made accountable for leading learning and using evidence effectively will be critical to turning regional ambition into meaningful improvement for schools and learners.
On 24 August 2026, the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) convened a meeting with key partners to review its Continental Framework for School Leadership Policy Development, designed to guide policymakers in strengthening school leadership in their respective countries. The discussions focused on the framework’s relevance to African education systems, its alignment with existing continental frameworks, and how it can be translated into effective policy implementation at country level.
Developed in 2024, the framework provides an inspirational reference tool for policymakers and other education stakeholders across Africa seeking to strengthen effective school leadership through policy development and implementation. It addresses the conceptualization of school leadership in the African context, leadership roles and competencies, career pathways, recruitment, preparation, licensing and professional development.
Senior officials who participated in this initial session, alongside ACSL representatives, included: Dr. Maurice Odondo, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), Prof. George K.T. Oduro, Advisor to the Minister of Education in Ghana, Dr. Mugenyi Cleophus, Commissioner for Basic Education at the Ministry of Education and Sports; Dr. Maulid J. Maulid, Chief Executive of the Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM), Prof. Steve Chidi Nwokeocha, Executive Director of the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA), Abuja, and Prof. Michael Boakye-Yiadom from the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
An African perspective on school leadership
The main objective of the review was to ensure that the framework reflects the realities, values and diversity of African education systems. This means moving beyond generic descriptions of effective leadership to considering what school leadership means in practice in the African context: the behaviours, values and principles as well as the practices that enable school leaders to work with teachers, learners, communities and education authorities.
Participants considered how concepts such as “Ubuntu” can inform the understanding of effective school leadership, while avoiding the assumption that there is a single model of “African leadership”. The aim being to have a framework that offers a meaningful continental reference while allowing countries to adapt it to their own contexts.
Building on what already exists
Policy coherence emerged as a key message. Participants emphasized that improving school leadership policy should not mean creating new frameworks in isolation but connecting and making better use of the continental instruments and evidence already available. These include existing African Union instruments addressing standards and competencies, school leadership development initiatives, and continental guidance for education systems.
Prof. Steve Chidi Nwokeocha, noted that only around 10% of frameworks developed on teachers and school-level education have been communicated, underlining the need to make greater use of what already exists.
“The African Union guidelines have been in place since 2019, yet they have not been communicated to the people expected to use them. We should build on the existing African Union guidance at school level, strengthen alignment and make better use of the evidence that is already available.”
— Prof. Steve Chidi Nwokeocha
Closer alignment can reduce duplication and give countries clearer guidance, positioning the revised framework as a bridge between continental guidance and national implementation rather than a parallel policy architecture.
From competencies to professional pathways
The review examined how school leadership can be positioned as a distinct professional pathway rather than an extension of the teaching profession. This calls for greater clarity on the minimum requirements, recruitment, preparation, competency assessment, certification, licensing and career progression.
Participants highlighted the need for pathways through which teachers can prepare for leadership responsibilities before taking up school leadership positions, with continuous professional development once they are in post. Effective school leadership requires more than teaching experience alone: school leaders need specific knowledge, competencies and professional support to lead teaching and learning, manage people and resources, engage communities, navigate change and respond to challenges within their schools.
Removing gender barriers in school leadership
Removing the barriers that limit women’s progression into school leadership was identified as an area requiring stronger and more actionable attention within the framework. Women make significant contributions to education systems across Africa, yet their representation in school leadership remains uneven.
The review considered how policy can move beyond recognising disparities to removing the barriers that produce them, through practical measures in recruitment, preparation, career progression and the institutional conditions that enable women to enter and remain in school leadership. Discussions also pointed to the historical and structural factors that continue to shape education leadership in different African contexts, including the legacy of colonial education systems.
From framework to implementation
Participants stressed that a continental framework should offer practical value to countries rather than remain a high-level policy reference. The revised framework will therefore give greater attention to how policy commitments are translated into implementation through governance arrangements, partnerships, communication, resource mobilisation and monitoring.
This includes identifying the actors required to support school leadership, from ministries and education authorities to teacher training institutions, professional bodies, school leaders, teachers and communities, while remaining flexible enough to accommodate different education systems and levels of institutional capacity.
Next steps
ACSL will consolidate the feedback from the Nairobi discussions and finalize the draft framework. The next stage will involve engagement with selected continental and international partners through the “Strategic Thinking Team”, which includes African Union institutions and partners working on teacher development, school leadership and education policy, the organization of another physical workshop to further elaborate on the editorial aspects of the document and to provide additional technical perspectives before a continental level validation event.
The review forms part of ACSL’s wider effort to establish school leadership as a critical component of education system transformation. The ambition is not only to define what effective school leadership looks like, but to help African education systems build the policies, professional pathways and enabling conditions that allow school leaders to lead effectively and improve teaching, learning and learner outcomes.
Up to $15,000 for descriptive action research and up to $ 35,000 for comparative action research on school leadership
Are you passionate about generating evidence to strengthen school leadership and improve learning outcomes across Africa? The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, is offering grants for Descriptive and Comparative Action Research in Africa. The grants will support 23 researchers across the continent.
The grants aim to support rigorous, action-oriented research that addresses Africa’s school leadership challenges and contributes to national and continental education priorities. Researchers will work closely with policymakers, practitioners, school leaders, and implementing institutions to ensure that evidence informs policy, strengthens practice, and improves education systems.
Grants Overview
Application deadline: Wednesday, 30th September 2026, 11:59 pm GMT
Grant Type and Award:
Sixteen (16) Descriptive Action Research Grants worth up to USD 15,000 each for research conducted within a single educational context over 12 months.
Seven (7) Comparative Action Research Grants worth up to USD 35,000 each for research conducted across two or more educational contexts over 24 months.
Eligible countries: All African countries
Information Webinar
An information webinar for prospective applicants will be held on 20th August 2026 (12:00–1:30 pm GMT | 3:00–4:30 pm EAT) to provide guidance on the application process, eligibility criteria, and grant expectations.
Be a citizen of an African country, based in Africa, and research must focus on school leadership practice in one or multiple African countries.
The Principal Investigator must hold a Doctorate in Education, Educational Leadership, Educational Management, or a closely related field, earned within the past five (5) years.
Proposals must include multidisciplinary research teams of three to five members.
Research teams are strongly encouraged to promote team diversity by including female researchers, young researchers (under 35 years) and researchers with different education levels (bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees/candidates).
Proposals must adopt an action-research approach and demonstrate meaningful collaboration with practitioners and policymakers.
Cross-country collaborations and proposals addressing gender equality, disability inclusion, rural and underserved communities, and other marginalised groups are strongly encouraged.
Beyond receiving funding, successful researchers will join the School Leadership Communityof Learning and participate in the Blended Exchange and Learning Trajectory (BELT).
Join a growing community of African researchers generating evidence that strengthens school leadership policy and practice across the continent.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 24 July 2026 – The Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM) and the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) have delivered three interconnected milestones for school leadership reform in Tanzania: new national evidence, a research agenda, and the establishment of a national School Leadership Task Force — strengthening the foundations of a coordinated, evidence-informed approach to improving education quality.
The milestones emerged during the Tanzania School Leadership Engagement Week, held from 14 to 16 July 2026 in Dar es Salaam. Organised by ADEM under the Leaders in Teaching (LiT-LEAD) initiative in partnership with ACSL, the Engagement Week brought together more than 120 policymakers, education leaders, researchers, universities, development partners and civil society organisations to align priorities for strengthening school leadership across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Opening the Engagement Week on behalf of the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Hon. Prof. Adolf Mkenda, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Carolyne Nombo, reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to school leadership as a key pillar of education reform.
“When we invest in school leadership, we invest in teachers. When we invest in teachers, we invest in learners. And when we invest in learners, we invest in the future of our country,” said Prof. Nombo.
The first milestone was the national dissemination of the Tanzania School Leadership Mapping Report and the School Leaders’ Training Needs Assessments for Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Together, the studies offer the most comprehensive assessment of school leadership in Tanzania to date, giving Government a robust evidence base for policy, leadership development and institutional coordination.
The findings informed high-level discussions involving the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), the Prime Minister’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG), the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) Zanzibar, universities and development partners. Participants focused on turning the evidence into practical action: strengthening instructional leadership, expanding professional development, promoting gender-responsive leadership and improving coordination across the school leadership ecosystem.
The second milestone was the launch of the National School Leadership Research Agenda, a strategic framework to guide future research and strengthen the role of evidence in education policymaking. Participants also met and interacted with the inaugural cohort of ACSL School Leadership Research Grantees, whose studies will generate locally relevant evidence on instructional leadership, competency-based curriculum implementation, digital leadership, gender-responsive leadership, school-community partnerships and system leadership.
Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Tage Biswalo, a member of the ACSL Research Advisory Committee, urged researchers to embrace the principle of “For Us, By Us” — producing research that reflects Tanzania’s realities, responds to national priorities and supports evidence-informed decision-making.
The third milestone built on recommendations from the School Leadership Mapping Report, with participants shaping the approach to the functionality of a national School Leadership Task Force. The Task Force will serve as the national mechanism for coordinating school leadership work across the institutions responsible for it, strengthening collaboration, improving information sharing and better aligning investments, while remaining firmly anchored within Government systems.
Closing the Engagement Week, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Hussein Mohammed Omar, challenged stakeholders to sustain the momentum generated over the three days and to translate the commitments made into tangible action.
“First, let us move from dialogue to implementation. The recommendations we have agreed upon should not remain in reports. They must guide our future programmes, policies and investments,” said Dr. Omar.
The Engagement Week reinforced Tanzania’s commitment to a nationally led approach to school leadership reform, and demonstrated how Government, academia, researchers and development partners can work together to shape policy, strengthen institutions and generate locally grounded solutions for school leaders. The evidence and research generated in Tanzania will also contribute to the wider body of African knowledge on school leadership that ACSL is building with governments across the continent.
At UNESCO IIEP’s Strategic Debate, the African Centre for School Leadership contributed evidence from seven African countries to a global conversation on leadership as a driver of education transformation.
Paris, France, 30 June 2026 – As education systems around the world seek to translate ambitious policies into improved learning outcomes, strengthening leadership is emerging as the decisive link between policy and implementation. This message featured prominently at UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) Strategic Debate on Strengthening System Leadership for Implementation and Change, where the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) brought comparative findings from seven African countries into a global dialogue on how education systems can strengthen implementation and deliver meaningful change.
Drawing on comparative school leadership mapping across Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda, ACSL — represented at the debate by Mamadou Lamine Sow, Policy Strategic Advisor — highlighted a consistent finding: while many countries have established education policies and leadership frameworks, implementation continues to be constrained where leadership is developed through fragmented initiatives rather than coherent national systems that connect policy, institutions and practice.
Structured around four strategic questions, the debate explored how education systems can strengthen implementation, the competencies policymakers require to lead reform, the role of middle-tier leadership in driving improvement, and how leadership development can be sustained over time. Presenting findings from UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, its Director, Manos Antoninis, emphasised that effective implementation depends on strengthening leadership across every level of the education system, pointing to instructional leadership, stronger use of learning data, empowered middle-tier structures and sustained professional development as critical enablers of real gains in the classroom.
Regional perspectives from Latin America, East Asia and the Pacific reinforced these priorities, highlighting distributed leadership, stronger institutional capacity, collaborative decision-making, gender-responsive leadership and sustained investment in leaders’ growth. Sonia Parag, Minister of Education of Guyana, pointed to her country’s recent launch of the National Education Leadership Academy, established to strengthen the professional development of education leaders at every level, alongside an EMIS-linked leadership dashboard giving system and school leaders real-time data to guide decisions and target support where it is most needed.
These global priorities resonate strongly with ACSL’s evidence from across Africa. The mapping shows that school leaders are increasingly expected to improve teaching quality, support teachers, promote inclusion, engage communities, strengthen accountability and use evidence to drive school improvement. Yet these responsibilities are often not matched by coherent professional preparation, structured induction, continuous professional development or sustained institutional support — underlining why embedding leadership within education sector planning, human resource systems, inspection and accountability frameworks is essential to translating policy into improved learning outcomes.
“School leadership should not be viewed as an administrative function but as a strategic driver of education system transformation. When leadership standards, professional preparation, continuous development, evidence and accountability are aligned, countries are better positioned to translate policy ambition into meaningful improvements in teaching and learning,” said Mamadou Lamine Sow, ACSL Policy Strategic Advisor.
The debate demonstrated that Africa’s experience is increasingly informing global thinking on how stronger leadership can accelerate education transformation, and reaffirmed the value of nationally owned leadership systems that equip leaders at every level with the competencies, support and evidence needed to lead sustainable change. This aligns closely with the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2026–2035), which identifies effective leadership, institutional capacity and evidence-informed policymaking as essential to improving education quality across the continent.
It also builds on a deepening continental recognition of school leadership over the past year. The 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra placed school leadership among the pillars of education transformation. In April 2026, the 1st International Conference of the Kenya Education Management Institute in Nairobi convened ministers and senior technical officials around ACSL’s continental mapping findings, and the following month, ministers of education meeting in Gaborone under the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities committed in their communiqué to recognising school leadership as a distinct professional track. The IIEP Strategic Debate extends this momentum into a global policy planning forum.
The conversation does not end with global dialogue. In Tanzania, the upcoming Education Leadership Week will launch the country’s first School Leadership Mapping Report, coordinate national action on school leadership and build consensus on a shared reform agenda — demonstrating how evidence can move beyond dialogue to drive lasting education transformation.
Education systems across Sub-Saharan Africa are undergoing reforms to improve learning outcomes, teacher effectiveness, and system governance. School leadership has emerged as a critical lever for transformation, with strong evidence linking effective leadership to improve school performance and student achievement. Global evidence confirms that school leadership is the second most important factor for learning outcomes after teaching (OECD; World Bank).
However, policy design and implementation gaps continue to limit impact on scale. Evidence from global research demonstrates that reforms fail when policymakers lack applied system leadership capacity. Traditional training models are too theoretical and not embedded in real policy processes.
In its efforts to contribute to addressing this gap, the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is planning to develop and deliver a Blended Exchange and Learning Trajectory for policymakers, offering an opportunity to enhance long-term capacity about contextually relevant approaches to strengthening school leadership policy frameworks in order to improve teaching and learning outcomes.
The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is a pan-African initiative jointly coordinated by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), and VVOB – education for development. ACSL’s ambition is to build supportive school leadership systems that strengthen teaching and improve learning outcomes and well-being for all. To achieve its ambition, ACSL has conducted comprehensive school leadership mapping studies at continental and country levels, with the aim of developing a clear and shared understanding of school leadership systems, frameworks, and innovations across Africa. At country level, ACSL is active in eight countries: Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.
Evidence from these mappings highlight systemic challenges, including:
Weak and/or non-transparent leadership career pathways
Limited professional development for school leaders
Fragmented policy frameworks and implementation gaps
Gender disparities in leadership representation
Limited capacity of policymakers to translate evidence into reform
To address these challenges, there is a need for a structured, scalable, and practice-oriented capacity development and Afrocentric approach targeting education policymakers and system leaders.
2. Objectives of the consultancy
Overall Objective:
To develop the capacity of African education policymakers on strengthening school leadership for improved learning outcomes through a Blended Exchange Learning Trajectory (BELT).
Specific Objectives:
Develop content based on the priority areas from the ASCL continental and country mappings as well as previous work by VVOB and other development partners.
Develop course modules based on the content developed.
Test the modules with selected target countries.
3. Scope of Work
The selected service provider will be responsible for the developing the course content, designing the course modules for online and in-person delivery, and pilot testing and making relevant adjustments to the course modules of the blended learning trajectory.
3.1 Content Development Phase
Review ACSL–LIT–LEAD school leadership mapping reports and other relevant literature on the matter.
Identify capacity gaps and priorities in school leadership policy development in Africa.
Develop the course content based on the priorities and design a structured learning pathway that integrates comparative insights, and transformative and Afrocentric school leadership approaches – including Ubuntu, community-based governance, and equity-centered leadership
3.2 Module Design Phase
Design the online (asynchronous) and in-person learning modules
Design blended and interactive sessions (virtual and/or in-person)
Create policy labs and applied learning exercises where education policymakers can work on real reforms, produce actionable policy outputs, and receive expert coaching.
Develop knowledge products (guides, toolkits, case studies from the 5 ACSL mapped countries and the expanded countries)
Anchor all relevant products and documents on the designated ACSL/ LIT-LEAD initiative.
3.3 Pilot test delivery mode
Online:
60–70% online (self-paced modules).
30–40% synchronous sessions (virtual/in-person).
In Person Session: Convene a yearly 3-5 day continental in person seminar, where high level education Policymakers can exchange, learn and reflect on good practices (could be linked to a continental convening, where an in-person seminar can be held).
The program will target education policymakers and heads of relevant government agencies in selected countries:
Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Directors General of Education in selected countries.
CEOs of key government agencies and parastatals.
Estimated Cohort Size:
20–60 gender balanced participants across countries (indicative)
It is anticipated that the training will cover two cohorts per year (1 per semester starting in January 2027)
5. Institutionalization and Sustainability
The service provider should propose mechanisms to ensure sustainability. The proposed solutions should be adaptable across countries and compatible both with continental frameworks and government systems.
6. Key Deliverables and Milestones and schedule of payment:
This is a strictly performance-based contract and payment of fees is subject to the delivery of products and milestones as follows:
Duration: 6 months
Deliverable
Description
Timeline
Payment
Inception Report
Methodology, workplan, stakeholder engagement plan
15 days upon contract signature
20% of fees
Content development
Competency framework and content
1 Month
10% of fees
Draft Learning Modules
Course modules drafted.
3 Months
30% of fees
Configuration of the modules in the provided platform
LMS configuration
1 Month
10% of fees
Report of the Pilot Testing
Outcome of tested modules, used to make further adjustments
TBD
15% of fees
Final Report including the content development, module design, and platform configuration, testing, and adjustment
Presentation of products and deliverables
15 days
15% of fees
7. Key Partners and Institutions
The service provider is expected to collaborate with:
Ministries of Education and relevant government agencies in participating countries
Continental and regional education bodies and coordination mechanisms on school leadership (AU-ESTI, AU-CIEFFA, AFTRA, IIEP, RECs, etc.)
Development partners supporting school leadership reforms.
8. Required Experience and Capacity
Institutional Requirements:
Proven experience in education policy and school leadership reform.
At least 10 years of proven experience, working on education policy analysis and planning in different parts of Africa (Anglophone, Francophone in particular), especially in school leadership.
Experience in the development blended learning and digital education. Such as experience with respect to school leadership would ve add asset.
Technical Expertise:
Curriculum and instructional design
Education policy analysis and planning, with a bias on school leadership where possible.
Gender-responsive education
Monitoring and evaluation
Team Composition:
Submission should include team composition and roles.
9. Budget (Illustrative)
Cost Category
Estimated Cost (USD)
Content Development
Module Design & Curriculum Development
Platform Configuration, Testing
Total Estimated Budget
Note: Bidders must submit detailed and justified financial proposals
10. Evaluation Criteria
Criteria
Weight
Technical quality of proposal
35%
Relevant experience
20%
Team expertise
20%
Cost-effectiveness
15%
Afrocentric relevance
5%
Innovation in Learning design
5%
TOTAL
100%
11. Application and Selection Criteria
Interested consortia / firms should submit:
Technical proposal outlining approach, methodology, and workplan.
Relevant organisational and team composition, expected roles, experience.
Financial proposal (detailed budget)
Samples of similar assignments and evaluation reports.
Selection will be based on technical quality, relevance of experience, methodological robustness, and value for money.
12. Expected Start Date
The institution/consortium engagement is expected to commence in September 2026, subject to contracting and finalisation of scope.
13. How to apply
Interested applicants should submit their proposals to ADEA-APPLICATIONS@AFDB.ORG no later than 4 September 2026, at midnight.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,8July 2026 – Tanzania will host its first School Leadership Engagement Week from 14 -16 July 2026, bringing together policymakers, education leaders, researchers, development partners and practitioners to align national priorities for school leadership development leadership development and advance evidence-informed reforms across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The engagement week will be opened by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Carolyne Nombo, and will conclude with a closing ceremony officiated by the Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Hon. Prof. Adolf Mkenda, reflecting the Government’s commitment to strengthening school leadership as a key driver of improved teaching and learning, school performance and learning outcomes.
Organised by the Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM) in partnership with the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) under the LEAD pillar of the Leaders in Teaching (LiT-LEAD) initiative in Tanzania, the week reflects a shared commitment to strengthen the system that enables school leaders to strategically guide their schools, lead teaching and learning and act as catalysts for improved school performance and students’ learning outcomes.
Over three days, policymakers, education leaders, researchers and practitioners will work together to strengthen collaboration, build consensus around national priorities and promote evidence-informed decision-making. The week will deliver three major national outcomes:
Establish national school leadership coordination mechanisms for both Mainland and Zanzibar;
Focus on School Leadership Research Grants and;
Disseminate school leadership mapping exercise and Training Needs Assessment (TNA) key findings.
ADEM and ACSL will disseminate the Tanzania School Leadership Mapping Report, providing the country’s first comprehensive evidence-based exercise on school leadership policies, governance arrangements, professional development, research and sector coordination to inform future reforms. This will be followed by the inauguration of the National School Leadership Sector Coordination Task Force, creating a national mechanism to strengthen collaboration and align efforts across institutions responsible for school leadership in the country. In addition, the week will launch the National School Leadership Research Agenda and validate 14 Tanzanian research proposals supported through the ACSL School Leadership Research Grants Programme, reinforcing the role of locally generated evidence in shaping future policy and practice.
“School Leadership Engagement Week reflects Tanzania’s commitment to strengthening school leadership as a driver of improved teaching and learning,” said Dr. Maulid J. Maulid, Chief Executive of ADEM. “By bringing together policymakers, researchers and practitioners, we are creating a shared platform to align priorities, strengthen collaboration and build the systems needed to support effective school leadership across the country.”
School Leadership Engagement Week marks another milestone in the implementation of the LiT-LEAD initiative, delivered by ADEM with support from ACSL, to strengthen school leadership across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. Since its launch, the programme has rolled out professional development for 611 secondary school head teachers and deputy head teachers in the Lake Zone Region s and is expected to reach 12,000 school leaders, with the potential to improve learning outcomes for more than 2.8 million learners.
The priorities and commitments emerging from the week are expected to inform policy reforms, strengthen institutional coordination and shape professional development and research, laying the foundation for a more coherent and effective school leadership system in Tanzania.
About the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL)
The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) is a Pan-African coalition comprising the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and VVOB – education for development. In partnership with the MasterCard Foundation, the coalition works with governments and education stakeholders across Africa to strengthen school leadership through policy development, professional learning and research.
About the Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM)
The Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM) is an Executive Agency inaugurated under the Executive Agencies Act, Cap.245. ADEM is mandated to improve education management in Tanzania through the provision of training, research and consultancy services.
Media Contact
Tausi Kiggula, Advocacy and Communications Officer, ACSL Tanzania T.KIGGULA@afdb.org +255 786911080
Babu Joseph, Communications Officer, ADEM Tanzania +255 623763010
The African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL), UNESCO IIEP, and the Learning Generation Initiative (LGI) of the Education Development Center (EDC) co-hosted Working Group 4 on School Leadership and Teacher Professional Development at the 2026 Yidan Prize Conference in Dakar, Senegal, on 30th June 2026. The session brought together policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to examine what it takes to move school leadership and teacher development from isolated interventions to sustainable, system-wide change across Africa.
Opening the session, Albert Nsengiyumva, Executive Secretary of ADEA and co-host representing ACSL, framed the central challenge directly: “Why do good policies so rarely make it into classrooms?” He situated the working group within the accountability agenda established at the 2025 ADEA Triennale in Accra — where African governments committed to a decade of implementation, not more frameworks — and argued that the answer to the implementation gap lives in two places: the quality of the person leading the school, and the quality of support available to the teachers inside it.
He drew on ACSL’s recently completed continental mapping of school leadership — the most comprehensive evidence synthesis conducted at this scale — to ground the discussion. Among its most striking findings: 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 that governments are making consequential decisions about leadership policy in a near-vacuum of relevant evidence. ACSL’s response has been concrete: USD 865,000 committed to 39 research grantees across 14 countries, organised around eight thematic priorities including leadership preparation pathways, gender equity in leadership, and school leadership in crisis contexts.
The first panel, moderated by Chinedu Anarado, ACSL Strategic Advocacy and Communication Advisor, drew insights Jihane Lamoure of UNESCO IIEP, Dr. Michael Boakye Yiadom of the Institute of Education Planning and Administration (IEPA) in Ghana and Jocelyn Cirezi, ACSL Strategic Education Advisor. The discussion converged on a distinction that ran through the entire session: Africa does not have a shortage of school leadership training programmes. It has a shortage of school leadership systems. Panelists identified the critical difference — programmes end when funding cycles close; systems endure because they are embedded in national policy, ministry structures, career pathways, and domestic budgets. Key priorities included developing clear competency frameworks and career pathways for school leaders; institutionalising coaching and mentoring through district and sector structures rather than as project add-ons; ensuring appointments to school leadership roles are based on demonstrated competencies rather than seniority; and investing in monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems that generate evidence policymakers can act on. The panel also stressed that leadership development must embed principles of inclusion and equity from the outset — including gender-responsive leadership and attention to the needs of diverse and underserved contexts.
The second panel, moderated by Olawale Samuel of EDC, featured Patrick Nkenge, Deputy Team Lead from the Regional Teacher Initative in Africa (RTIA), Deborah Kimathi of the Learning Generation Initiative and Youssouf Ouattara, Officer in Charge of the Teaching and Learning Cluster, Education Sector, UNESCO Regional Office for West Africa. The discussion centred on a recurring failure in teacher professional development across the continent: programmes designed without teachers, without alignment to classroom realities, and without the involvement of middle-tier structures do not scale — and do not last. Panelists called for co-construction of TPD programmes through inclusive partnerships involving governments, teacher education institutions, schools, researchers, development partners, and teachers themselves. Strengthening district and regional structures as the engine of TPD coordination, mentoring, and monitoring emerged as a critical enabling condition, alongside the systematic use of data to identify and target actual teacher needs rather than delivering standardised programmes regardless of context.
Across both panels, one conviction held: school leadership and teacher professional development must be treated as strategic national investments embedded in ministry systems and domestic budgets — not as donor-funded initiatives with a project end date. The two themes are not separate policy levers. A teacher’s classroom practice is shaped by the quality of leadership around them. A school leader’s impact on learning outcomes is mediated entirely by how well they support, develop, and challenge the teachers in their school. Investment in one without the other leaves the system incomplete.
The outcomes of Working Group 4 feed directly into the continental school leadership agenda that ACSL — through its consortium partners ADEA, VVOB, ESSA, and FAWE — is advancing across Africa. A full summary of the session’s findings and recommendations were shared in plenary. The conversation continues at FLEX 2026 in Lilongwe, where peer accountability on education commitments moves from aspiration to scorecard.
Mwanza, Tanzania, 28 May 2026 — The Agency for the Development of Educational Management (ADEM) and the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) on Thursday May 28th, delivered three interconnected milestones, including the official launch of the LiT-LEAD Programme for Tanzania, the commencement of school leadership training with regional and District Education Officers from six Lake Zone regions and the introduction of the school leadership training manual that will underpin the training programme. Together, these three outputs represent Tanzania’s most comprehensive single-day investment in school leadership development, and a concrete demonstration that the country is poised to build a solid school leadership system.
Implemented through a partnership between ACSL and ADEM under the Leaders in Teaching (LiT-LEAD) initiative, the LiT-LEAD programme will train 12,000 secondary school head teachers and deputy head teachers across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, improving learning outcomes for more than 2.8 million learners.
The launch was officiated by Prof. Carolyne Nombo, Permanent Secretary in Tanzania’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and brought together representatives from government institutions, development partners, faith-based organisations, civil society, and secondary school students — a reflection of the broad national ownership the programme has earned before its first cohort completes training.
In her remarks to launch the programme, Prof. Nombo set the standard the programme is designed to meet: “It is essential for school leaders to have the ability to manage their institutions with efficiency, accountability and academic integrity to ensure that every learner has access to quality education and improved learning outcomes.”
The training programme will combine face-to-face and online learning, equipping school leaders with practical skills in instructional coaching, school improvement planning, and evidence-based leadership. Crucially, it is not a standalone initiative. Through a Memorandum of Understanding signed between VVOB — under the ACSL partnership — and ADEM in May 2025, the programme is formally embedded in ADEM’s national professional development portfolio and aligned with leadership appointment standards. Certified school leadership training will become a permanent part of how Tanzania selects, prepares, and recognises its secondary school leaders — independent of any single project cycle.
The launch comes at a pivotal moment for Tanzania’s education reform agenda. As the country advances competency-based curriculum reforms placing learner-centred teaching and critical thinking at the heart of classroom practice, effective school leadership has been identified not as an administrative function but as the primary driver of whether reform reaches learners. LiT-LEAD is Tanzania’s institutional response to that recognition.
For ACSL, the launch represents the kind of systems-strengthening outcome its continental mandate is built on. But for ADEM, it reflect the sort of partnership the agency craves, to ensure it can achieve its mandate to Tanzanians. “This partnership marks a significant step forward in our national efforts to professionalise school leadership,” said Dr. Maulid J. Maulid, Chief Executive of ADEM. “By providing structured, high-quality training aligned with national priorities, we are laying a foundation for sustainable improvements in teaching and learning.”
Alongside the programme, ACSL officially launched the school leadership training manual — the curriculum resource developed by ACSL to drive the LiT-LEAD training across Tanzania. The manual provides school leaders with a structured, evidence-based learning pathway covering instructional leadership, school improvement planning, professional learning communities, and leadership within the context of Tanzania’s competency-based curriculum reforms.
The manual is an ACSL intellectual product — designed to be contextualised for Tanzania while drawing on the comparative school leadership evidence that ACSL has generated across multiple African countries through its continental mapping exercises. It will serve as the primary training resource for the 12,000 school leaders the programme will reach, and as a lasting curriculum asset within ADEM’s professional development system beyond the LiT-LEAD programme itself.
Its launch on the same day as the programme’s formal inauguration is significant: the curriculum and the system that will deliver it are being introduced together, signalling that Tanzania is not waiting for infrastructure to catch up with ambition.
Within hours of the launch ceremony, the transition from launch to implementation began. ACSL and ADEM convened Regional Education Officers and District Education Officers from six Lake Zone regions — Mwanza, Shinyanga, Simiyu, Mara, Geita, and Kagera — for the first formal training session under the LiT-LEAD Programme.
As the first regions to implement the programme, the Lake Zone cohort will generate early evidence on delivery modalities, participant uptake, and system readiness that will directly shape the national rollout across all regions of Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. The sequencing is intentional: by beginning in the Lake Zone before scaling nationally, LiT-LEAD builds in the learning loop that large-scale education programmes so often skip.
With 12,000 school leaders to be reached and more than 2.8 million learners standing to benefit, LiT-LEAD is among the most ambitious school leadership programmes on the African continent, and Tanzania’s most significant investment in school leadership to date. It contributes to a growing continental movement — one that ACSL is helping to lead — to reposition school leadership as a professional field with its own preparation standards, career pathways, and accountability systems. This shift is being built — in Tanzania, by Tanzanians, with the technical partnership of ACSL and the institutional commitment of ADEM. The programme, the curriculum, and the first trained cohort now exist. The work of reaching 12,000 leaders has begun.
