Four projects receive support to strengthen higher education and research

59 million children do not have access to basic education and 781 million adults in the world are illiterate because they never received education.

The Norwegian Government seeks to strengthen efforts in the field of education in developing countries. In October 2015, Norad issued a call for applications under the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED).

University partnerships were invited to submit applications. The call received 21 applications. Norad has now finalized the selection.

- We expect the projects to strengthen the research and teaching capacity regarding education in the countries concerned, says Kårstein Måseide, Head of Norad’s Section for Research, Innovation and Higher Education.

Pedagogy and teachers

Good teachers are essential for well-developed education.

Projects focusing on early grades of primary school were of particular interest in the call for 2016-2021. The topic of teacher education with an emphasis on pedagogy, innovative pedagogical approaches and teacher-pupil relations had a special priority.

- We expect the projects to provide important results for the NORHED program, and to strengthen academic partnerships between higher education institutions in Norway and the countries of cooperation, says Måseide.

The focus of the call was quality improvement for primary and lower secondary education. The target countries for the call were those identified as priorities for development cooperation within education: Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Niger, and South Sudan.

The selection process

Norad received 21 applications in total. Seven of them were ineligible on formal grounds.

A committee of independent experts evaluated the remaining 14 applications. The committee received inputs on particular criteria from Norad and Norwegian Embassies.

- Four of the 14 eligible applications were considered of sufficient quality by the committee and have received a pledge of support from Norad, says Måseide.

The call is part of the Norwegian Government’s efforts to boost education, as described in the White Paper 25 (2013–2014) entitled “Education for Development”.

- The total grant involves about 60 million NOK. Exact allocation for each project is still subject to negotiations between Norad and the applicants, says Måseide.

The four selected projects

•  “Advancing quality in education in the Primary and lower secondary schools of Ethiopia and South Sudan”
  Bahir Dar University, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and University of Juba.
• “BEYOND ACCESS: Improving Quality of Early Years Reading Instructions in Ethiopia and South Sudan”
  Addis Ababa University, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA), University of Juba and Bahir Dar University.
• “Strengthening numeracy in early years primary education through professional development of teachers”
  University of Malawi and University of Stavanger.
• “Innovations in teaching and learning through contextualized approaches to increase the quality, relevance and sustainability of education in Nepal”
  Tribhuvan University, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), and Kathmandu University.

Two of the selected projects have partners in South Sudan and may be affected by the conflict situation in the country.