Around the world, there is a learning crisis that starts early in life and continues throughout a child’s educational experience in school. Low levels of learning in school translate into low levels of skills in labor markets, and this is often identified as a barrier to unlocking a country’s growth potential. Accelerating learning and skill development in these contexts likely requires a change in strategy. In addition, current global challenges, such as the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises and the global Covid-19 pandemic, have created populations who either cannot access standard learning opportunities or require different modes of learning. Even in the absence of these shocks, populations with disabilities, children younger than school-age, and adult learners often cannot benefit from the services that education systems typically offer. In many countries, girls of all ages face similar forms of exclusion.
Through this call, SIEF aims to fund experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations that examine the extent to which technology can accelerate learning and skills for both children and adults in low- and middle-income countries who are currently not learning adequately with their current set of services.
We encourage you to apply and pass this announcement to others who might be interested, particularly those who can quickly generate useful and actionable information on how we can help children, parents, and educators deal with the Covid-19 crisis around the world.
- Call for proposals
- Short application for the general window
- Short application for the Covid-19 emergency window
- List of World Bank and DFID projects seeking researchers
For any questions that are not answered in the call for proposals, please send an email with “SIEF Call 5 query” in the subject line to siefimpact@worldbank.org.