Since its launch in 1990, the ‘Education for All’ Initiative has grown worldwide recognition, even as the world has become increasingly complex, and the future even more unpredictable – driven by innovation and knowledge, but also confronted by unresolved political, environmental, and health challenges. In seeking to attain the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 in sub-Saharan Africa has necessitated resilient effort to transform education systems to graduate learners well-equipped for 21st century living and working.
Fortunately, education systems in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are integrating values and life skills, albeit at varying levels. Kenya is already implementing a curriculum that has integrated 8 values and 7 core (21st century) skills. Uganda has integrated life skills in both policy and curriculum. A new curriculum has been introduced for the secondary level, and this includes 21st century competencies. Tanzania is revisiting and revising the National Life Skills framework and through the support of UNICEF, has even developed a detailed strategy and tools for formative assessment of selected life skills at primary and secondary levels.
In all three countries, the values and life skills group of Regional Education Learning Initiative (RELI) has given a significant contribution to the processes and tools. Subsequently, governments have acknowledged the worth of these competencies in determining success in learning, life, and work for the 21st century learner. However, the real work is just beginning. First, there is little clarity on what works, and support and accountability are needed to move beyond written intentions to working classroom practices and finally attain sustainable outcomes.
The region is yet to document evidence on whether some life skills are more critical than others. In all three countries, there is an acknowledgment that appropriate and contextualized tools are needed to assess outcomes in these areas to measure progress and improve policy and practice. To address these challenges, RELI initiated a three-year project on Assessment of Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE).
The ALiVE initiative targets adolescents (aged 13 to 17 years) in and out of school, focusing on four life skills competencies: self-awareness, collaboration, problem-solving, and respect. It aims to:
- Develop context-relevant, open-source tools for assessing life skills in East Africa.
- Undertake household assessments targeting adolescents with the aim of generating evidence.
- Use the evidence to draw attention to and increase awareness on the worth of these competencies among stakeholders (public policy advocacy).
- Elevate RELI-VaLi to a regional community of practice on methods and measurement of life skills, replicable at the national and regional levels for sustainability through transnational alliance building.
- Enhance peer learning and feedback among the RELI member organizations working on improving learning outcomes in East Africa through learning, sharing and capacity strengthening.
