As gross enrollment ratios increase across the West African sub region and education policies and curricula are updated, there is a greater need to support the professional growth and abilities of teachers and educators to enhance the achievement of young people. Working in limited resource environments, educators need support to deliver quality in a period when learning challenges are more diverse, gender gaps wider, and the need for employable skills greater than they have ever been for youth.
It is in this context that the Institute of Teacher Education and Development (INTED) is being supported to improve its private sector approach to economic development by more sustainably improving the professionalism of educators, in order to positively impact students. INTED has worked since 2011 to improve teaching and leadership practices in schools. It is a licensed service provider of the National Teaching Council, and has since its inception provided professional development programs to 3,500 teachers in over 70 schools in Ghana.
OVERVIEW
Transforming into a Membership-Based Organization to Impact Educators and Marginalized Youth across West Africa is a five-year program. Within this period Accra-based INTED will pilot and expand multiple professional development programs aimed at improving the quality of education delivered in Ghana and Sierra Leone purposed for the benefit of young people in lower-income communities. The four constituent programs under the project will aim at addressing gender, socio-economic, regional, and world-of-work inequities, and are namely:
- Leading Girls’ Learning Program (addressing underperformance and underrepresentation of females in Senior High Schools)
- School Specific Program - Ghana (strengthening teaching in under-resourced public schools)
- School Specific Program - Sierra Leone (working with local partners to build the capacity of teachers of English in underperforming districts)
- Innovation, Digital, and Online Skills Initiative (leveraging partnerships to prepare youth for 21st century entrepreneurship and the world of work)
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
- Strengthen the sustainability of INTED’s private sector-driven approach to economic development by improving the administrative, governance, and programming capacities of the organization
- Improve awareness of the educational gaps that affect young people in Ghana and Sierra Leone
- Introduce and expand the reach of multiple programs that support the professionalism of teachers and educational institutions, as a sustainable solution to improving outcomes for marginalized youth, and
- Expand partnerships to improve the chances of success in achieving improved outcomes for educators and youth in the educational ecosystem across the region
PROGRAM GOALS AND TARGETS
- Introduction of gender equity program: INTED’s Leading Girls’ Learning Programme will target benefiting 68 schools, 946 female teachers, and 24,600 female students.
- Strengthening teaching in lower-income public schools: INTED targets reaching 60 pre-tertiary schools in low-income communities with INTED’s School Specific Program to impact 2,000 teachers and 50,000 students.
- Building capacity of Teachers of English in Sierra Leone: INTED targets impacting 400 teachers and 8,000 students in low-performing districts to improve teaching and learning of English at the Senior High School level.
- Teaching creative, technology skills for new-age industry in West Africa: INTED will be piloting Innovation, Digital, and Online Skills Initiative to impact 360 teachers and 720 students/youth in 36 school communities.
MORE INFORMATION
- Life of Program: July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2027
- Geographic Focus: Ghana and Sierra Leone
- Total USAID Funding: $1,786,626.00
- Key Partner: Institute of Teacher Education and Development (INTED) (www.intedafrica.org)
