Empowering Africa’s educators

Across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, education systems face significant hurdles, including a shortage of trained teachers, overcrowded classrooms and inadequate professional development opportunities.

With 15 million new qualified teachers needed by 2030, many educators work without sufficient qualifications, which directly affects the quality of learning, particularly in rural and crisis-affected areas. Additionally, governance issues, inefficient teacher deployment, and limited career growth opportunities further exacerbate these challenges.

The Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (RTIA) aims to address these critical challenges in education across sub-Saharan Africa. Funded by the European Union (100 million euros), and an additional contribution from Belgium (4 million euros), this initiative is led by Belgium, France, and Finland with UNESCO and the African Union as RTIA-partners. It is part of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, reinforcing long-term partnerships between Europe and Africa in the education sector. This initiative aims to strengthen teacher policies, equip educators with modern skills, and create a more resilient and effective education system.

A Three-Pronged Approach

The initiative is structured around three key areas. The first one focuses on providing demand-driven technical assistance and deploying external expertise. Through the initiative, Ministries of Education will receive expert assistance to design, implement, and evaluate teacher policies. This support is tailored to each country’s needs and aligns with national education reforms.

Second, the initiative will aim to identify and scale-up innovative solutions for teacher training, as well as support teachers to improve teaching and learning in crisis-affected areas in Sub-Saharan Africa environments. Additionally, proven methods and tools for effective teaching are scaled across countries by Team Belgium composed of Enabel, VVOB (Belgian non-profit organisation), and APEFE (Belgian international partnership agency) with a focus on:

• Digital Education: Enabel’s initiatives in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda
• Gender-Transformative Pedagogy: VVOB’s efforts in Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana
• Foundational Learning: APEFE’s work in Senegal, the DRC, and Benin

The additional Belgian-funded “Teach 2 Empower” initiative (4 million euros) enables stronger impact through creation of knowledge products, the joint capitalisation of lessons learned, and advocacy on these critical topics.

Third, the initiative will aim to drive sustainable change through supporting research on teacher governance, education policies, and professional development. This component will promote regional partnerships between African and European institutions.

In Tanzania, the MEWAKA project assists more than 148,000 educators in accessing and completing e-learning training modules. In Zambia, a project will use “Raspberry Pi” computers and the Moodle learning management system to enhance teachers’ professional development in remote areas and to create customised courses. In Ghana, a project will make classrooms more inclusive through institutionalizing play-based learning. In Burkina Faso, a project will utilise the “Imagier yam wekre”, an educational tool with 302 images on 29 themes, designed to foster inclusive, participative, and playful learning for children.

The way forward

The initiative has already made strides, with twelve ministries requesting technical assistance, eight innovative teacher training solutions being identified, and six projects supporting teachers in crisis-affected regions underway. In 2025, Enabel’s ambition is to expand technical assistance to 25 ministries, provide scaling support to eight innovative projects, and implement digital education tools in over 28 secondary schools.

A Global Gateway initiative

As part of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, this initiative is more than just an investment in education –it is a commitment to strengthening Africa’s education systems for long-term stability and growth. By fostering EU-Africa cooperation, the programme supports shared values and sustainable development goals. The combined European and Belgian funding ensures a robust and collaborative approach to improve teacher training and education quality across Africa.