Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa: A Story of Partnerships

The Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa (RTIA), officially signed at the event, is a joint commitment by the European Union and like-minded organisations from France, Finland and Belgium as well as UNESCO and the African Union Commission to support African countries in enhancing teachers' education and training, ensuring enough qualified educators are available to meet students’ needs effectively.   

Teaching, Why Not?

In many African countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, it remains challenging to promote teaching as an attractive career choice and to help teachers develop the competences they need to support students effectively. Issues like poor working conditions for teachers, ineffective teacher training and limited deployment mechanisms – referring to the way teachers are distributed across different schools or areas – threaten the quality of education.

To address these challenges, the RTIA will improve the education and training of teachers to make sure that schools have enough qualified teachers, in line with the Continental Education Strategy for Africa.

The Facility

Within the RTIA, VVOB joins the Facility of the RTIA to support regional and national initiatives aimed at providing quality education by operating through a multifaceted approach, which includes three complementary components. The Facility is supported by France, Finland and Belgium.
 

VVOB joins Team Belgium alongside Belgium’s development agency Enabel and the Association pour la Promotion de l'Education et de la Formation à l'Etranger (APEFE) in the Facility to complement the other components of the RTIA, which focus on enhancing teacher professional development, support, and collaboration across Africa, and facilitating policy research, exchange and peer learning to ensure consistency between global, regional, and national efforts which are led by the African Union Commission and UNESCO respectively.

Teach2Empower

Team Belgium will also support the RTIA through Teach2Empower, managed by Enabel in collaboration with APEFE and VVOB. This project aims to enhance the quality of education in Africa by improving teacher training, strengthening teacher competencies for green, digital and gender-responsive education benefiting approximately 25,000 students each year.
 

At VVOB, we firmly believe in the importance of continuous professional development of educators and the transformative power of partnerships. The RTIA serves as a prime example of our commitment to this belief.
 

"Through the Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa and Teach2Empower, we are not only addressing some of the most pressing challenges in teacher professional development but also fostering impactful partnerships that transcend borders. This initiative exemplifies the transformative potential when global actors unite to empower teachers and enhance the quality of education for all. Collaboratively, we are embarking on a journey of meaningful change in education across Africa", explains Tom Vandenbosch, Global Director of Programmes at VVOB. 
 

Disclaimer: This article has been edited due to a decision to change the name of the initiative from "Regional Facility for Teachers in Africa" to "The Facility of the Regional Teachers Initiative for Africa". We have updated all relevant references on 18 June 2024 to reflect this change in the article.