War Child X KIX: Major Research Project Produces New Evidence and Learnings for the Sector

KIX is a global fund and joint endeavour between the International Development Research Centre and the Global Partnership for Education. With a budget of over $75 million, it supports the scaling of promising education innovations in low- and middle-income countries.

Can’t Wait to Learn as a case study

Using Can’t Wait to Learn, the War Child Alliance's digital personalised learning programme, as a case study, the KIX-funded project focused on six complementary areas of research.

From quality assurance to value for money to the ability to influence key policy stakeholders, the research addressed some of the biggest scaling challenges facing new and emerging methods.

Conducted over four years in three conflict-affected countries, we set out to identify both strengths and pain points and develop recommendations.

Positive findings

The first question addressed through the research was centred around effectiveness: how effective is Can’t Wait to Learn when integrated into the formal education system?

The results of a study - known in the research world as a randomized controlled trial (RCT) - produced a number of positive findings.

Building on previous War Child studies, the trial demonstrated that children playing the educational games in school settings made significantly larger gains in literacy and numeracy compared to those receiving standard formal education. Teachers also reported that Can’t Wait to Learn benefited their professional development by providing new teaching methods and improving their digital skills.

This, in turn, helped them manage their classrooms better and boost student engagement.

Areas for improvement

While the strengths of Can’t Wait to Learn are becoming increasingly self-evident, the research also revealed several areas for improvement.

For example: Can’t Wait to Learn may be on its way towards integration into schools and national education systems, but what use is that if schools are under-resourced, teachers are overworked and parents can’t afford to send their children to school in the first place?

Off the back of a major research study conducted by War Child in Lebanon in 2019, the KIX project emphasised the need for a specific intervention to address the role that teachers, caregivers and the wider community play in facilitating children’s learning journey.

The result being SchoolLinks: an innovative approach designed to increase children’s access, attendance and retention in school by bringing community members together to develop solutions collectively.

More than that, the intervention was co-created with these key people: teachers, school managers, caregivers, community leaders and even children and youth themselves. Built and now being tested in four refugee settlements across Uganda, preliminary findings are very promising.

Handing over to local government

Another burning question at the centre of the research agenda was: how is War Child really ensuring that Can’t Wait to Learn is endorsed by the country and prepped for growth?

A policy network analysis conducted in Chad, Uganda and Sudan highlighted the importance of forming strategic partnerships with government entities, the private sector and universities in order to scale education innovations and enhance the EdTech network in conflict-affected areas.

One way in which the core team went about this was to hand over implementation of Can’t Wait to Learn to local government. Following the success of the RCT, we chose to do this in Uganda; in Isingiro District in the southwest of the country.

“Today, the Local Government of Isingiro is fully embracing Can’t Wait to Learn,” says Jasmine Turner, Research Manager for the KIX project. “In close collaboration with school staff, the Government is responsible for its delivery in 16 schools across the district.

“In September they submitted a continuity plan with the goal to sustain Can’t Wait to Learn independently,” she continues. “This is an important indicator of local ownership and a key step towards the long-term sustainability of education innovations in Uganda and beyond.”

For a full overview of the findings and resulting recommendations, download the research brief.