Accra, Sept. 23, GNA – Ghana will host the 2nd High-Level Conference on Scaling Education Initiatives in Emergencies (EiE) from September 29 to 30, 2026, in Accra.
The conference, known as ACCELERATE+, will bring together policymakers, researchers, education practitioners, innovators, development partners and financing institutions from West Africa and beyond.
According to a statement shared with the Ghana News Agency, the conference is being organised by Associates for Change, a Ghana-based research think tank, in partnership with the Center for the Studies in the Economies of Africa (CSEA), Nigeria, and the Centre for Studies, Research and Training for Social and Economic Development (CERFODES), Burkina Faso.
The statement said the Global Partnership for Education-supported KIX research programme under the International Development Research Centre was the key sponsor, together with NORRAG Global Education Centre.
It said the primary purpose of the conference was to promote the use of policy-relevant evidence to scale education innovations that improved access, learning, continuity, safety and well-being for children and young people affected by crises.
Experts and policymakers from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Uganda, Europe and Canada are expected to participate in the conference.
The statement said persistent disruptions caused by armed conflict, displacement, climate-related disasters, public health emergencies and socio-economic shocks continued to limit access to safe and quality education and undermine learning outcomes, particularly for girls and other marginalised children and young people.
It noted that although research and successful education innovations were growing, translating them into policy, sustainable financing and large-scale implementation remained a challenge.
“The conference provides a regional platform to advance the scaling of evidence-based education innovations in fragile, conflict- and violence-affected contexts across West Africa,” the statement said.
Participants will examine which education innovations are ready for scaling, the conditions required for successful implementation, and policy and financing mechanisms needed to institutionalise them within national and regional education systems.
The statement explained that scaling meant increasing the reach, uptake and sustainability of proven education innovations beyond their original project settings, while adapting them to different contexts and needs.
The conference will focus on five themes, including education in emergencies and resilient education systems; foundational learning, e-learning, inclusion and educational innovation; and social protection, teacher well-being and safe learning environments.
Other themes are gender, youth, skills development and transition to work, as well as education finance, domestic resource mobilisation and innovative financing.
The statement said ACCELERATE+ sought to accelerate the institutionalisation of proven solutions to enable more children and young people in crisis-affected communities across West Africa to access quality education that supported their learning, safety and future opportunities.
GNA