Equity and inclusion in education are policy priorities yet many children and young people are frequently excluded from quality education. This project investigates how a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) approach can be adapted and deployed in three countries—Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan—to develop the capabilities of school leaders to identify barriers to equity and inclusion, and enact data-driven solutions towards sustainable change in access and learning of girls, children with disabilities (CWD) and other marginalized learners.

School leaders are essential change agents: to motivate teachers and communities, and to collect evidence, adapt pedagogy and create safe, inclusive conditions for all learners. In this project, school leader Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) aim to collaborate and learn from practice-based evidence. NIC members collectively test theories of action about what works and under what conditions to improve equity and inclusion for learners in their schools. They are supported to develop agency to problem solve by local experts and resources from an open course (localized for each country context) that offers ideas and proven strategies for addressing equity and inclusion.

Mixed methods research will generate data from NIC members’ school level actions together with interviews, focus groups and course analytics to explore NIC members’ experiences of the NIC and to understand the factors for successful collective action by school leaders to improve equity and inclusion.  The research explores the drivers and barriers to nurturing social connections and trust in the NICs and mechanisms for initiating and sustaining NICs in multiple contexts. Project findings will be relevant across other developing countries in understanding adaptations to the approach to enabling NICs to flourish at scale in different contexts.