Rwanda

USAID and the Government of Rwanda are increasingly interested in investing in the early childhood years. Together for Early Childhood Evidence offers early childhood education stakeholders an opportunity to come together to discuss data and measurement issues in the sub-sector.

The Rwanda country team has been meeting since 2019 to discuss data and measurement issues in Rwanda. Their work has focused on mapping available data on young children in Rwanda, including the quality of pre-primary programs, child development and learning outcomes, health and nutrition, and current efforts to use early childhood development-related data in Rwanda.

In 2021, Together for Early Childhood Evidence launched a research project with Save the Children Rwanda, building off Save the Children’s existing work by implementing the International Development and Early Learning Assessment to study student learning outcomes nationwide. Together for Early Childhood Evidence project funds supported the addition of the International Development and Early Learning Assessment Classroom Environment Tool, which evaluates classroom resources, literacy and numeracy instruction, and teacher-student interactions. The project also built the capacity of government officials to collect and use data on preprimary quality.

Learn more about the Rwanda's 2021 project

Building on the national International Development and Early Learning Assessment study, the Ministry of Education, members of the Rwanda T4ECE task force team, and other partners have defined country-level benchmarks for child learning based on International Development and Early Learning Assessment scores. The benchmarks will allow decision-makers in Rwanda to understand the proportion of children who are classified as “minimally on track.” Now that benchmarks have been created, the Rwanda T4ECE task force team has identified the need to test them further to be able to generalize the benchmarks to the Rwandan population.

In 2024, the CATALYZE T4ECE research project will support a nationally representative assessment with the International Development and Early Learning Assessment to pilot these benchmarks. The study will determine the emergent numeracy, literacy, socio-emotional, fine, and gross motor skills for children completing pre-primary school, including the proportion identified as ‘minimally on track,’ and determine which classroom quality factors correlate with children’s school readiness. This project will also build the capacity of government officials from the Ministry of Education, the Rwanda Education Board, and the National Examination and School Inspection Authority, who will use the International Development and Early Learning Assessment as a national early childhood measurement tool. Capacity building will support government officials in linking the International Development and Early Learning Assessment to existing government data systems and processes.

To learn more, please read about Together for Early Childhood Evidence in Rwanda (PDF). 

Additional Information

The Rwanda country team was established in 2019, and is co-chaired by the Ministry of Education and USAID Rwanda.