From 25–28 August 2026, Oxfam and partners joined education stakeholders from across East Africa and beyond for the 2nd East African Community Regional Conference on Education (EACREC 2026) at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.

Under the theme “Transforming Education in East Africa,” with the sub-theme "From Commitments to Impact: Fostering Resilience and Future-Ready Systems for Sustainable Development, the conference created space for governments, civil society organisations, development partners, donors, researchers and educators to share ideas and explore how the region can move from commitments to real impact in education.

The EACREC brought together government delegates, ambassadors from different countries, including the chair of the EAC council of Ministers and Minister for EAC Affairs Hon. Rebbeca Alitwala Kadaga.

For Oxfam and its partners, the conference was an important opportunity to engage with key decision-makers and contribute to conversations on building resilient, inclusive and future-ready education systems that respond to the needs of learners across East Africa.

The conference also provided a valuable platform for sharing experiences, innovations, and strategies aimed at strengthening education systems in the region. 

The participants first reflected on progress made in delivering quality education in light of the six commitments made from the first Education conference that was held in Arusha Tanzania in 2024.

These six commitments include,

  1. Political leadership and ownership where government lead the reform and anchor foundational learning in national systems and budgets and explored practical solutions to build resilient and inclusive education systems capable of responding to emerging challenges.
  2. Data assessment and accountability, stronger school to school sustainable measurement and accountability systems.
  3. AI and Edtech, Governments committed to opening the door for AI and edtech tools in classrooms.
  4. Financing and equitable resourcing resources.
  5. Result at scale, scaling what works.
  6. Whole child access and transition pathways.

During the conference, Luigi Giussani Foundation (LGF), Oxfam’s partner presented and disseminated ‘The Teacher Situation Analysis (TSA) Report’ to a diverse audience of education stakeholders from across the region. 

Presented under one of the core themes of EACREC, “Teacher Wellbeing, Retention and Professional Resilience in Challenging Contexts,” the report highlighted the realities faced by teachers in terms of TPR (teacher-pupil ratio) that stands at 1.150, particularly in crisis-affected settings and inadequate time to prepare lesson plans which is rated at 52.4%.

The session generated valuable discussions on the importance of investing in teacher welfare, professional development, and supportive working environments as critical components for building resilient and future-ready education systems. 

The dissemination provided an opportunity for stakeholders to reflect on evidence-based recommendations and strengthen collective efforts towards improving teacher motivation, retention, and education outcomes for all learners.

Oxfam in Uganda team and the Education Out Loud (EOL) team, LGF, Education Advocacy Network (EAN) and The Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) actively engaged in discussions on education financing, policy implementation, accountability.

They also discussed the role of civil society in ensuring that commitments made by governments and partners translate into meaningful impact for learners, especially marginalized and vulnerable children.

Beyond the technical sessions, the conference offered opportunities for networking and collaboration, bringing together diverse voices united by a common goal of ensuring that every child has access to quality education and the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world across East Africa and beyond.

The event reaffirmed the importance of collective action and strengthened partnerships among stakeholders working to advance sustainable development through resilient, equitable, and future-ready education systems across the East African region.

Regional commitments to education and key insights from the 2nd EACREC 2026

  • There is need for regional integration of education with focus on local resource mobilization mechanisms to serve the EAC countries.
  • Member countries should focus on implementation of the key commitments rather than making more commitments which may not be realistic.
  • It was established by the Global Education Monitoring Report by UNESCO – over 1.8 million learners in the Sub-Saharan Africa are out of school. It also pointed out that foundational learning remains a challenge across the EAC member countries.

It was agreed that the new 2026-2028 EACREC will include,

  1. To progressively increase and protect domestic education financing to 20%. As well as focusing on issues of foundational learning, Establishing East African foundational learning initiative in cooperating social emotional competencies in to the learning curriculums and scaling evidence-based learning across EAC.
  2. Teacher wellbeing and continuous professional development across East Africa focusing on teacher recruitment, teacher in-service training initiatives, teacher retentions, school-based mentorship and use of technology to enhance skills.
  3. Use of regional education data to promote cross-border research and harmonization of updates sharing.
  4. Inclusive Education
  5. Technical enhancements of skills for schools to handle learner transitions and also prepare youth for employment opportunities.

Under the auspices of the East Africa regional secretariat with support from development partners, CSOs, academia and educator’s and other stakeholders committed to translate these commitments to actionable commitments and enhance regional integration in sharing evidence, experiences, lessons learnt on what works while sharing evidence.

The EAC secretariate will lead the monitoring of the commitments up to 2028 and organizing the next EACREC in 2028 that will be hosted in Uganda.

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