Basic education in Nigeria is plagued with a broad range of challenges which have contributed to the nation’s difficulty in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite efforts to improve the educational system in Nigeria, there has been little improvement in the  learning outcomes in the country where over 10 million Nigerian children are out of school. On the positive side, innovations to improve education, particularly in the non-state sector, are continually emerging. Many of these interventions are focused on increasing access to quality education. While these interventions are very promising, the reach of most of them is often limited to initial project areas and even fewer interventions go on to influence on a large scale.   An estimated “100-year gap” exists between education levels in developed and developing countries.

Our Approach: NEDIS was initiated in 2015 as a platform to highlight the role of education innovations in solving the challenges associated with the delivery of accessible and high-quality education. The summit has become a key event in the regional education event calendar, convening stakeholders from government, research and academia, development and donor organisations,  civil society organisations and a broad range of education innovators for two days of rich discourse, knowledge sharing, learning, capacity development and networking. Past NEDIS events have attracted participation from several countries including Nigeria, United Kingdom, United States of America, Kenya, The Netherlands, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin Republic, and Malaysia.

Result: TEP Centre has brought together over a thousand education stakeholders, in the last 5 years, to discuss and implement systematic approaches to scaling up education interventions that can lead to increased access to quality education. A community of innovators, National Innovation Collaborative for Education (NICE), has also been established to ensure sustainability of these interventions. NICE is organised as a Pan-African event with participation from global and regional institutions, and private sector organisations.