Human Capital Africa launches the Foundational Learning Scorecard in Malawi

The Human Capital Africa (HCA) team, led by founder Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has completed a seven-day mission to Malawi to formally launch the Malawi Foundational Learning Scorecard, an accountability and analytical tool to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of children. Three elements make up the Foundational Learning Scorecard: a macro indicator scorecard, a micro indicator tracker, and an adoption tracker that tracks managerial and pedagogical inputs from the ministry. 

The Foundational Learning Scorecard(Macro component), which assesses key indicators required to enable foundational learning in all African countries, can be accessed here. The HCA scorecard will help to track, monitor and improve learning outcomes in Malawi while providing actionable insights for better policy decisions.

HCA and the Government of Malawi also signed an MoU and finalised a work plan with the Ministry of Education (MoE). The MoU is the formal agreement of a partnership between HCA and the MoE and was signed by Dr. Ezekwesili and the Minister of Education, Honourable Madalitso Kambauwa-Wirima at a ceremony on March 17th. The MoU will govern HCA’s relationship with Malawi and the support that will be provided as the nation accelerates its journey to improve foundational learning. HCA will provide support to the MoE in monitoring and evaluating the progress of their education system.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by HCA founder Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and Malawi’s Minister of Education, Honourable Madalitso Kambauwa-Wirima

During their mission to Malawi, HCA met with key MoE stakeholders, including the departments of Quality Assurance, Policy and Planning, Teacher Education, Education Management Information System and Sector Wide Approach, to collect integral data for the Scorecard. A working session on the Scorecard was also held with personnel, including department directors and deputy directors, district officials, representatives of the teachers union and civil society. Stakeholders aligned on the intent of the Scorecard and agreed that it is a necessary tool to improve learning outcomes in Malawi.

Commenting on the partnership with Malawi, Dr Oby Ezekwesili said: “Malawi’s government has taken a leadership role in solving the learning crisis and sets a benchmark for other African countries to follow. I have been incredibly impressed at the commitment to take on this challenge across the government, and the openness and transparency within which it has been taken on. The learning scorecard will create a clear frame of reference to guide investments, and to track progress towards the goals that we have set to drastically improve the number of our children who can read and understand a sentence. This is the first in a series of country level partnerships we will be implementing.”

HCA also met with development partners working on education in Malawi. Partners in attendance included representatives of the World Bank, FCDO, USAID, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Norwegian Embassy, and the Tony Blair Institute. HCA and the MoE jointly presented the work plan and Scorecard to development partners, all of which aligned on and expressed excitement about the initiative. The partners unanimously agreed to integrate the Scorecard as a part of their ongoing collaboration with the Government of Malawi, and to incorporate the HCA Scorecard as the guiding tool for the soon-to-be-established Foundational Learning steering committee in Malawi.

HCA is excited to begin their roll out of the Scorecard and to commence in-country work in Malawi. We are committed to supporting the MoE in achieving its goals for the education system. The adoption of the Foundational Learning Scorecard marks a significant step by the Government of Malawi towards improving its foundational learning outcomes, ensuring that every child in the country has access to quality education.