Comprehensive Evidence Synthesis Training 3

Building the methodological capacity of Northwest Cameroon Community of Practice members to generate, appraise and synthesise the evidence that foundational learning decision-making requires.

Background

The North West Region Community of Practice, established by eBASE Africa and MINEDUB under the Unlocking Data Initiative, has identified eight priority research questions that will guide foundational learning data work in the region for the next eighteen months.

But identifying the questions is only the beginning. The Evidence Rush exercise conducted at the inaugural Bamenda workshop found that the evidence needed to answer those questions does not yet exist in synthesised, policy-usable form. For several of the most strategically important questions, including data-sharing motivation, disability-inclusive learning and teacher deployment, no reliable synthesised evidence was identified at all. This training is the direct, structured response to that finding.

Programme

• Day 1: Introduction to Evidence Synthesis Approximately 

This day builds a shared evidence language across all participant backgrounds. It covers the conceptual basis of evidence synthesis, research question formulation, protocol writing, systematic searching, data extraction and synthesis and report writing.

• Day 2: Systematic Reviews of Quantitative Evidence Approximately

This module addresses quantitative systematic review methodology, directly relevant to CoP priority questions on teacher deployment, enrolment trends and learning assessment outcomes. It covers quantitative study designs, critical appraisal, data extraction, meta-analysis and Summary of Findings tables.

• Day 3: Systematic Reviews of Qualitative Evidence Approximately 

This module addresses qualitative evidence synthesis, of particular relevance to the CoP's priority questions on data-sharing incentives, community trust and disability-inclusive data collection. It covers qualitative methodologies, critical appraisal, meta-synthesis and an introduction to mixed-methods, scoping, umbrella and rapid reviews.

Participants

• Researchers and academics: building systematic review competency to contribute directly to the CoP's evidence generation work and to supervise research commissioned under the learning agenda.
• Civil society representatives: complementing strong contextual knowledge of the Northwest education landscape with formal research methodology skills.
• Teachers and school heads: equipping frontline data producers to engage with and contribute to the evidence synthesis process.
• Ministry officials and local government actors: building methodological literacy to engage with, interrogate and use synthesised evidence in FLN policy and planning.