_{By: Roy William Mayega, Julius Ssentongo, Anthony Ssebagereka, Harriet Adong}

In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, schools do not operate in stable environments; they operate in uncertainty. A school year might begin with optimism and structure, only to be interrupted by floods, conflict, or a public health emergency. Yet across Global Partnership for Education (GPE) partner countries in Africa, something more complex is unfolding than repeated disruption. Education systems are not just reacting, they are adapting, improvising, and, in some cases, transforming.

In this blog, we share key insights from a desk review report that examined how GPE partner countries in Africa understand and operationalize education system resilience, the types of disruptions they face, and the strategies they use to sustain learning. Drawing on education policy documents and a wide range of academic and grey literature, the report offers a unique cross-country perspective on what it takes to keep education systems functioning amid constant change.

This is where education system resilience (ESR) becomes more than a technical concept. It becomes a lens for understanding how learning continues against the odds and why it sometimes does not.

Resilience looks different depending on where you stand

One of the most striking insights from the study is that there is no single, shared definition of resilience. Instead, countries interpret it through their lived realities.

In countries frequently hit by climate disasters, resilience often looks like preparedness—building safer schools, integrating disaster risk reduction into curricula, and training teachers to respond to emergencies. In places recovering from epidemics, it shows up as the ability to switch quickly to radio, print, or digital learning when classrooms close.

In conflict-affected settings, resilience takes on a different meaning altogether. It becomes deeply local. Communities step in where formal systems falter, organizing learning spaces, mobilizing volunteer teachers, and keeping education going even when the state cannot. In these contexts, resilience is less about systems “bouncing back” and more about communities holding things together.

This diversity of perspectives challenges any one-size-fits-all approach. It also raises an important question: if resilience looks different everywhere, how do we design policies that truly respond to context?

Disruption is rarely singular – it’s layered

Another key insight is that education systems are not dealing with isolated shocks, but overlapping crises.

A drought does not just damage school infrastructure; it affects livelihoods, pushes children into labour, and increases dropout rates. Conflict not only closes schools; it displaces families, strains host communities, and disrupts entire education systems across borders. Public health crises like COVID-19 expose digital divides and deepen existing inequalities.

For example, countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti face droughts and erratic rainfall, causing school closures, food insecurity, displacement, and psychosocial stress, particularly among rural and pastoral communities.

What emerges is a picture of a “polycrisis” in which climate, conflict, poverty, and health emergencies interact and reinforce one another. The result is not just a temporary interruption, but a cumulative erosion of learning outcomes, system capacity, and equity. Moreover, it is the most vulnerable learners, such as girls, children with disabilities, and those in rural or conflict-affected areas who bear the greatest burden.

If disruption is inevitable, then the real question becomes: can learning continue?

Across GPE partner countries, some of the most promising practices focus on this very challenge. During COVID-19, countries rapidly expanded distance learning through radio, television, and online platforms. While access was uneven, these efforts marked a shift toward more flexible education systems. Countries like Madagascar and the Gambia also use distance learning tools to support learning continuity in the face of adverse climatic events. But resilience is not just about technology. It is also about teachers: how prepared they are to adapt, support learners through uncertainty, and shift between teaching modalities. It is about curricula that reflect real-world risks, from climate change to conflict, and it is about planning, having contingency systems in place before a crisis hits.

In this sense, resilience is less about responding to emergencies and more about embedding flexibility into the system itself.

Communities and equity are at the heart of resilience

One of the quieter but still powerful themes emerging from the study is the role of communities.

In fragile and conflict-affected contexts, community actors, including parents, local leaders, and civil society, are often the backbone of education continuity. They manage schools, mobilize resources, and create informal systems of support when formal structures break down. In Liberia, community participation and local leadership both played a key role in restoring educational services following conflict, the Ebola outbreak, and repeated infrastructural shocks. 

Even in more stable settings, community engagement strengthens accountability, supports vulnerable learners, and anchors education systems in local realities. Yet, this role is not always formally recognized or supported in policy. Bridging this gap could be key to building more grounded and sustainable resilience strategies. At the same time, it is precisely where policy recognition matters most. When communities are formally supported, as seen in Sierra Leone’s re-entry programs for pregnant girls, targeted policies can transform informal resilience into lasting systems change.

Resilience is often framed in terms of systems, policies, infrastructure, and planning. However, the study makes it clear that resilience is also about considering who gets left behind.

Gender inequality, poverty, and marginalization consistently shape who can continue learning during disruptions. Girls face increased risks of early marriage and dropout. Children from poorer households struggle with access to remote learning, while learners with disabilities are often excluded.

Sierra Leone’s approach illustrates this broader challenge, beyond re-entry programs for pregnant girls, the country has pursued targeted policies for social protection measures and inclusive education initiatives. 

So why does it matter?

Without resilience, progress in education remains fragile. Years of investment in access and quality can be undone by a single crisis. In regions where disruptions are frequent, the cost of not building resilience is simply too high.

The study also offers a more hopeful perspective. Across GPE partner countries in Africa, there is clear momentum and meaningful efforts to integrate resilience into planning, invest in adaptive systems, and learn from past crises.

What is emerging is not a perfect model, but a growing body of practice. One that shows resilience is possible when it is context-driven, inclusive, and embedded across the system.

Looking ahead: from coping to transformation

If there is one takeaway from this study, it is that resilience cannot remain a reactive agenda. Too often, systems are designed to cope with the last crisis rather than prepare for the next.

Looking ahead, the challenge—and opportunity—is to shift from short-term responses to long-term transformation. This means embedding resilience into the core of education planning, not as an add-on, but as a guiding principle. It means investing not only in infrastructure and technology, but also in people, teachers, communities, and learners, who ultimately carry systems through disruption. It means prioritizing equity so that resilience efforts do not reinforce existing gaps but instead close them.

There is no single pathway to building resilient education systems. However, the experiences across GPE partner countries in Africa show that progress is possible when solutions are grounded in context, informed by evidence, and driven by collaboration.

This blog was originally published on the GPE KIX website on April 16, 2026.

Access the full report here