Generating Evidence from Life Skills Assessments to Inform Policy in East Africa

Life skills are rapidly becoming recognised as critical skills for children to acquire in order to succeed in school and in life. This is particularly true in the sub-Saharan African (SSA) context where youth educational attainment is low, unemployment and informal employment is high and a growing youth bulge provides both an opportunity and a high risk for the development or under development of SSA countries. Developing appropriate life skills and values in youth has become imperative for education systems in order to ensure youth have the chance to succeed, especially in terms of employment after finishing school. Global large-scale learning assessments have primarily been focused on basic or foundational competencies such as literacy and numeracy. These assessments have paved the way in showing how large-scale evidence generation can influence policy and practice in different countries. When it comes to the life skills and values space however, few assessments have produced evidence to influence systemic shifts in educational delivery. This chapter outlines how the Assessment of Life skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) collaboration has addressed gaps in large scale evidence of life skills and values, and more specifically a lack of life skills and values assessments contextual to East Africa.