From May 12^th – 16^th, members of the African Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) coalition participated in the official kick-off workshop for the Leaders in Teaching (LIT) project in Tanzania. Held in Dar es Salaam, the workshop brought together the representatives of the government of Tanzania, the Mastercard Foundation, Educate!, Teachers Education Network (TENMET), Teach United, and other key stakeholders to co-create the implementation model for the LIT Tanzania initiative.

It was also an opportunity to align with the Mastercard Foundation’s vision and expectations for the LIT Tanzania project, engage government counterparts, resolve key planning issues, and build a shared understanding of the collaborative roles each partner will play. Participants also defined a joint implementation framework and affirmed a shared commitment to inclusion, safeguarding, innovation, and effective communication.

Leaders in Teaching (LIT) is an initiative supported by the Mastercard Foundation to transform education across Africa, by strengthening teaching and learning so that young people acquire 21st-century skills and competencies needed for employment, lifelong learning, and adult life. Working through a multi-partner implementation model, LIT is a holistic approach to enhancing teaching and learning. LIT is structured around four key pillars:

• RECRUIT (led by Teach United in Tanzania)
• TRAIN (led by Educate! in Tanzania)
• MOTIVATE (led by TENMET in Tanzania)
• LEAD (led VVOB with support from ACSL)

VVOB, in partnership with ACSL, is responsible for the LEAD component in Tanzania, which focuses on strengthening school leadership systems at national and continental levels. ADEA, as a founding member of the ACSL coalition, joined the workshop alongside government stakeholders and development partners. The ACSL is expected to leverage the implementation outcomes from the Tanzania project to drive continental level advocacy on the value and importance of school leadership in grooming young Africans to find dignified work and lead fulfilling lives.

The four-day event laid the groundwork for robust coordination, developing an engagement plan for the national coordination platform and its working groups. It also helped define the LIT brand and its communications strategy, and initiated the development of a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) plan with input from Tanzanian authorities.

This kick-off marks a pivotal milestone in advancing coherent, inclusive, and effective school leadership across Africa. The LIT initiative is expected to build a new generation of empowered teacher leaders and school heads equipped to prepare young Africans for work, lifelong learning, and meaningful civic engagement.

About the ACSL Coalition

The Africa Centre for School Leadership (ACSL) was established in 2021 to promote effective school leadership. ACSL collaborates with governments and stakeholders in the education sector to build supportive school leadership systems with the objective of improving teaching and in turn learning outcomes. Its core coalition members include the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), VVOB – education for development, and Education Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA).