Research Initiatives

Context Matters Research Grants

Research on literacy in general and reading in particular has been largely carried out in high-income countries and contexts, and then generalized to low-income countries and contexts. The Context Matters Research Grants initiative was established by CODE to help address this problematic knowledge flow from North to South and to support African Researchers as they take the lead in evidence-based literacy research. Our intent is to stimulate conversation, develop a research agenda, and support research which is clearly situated in local contexts and recognizes the multifaceted and complex relationships between the local and global in education. This means placing a high priority not only on the location of research but also on the need to engage local researchers.

CODE annually awards up to five research grants of CAD $10,000 each to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and salience of K-12 education programming in Africa.

To begin the conversation, CODE commissioned two landscape literature reviews and one policy analysis from Canadian Faculties of Education (University of British Columbia and McGill University). These papers were presented at the CODE Research Symposium that took place as part of the Pan-African Literacy for All Conference in Abuja, Nigeria (August 28-30, 2017). These papers, including Executive Summaries can be found here.

Call for Proposals

The 2020 Call for Proposals: Teacher Education to Support Girls’ Empowerment is now open! The deadline for submissions is July 3, 2020. 

CODE, through its Context Matters program funds research initiated, designed and undertaken by African researchers. To date, research on literacy learning has largely been carried out in high-income countries and contexts and generalized to low-income countries and contexts. CODE established Context Matters to support African researchers as they take the lead in evidence-based, exploratory studies. The intent is to support research which is clearly situated in local contexts and recognizes the multifaceted and complex relationships between the local and global in education.

This is the third annual Call for Proposals for CODE’s Context Matters Research Grants.

CODE invites researchers, academics and educators who are residents in the following countries to submit proposals: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea: Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Context Matters Research Grants are designed to:

• Support work by African scholars and researchers addressing issues identified in collaboration with the African literacy and teacher education communities.
• Strengthen the research capacity, knowledge and recommendations of those working in the African context.
• Fund research initiated, designed and undertaken by local teams.
• Foster international partnerships and alliances that bolster Africa’s ability to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the areas of education and gender equality.
• Build a body of evidence that can be used to support education policy recommendations at local, regional or national levels.

This year, CODE is primarily interested in research projects that relate to one or more of the following:

• The intersection between literacy, education and girls’ empowerment;
• The role that pre-service teacher education and professional development plays in strengthening the educational opportunities for girls;
• the concept of “comprehensive sexuality education” and how it is approached in both teacher education programs and in schools (formally, informally)
• The factors and/or interventions that contribute to reducing barriers to quality education for women and girls (especially in fragile, conflict, refugee and crisis situations).

To apply

• Review the Call for Proposals
• Complete the Application Form
• Complete the Project Budget Template

Please submit the completed application form, project budget template, CV and references by email to ContextMatters@code.ngo by July 3, 2020.

For a description of research grants that have been previously awarded in 2019 please click on the individuals’ names below.