Improving Education in Asia for all Learners

The USAID Improving Learning Outcomes for Asia (ILOA) Activity helps to build more effective and resilient education programs and systems for learners across Asia.

USAID's ILOA Initiative Drives Educational Empowerment in Asia

The USAID Improving Learning Outcomes for Asia (ILOA) Activity (2022–2027) provides services and support to expand the evidence for and effectiveness of USAID education programming across Central, South, and Southeast Asia. USAID ILOA builds on over a decade of RTI experience supporting USAID education programming in Asia, including under the USAID All Children Reading–Asia Program, USAID Data for Education Programming in Asia and the Middle East, and USAID Education Data for Decision-Making (EdData II). 

Given each country has its own education sector challenges, USAID ILOA is designed to rapidly respond to USAID Mission, ministry, and other partner needs with tailored expertise and support. USAID ILOA consortium members, which include technical and regional partners, help USAID to design, implement, and evaluate education interventions from pre-primary to higher education and workforce development.   

Sample activities include:

• Sector assessments, impact evaluations, and other evidence-based resources 
• Analyses, such as those for cost-effectiveness and diversity, equity, and inclusion 
• Support for pilot programs and short-term needs 
• Regional networking and knowledge sharing 
• Training and capacity development 
• Co-design and implementation of large, multi-year, in-country activities to address mission-specific needs.   
   

Building More Inclusive and Effective Education Systems in Asia

Across Asia, countries are striving to provide quality education for all learners, a daunting undertaking in a region home to nearly 60% of the world’s population. Furthermore, climate change and other shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, have made resilience building in the education sector crucial to progress.       

Resilience, localization, gender equity, and social inclusion are priorities for USAID education programming. USAID Missions across Asia can “buy in” to the ILOA mechanisms to unpack these priorities and apply them to specific activities to address their particular context. For example:   

• Country-level education sector assessments with a focus on inclusion of learners with disabilities, and those from language minorities and marginalized groups. 
• Assessing the emerging needs of an education sector during a time of conflict, with a particular focus on the needs of learners in ethnic minority groups and other populations affected by the conflict. 
• Assessment and recommendations to improve the quality and inclusiveness of education in a country recently affected by a natural disaster.    
   

Fostering Local Expertise for Education Improvements in Asia

USAID ILOA generates and captures education evidence and knowledge and disseminates it to stakeholders through networking and exchange programs. In this vein, a technical advisory group of USAID foreign service nationals has been assembled to exchange learning and good practices across countries and regions, as well as to guide implementation of USAID ILOA.  USAID ILOA is also delivering webinars that link educators to global good practices and connections with existing learning networks and platforms.

Learn more about RTI’s work in Education, Policy, Systems and Governance