African Union Pan-African Conference on Girls’ and Women’s Education (AU PANCOGEd 2)

The second edition of the African Union Pan-African Conference on Girls’ and Women’s Education (AU PANCOGEd2) will be held from 2-4 July in Bujumbura, Burundi. Organised under the theme, “Prioritising Girls’ and Women’s Education: Develop their skills and accelerate learning and training Opportunities”, the conference will bring together 200-300 multi-stakeholders working across gender equality, education, and social protection to review progress on Girls' and Women's Education in Africa, promote peer learning and evidence-based policy dialogue, strengthen institutional capacity and regional coordination, and generate actionable recommendations and knowledge products that accelerate gender-responsive education systems and support broader gender equality outcomes.

VVOB – education for development, through the EU Global Gateway Flagship, the Regional Teachers’ Initiative for Africa (RTIA) and its subsidiary project, Teach2Empower, is supporting and scaling existing initiatives on Teacher Professional Development (TPD) for Green and Gender-Responsive Pedagogy (GRP) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project is aimed at building a more competent, motivated and inclusive teacher workforce in basic education in Africa, supporting children and youth to become critical, responsible and active citizens shaping green, digital and gender-equal societies. 

VVOB joins PANCOGEd2 with the aim to contribute to continental conversations about education systems strengthening in response to climate vulnerability and crisis contexts, the connection between Green Education, Gender-Responsive Pedagogy, and the realities facing girls in climate-affected settings. Subsequently, VVOB will contribute to the following side events:

1. Thursday 2 July, from 14:30pm-16:30pm (EAT): Panel session in partnership with UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (UNESCO IICBA), titled, “Empowering Teachers for Gender-Responsive, Inclusive and Future-Ready Education: Key Discussions and the Launch of Compendium of Resources on Teacher Professional Development (TPD) for Gender-Responsive Pedagogy (GRP).” The objective of this session is to engage policymakers, practitioners, and partners on evidence-based approaches to strengthening teacher competencies and advancing girls' learning, participation, empowerment, and future readiness, and to launch the Compendium of Resources on Teacher Professional Development for Gender-Responsive Pedagogy. 
2. Saturday 4  July, from 11:30am-13:30pm (EAT): Panel session in collaboration with Oxfam, African Union International Centre for the Education of Girls and Women in Africa (AU/CIEFFA), African Union Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI), The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) titled, “Investing in Teachers: Strengthening Capacity and Retention through Gender-Transformative and Fragile-Responsive Education. VVOB will present emerging evidence on effective Teacher Professional Development for Gender-Responsive Pedagogy (TPD for GRP), drawing on a recent evidence review in Sub-Saharan Africa with practical examples of TPD for GRP approaches from Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. The presentation will examine key conditions required to scale TPD for GRP into national education systems.

Both sessions will combine technical showcases, high-level reflections, and moderated dialogue, aimed at generating actionable recommendations for strengthening teacher capacity, improving teacher retention and well-being as essential for advancing gender-transformative and fragile responsive education systems in Africa.

Read more about the event on https://aupancoged.org/docs/concept-note_pancoged2/and if interested in participating online, feel free to register via https://aupancoged.org/fr/register/.