Tanzania is Host to Africa-Wide Numeracy Workshop, Bringing Together Seven Countries to Scale What Works in the Classroom

Tanzania is this week host to a five-day regional Numeracy Research and Development (NRD) workshop, bringing together ministry officials, technical experts, programme leaders and implementing partners from seven countries to share evidence and practical approaches for strengthening children’s foundational mathematics skills.

The workshop, taking place in Dodoma from 5–9 October 2026, provides a platform for participating countries to exchange experiences on what works in the classroom and explore how effective approaches to numeracy can be strengthened, sustained and taken to scale.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is expected to officiate the opening of the workshop, underscoring Tanzania’s commitment to strengthening foundational learning and the important role of national governments in shaping and sustaining improvements in numeracy.

NRD focuses on transforming foundational learning in Grades 1-3 through structured pedagogical approaches which include: lesson plans, practical counting materials, assessments and teacher training. The workshop enables country delegations to share classroom-tested practices and build evidence-based models that national governments can adopt at scale.

The NRD programme prioritises: “Numeracy is foundational for all learning,” said Tom Pugh, NRD Programme Director at Genesis Analytics. “This convening brings together practitioners to demonstrate practical, working models so that single-district success can be expanded into national frameworks.”

Government leadership from day one

The workshop opens on Monday with a formal welcome from the Government of Tanzania, including a courtesy visit and introductions across all seven government delegations represented. Tanzanian officials will set out their national literacy and numeracy priorities before the full NRD community, and an afternoon of cross-country roundtables will let governments compare approaches, delivery, impact measurement, and affordability directly with their peers, rather than simply receive information from program partners.

This two-day, government-led opening reflects a deliberate design choice: numeracy reform succeeds only when governments own it and ultimately fund and run it at scale. By placing government voice first, before the technical and pedagogical sessions that follow, the workshop is structured to ensure implementing partners bring what they need to the table, shaped by real government priorities rather than donor assumptions.

On Friday, delegations travel to Kondoa for study visits, including official greetings and orientation hosted by the Kondoa district leadership, followed by direct classroom observation and a structured debrief with the local education community.

Children in Crossfire: a leading voice on foundational numeracy in Tanzania

Among the implementing partners bringing that classroom evidence to Dodoma is Children in Crossfire, whose work anchors the NRD program’s Tanzania delegation. Children in Crossfire was selected for NRD from a large, competitive pool of applicants, reflecting its standing as a well-resourced, technically deep organization with a sustained track record in foundational learning in Tanzania. Its team will be central to the week’s grade-by-grade pedagogy sessions, contributing practical, classroom-tested experience of what strengthens early-grade mathematics teaching, and to the discussions on materials, monitoring, and teacher support that determine whether that quality holds up at scale.

Building a bank of what works in the classroom

From Tuesday to Thursday, the workshop turns to the classroom itself. Grade-by-grade sessions will bring together numeracy pedagogy experts from across the continent to examine, in granular detail, what strong teaching of early-grade mathematics actually looks like: how children build understanding through models such as part-part-whole, five- and ten-frames, number lines, and place value materials; how lesson plans can support teachers to explain mathematical ideas clearly and coherently; and how coaching, mentoring, and teacher learning circles sustain that quality once training ends.

Materials development and distribution, monitoring of classroom implementation, and the practicalities of supporting teachers at scale will each be examined through a cross-country lens, with technical partner Room to Read presenting its role in developing and distributing NRD’s pedagogical materials. The intent is cumulative: each day’s classroom evidence, delegation experience, and technical practice is captured and carried forward, building a shared, practical bank of ideas about what genuinely improves numeracy outcomes in the classroom, tested and refined across seven different country contexts rather than developed in isolation in any one of them.

From evidence to national scale

The workshop closes on Thursday by deliberately returning to government. Sessions on strengthening government partnerships and translating workshop learning into country action plans are designed to connect the week’s classroom evidence directly to the policy and financing decisions that determine whether good practice spreads. Delegations will identify the ministry touchpoints, technical messages, and evidence that can build government ownership without diluting program quality, and each country and program team will leave with concrete commitments and next steps.

The underlying goal of the week is one of scale: NRD’s programs currently operate at the district level in each of the seven participating countries. The relationships built this week between implementers and government are intended to be the mechanism by which single-district pilots become multi-district, and eventually national, programs. That trajectory matters because it is also the trajectory that makes numeracy reform affordable: models that work in one district must be shown to work, and to be financeable, at a scale governments can sustain from their own budgets once donor support ends.

By the close of the workshop, the aim is not simply for participants to have learned from one another, but for governments to leave Dodoma with a clearer, evidence-based view of what is worth taking to scale nationally and for implementing partners to leave with a clearer sense of how to make that case in terms that government can act on.

About NRD

NRD is a program working across seven countries to strengthen early-grade numeracy instruction through a shared pedagogical package spanning lesson design, teacher training, instructional coaching, and implementation monitoring. The program brings together government ministries, implementing partners, technical specialists, and the Gates Foundation around a common goal: helping children build strong foundational mathematics skills through classroom-proven teaching practices. NRD is funded by the Gates Foundation as well as the Hempel Foundation and Founder’s Pledge.

Media Contact:

Genesis Analytics: teminahm@genesis-analytics.com

Children in Crossfire: chiku.lweno@childrenincrossfire.org