Education Out Loud (EOL) is the Global Partnership for Education’s flagship fund for advocacy and accountability in education, managed by Oxfam Denmark. Its core objective is to strengthen civil society’s ability to influence education policy and systems so that they are more inclusive, gender-responsive, equitable, and accountable - especially for marginalized and vulnerable populations. In its current phase (2024-2026), EOL supports 80+ grantees in more than 60 countries, including national education coalitions, national advocacy organisations, and transnational/regional alliances.
As a Education Out Loud (EOL) Global Learning Partner for the 2024-2026 period, the Right to Education Initiative (RTE) has been working to enhance the capacity of civil society organisations (CSO) in low and middle income countries to advocate for the full realisation of the right to education. Over May and June 2025, we delivered a series of learning sessions designed to equip EOL grantees with the legal knowledge, monitoring strategies, and advocacy tools they need to advance education as a human right.
Why Capacity Development Matters
The right to education is enshrined in international law, yet millions of learners around the world still face exclusion, inequality, and systemic barriers. Civil society organisations (CSOs) play a critical role in identifying these gaps, amplifying community voices, and pushing governments to meet their obligations.
To be better equipped to push for the implementation of the right to education, CSOs should be able to navigate the human rights system: understand the legal framework that protects the right to education, identify implementation gaps and violations of this right by monitoring States’ obligations, and use human rights mechanisms - such as UN or regional treaty bodies’s reviews and/or recommendations - to strengthen their advocacy strategies at national level.
RTE has tailored a capacity development programme for EOL grantees focused on empowering advocates to better understand the different dimensions of the right to education so they can engage in rights-based advocacy to bring about more inclusive education policies at national level, giving them more confidence to demand accountability.
When civil society has the knowledge and tools to hold governments accountable, they are better equipped to engage in meaningful change for learners.
A Two-Block Learning Journey
The weekly learning sessions were tailored to EOL grantees needs and delivered online, directly in English, French, and Portuguese. The sessions brought together 53 civil society organisations from 33 countries across Africa, Middle-East and Asia-Pacific regions.
Structured into two blocks, the sessions combined foundational learning with in-depth thematic sessions:
- Learning Block 1 (four sessions per language stream) provided a comprehensive overview of the right to education, covering the international and national legal framework protecting this right, states’ obligations according to human rights law (including minimum core obligations, maximum available resources, and non-retrogression), identifying violations and implementation gaps, and monitoring the right to education from a human rights perspective.
- Learning Block 2 (two sessions per language stream) was designed around participants’ needs, focusing on priority themes to ensure that EOL grantees received targeted knowledge relevant to their contexts. The English stream sessions covered ‘reporting to UN Human Rights mechanisms’ as well as ‘ensuring access and participation for all’. The French stream sessions focused on ‘the right to education in conflict and climate-affected contexts’ and on the specific provisions rearding girls and children with disabilities’ (CWD) right to education. The Portuguese stream concentrated on a gender perspective, focusing on girls’ inclusion as well as identifying the barriers affecting girls’ access, participation and completion.
This progressive structure ensured that all participants shared a solid ground in the basics, while also creating space to explore issues relevant to their daily advocacy practices.
Building confidence for stronger advocacy
Building on their contextual knowledge, participants used the sessions’ content to engage in hands-on, practical activities in between sessions. The on-line sessions were complemented by a set of useful resources and exercises that enabled EOL grantees to deepen their learning, while also constituting the foundational basis upon which participants can start a long term monitoring project to hold governments accountable to protect, respect and fulfill the right to education.
EOL grantees’ feedback was very enthusiastic with an overwhelmingly majority of participants reporting significant learning gains across all three languages streams:
99% found the content clear, understandable and relevant to their professional needs.
100% agreed that learning objectives were achieved
98% found the pedagogical tools and material used in the training effective
All participants reported improved knowledge, with most saying they feel confident applying what they learned to their advocacy work
As one participant put it: 'If we have more of such trainings, it will really affect the way we advocate.' And another one to add: 'This training will allow me to have a deeper understanding of the laws and policies that regulate access to education. This will enable me to advocate better for the right to education and to apply principles of equity and inclusion to my strategies.'
Looking Ahead
Delivering 17 learning sessions across time zones and languages provided valuable insights for future capacity development activities. Learning is not a one-off activity, it is a continuous process. That’s why we are now engaging in close one-to-one follow up with a selected number of EOL grantees that participated in the training sessions to help them transform knowledge into action. We remain committed to strengthening civil society’s ability to use human rights to push for systemic change in education, hold governments accountable, and ensure that every learner enjoys their right to quality and inclusive education.
Juliana Lima is Monitoring and Advocay Project Manager at the Right to Education Initiative and leads our work with EOL.
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