Unlocking the potential of middle-tier education governance for scaling impact in low- and middle-income countries

The middle tier of governance in education systems—that system level between central government and schools—is a critical but often overlooked lever for improving education in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In theory, the middle tier serves as a bridge between the policymaking of the central level and implementation at the school level, supporting communication, contextualization, and cooperation between these system levels. If harnessed well, a strong middle tier can imbue innovation design and implementation with local knowledge to tailor delivery, sustain impact through data use and teacher support, and secure local commitment for sustained ownership.

However, in practice, this potential often remains untapped, with mid-level actors largely relegated to compliance, documentation, and data collection tasks. Over the last 14 months, our Research on Scaling the Impact of Innovations in Education (ROSIE) project at the Center for Universal Education (part of the Global Partnership for Education’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange) studied this topic, looking specifically at the role of mid-level actors in decentralized systems with respect to identifying, contextualizing, and scaling education innovations for impact.

The potential of the middle tier

Our latest report, Unlocking the potential of middle-tier education governance for scaling impact in low- and middle-income countries, draws on 90 interviews we conducted to compare the cases of El Salvador, the Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, and Nepal. The findings reveal four important assets of the middle-tier that can be leveraged to improve education systems’ ability to scale innovation:

1. The mid-level’s unique positioning is a critical link for translating central policies downward and communicating local needs, assets, and challenges upward.
2. Mid-level actors’ education expertise, experience, and local knowledge can provide a well-supported middle tier with an ability to carefully identify, develop, contextualize, and scale promising innovations as well as provide corresponding teacher support and instructional leadership.
3. The inherent commitment of mid-level actors to their jurisdiction can ensure that the system is invested in local education success.
4. The middle level’s proximity to schools and communities improves the likelihood of local ownership of innovations, so they become daily education practices.

Our data, however, also revealed myriad ways in which these assets went unrealized in the four countries. These include features such as:

• Incomplete decentralization of education in countries or outright re-centralization, which diminished mid-level agency
• Rigid top-down hierarchies that decreased mid-level autonomy
• Insufficient training and support for mid-level officials
• Exclusion of mid-level s actors from engaging data or leading implementation, relegating them largely to administrative work
• Absence of peer exchange or innovation sharing

Harnessing the power of the middle tier

But it doesn’t need to be this way. Our report offers tailored recommendations for fostering a virtuous circle of system strengthening and scaling leadership at the middle level. Although the report discusses these in more detail, we propose that central governments share innovation ownership and decision-making authority with middle levels by establishing national consultation systems in which mid-level actors contribute knowledge and ideas for designing, developing, and scaling education innovations. This would also require that governments undertake strategic efforts to hire, train, and support high-quality mid-level actors. Such an approach also carries implications for what the mid-level personnel themselves must bring to the change. They will need to commit to the hard work of developing capacities, strengthening their commitments to the job, and learning to work together. And we recommend that external education organizations and global funders who work with or at the middle level prioritize a program of strengthening this crucial system component and intentionally include mid-level officials in their innovation work.

Following the targeted recommendations provided in the report, we look forward to locations around the world working collaboratively to unlock the potential of the middle level and leverage its inherent ability to improve education systems for all communities, children, and whole locations.

Download the report