From Evidence to Impact: Advancing Equity, Learning and Accountability in Ethiopia’s Education Policy through Research Partnerships

Introduction: Research–policy partnerships are widely used to support evidence-informed reform, yet how evidence actually shapes policy and practice in low-income education systems remains poorly understood. This article asks how, and under what relational and institutional conditions, evidence generated by the RISE Ethiopia programme contributed to national policy on equity, learning and accountability. Methods/Data: The study uses a qualitative case-study design, drawing on 22 semi-structured interviews with senior federal policymakers, regional officials, development partners and local NGOs, complemented by documentary analysis of RISE outputs, education sector plans and policy materials. Analytic Plan: Interview transcripts and documents were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis framework, combining deductive coding organised around bounded mutuality, sustained interactivity and policy adaptability with inductive coding of emergent evidence-to-policy contribution pathways. Results: RISE evidence contributed to the bottom-up design of the four-year Ethiopia Education Transformation Programme (EETP, 2025–2029), supported a reframing of national discourse from schooling expansion towards foundational learning, helped develop an equity narrative grounded in observed learning gains among disadvantaged students within a school year, and informed COVID-19 school-reopening deliberations. Contributions were clearest where trusted relationships, timely decision windows and actionable evidence converged; where any of these elements was weak, policy impact was correspondingly less direct. Conclusion/Implications: The article shows that policy contribution was enabled by relational conditions that allowed evidence to be heard, trusted and acted upon. It offers a transferable framework for embedding research in policy systems and underscores the need for sustained institutional investment in the capacity for evidence use.