Building Evidence in Education (BE2)

(BE2 meeting, 2025 in Oxford)

What is BE2

Building Evidence in Education (BE2) is a global working group, launched in 2012, aimed at enhancing evidence generation and use to improve education outcomes. Its over 40 members are  bilateral donors, multilateral agencies, philanthropic organisations, and global and regional networks with a focus on education evidence, research, and use. BE2 provides a platform for education evidence-related collaboration, guidance and tool development, and reciprocal knowledge exchange among researchers, policymakers and practitioners to achieve its goals.

Mission

BE2 fosters collaboration and coordination to advance the quality and relevance of evidence in education. It promotes the accessibility and use of research that supports decision-making to improve education outcomes.

BE2 strengthens the generation, quality, and uptake of evidence by:

  • Advancing thought leadership on research and evidence generation approaches and use
  • Achieving member alignment through co-creation and dissemination of high-value, user friendly public goods, including guidance notes
  • Strengthening membership, engagement, knowledge sharing and collaboration on evidence generation and its use
  • Promoting evidence uptake and evidence-based policies and practices.

Governance

BE2 is led by a Steering Committee that is composed of the UK government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the World Bank, a United Nations (UN) representative agency (currently, UNESCO) and a foundation (currently represented by Porticus Foundation).

BE2 Secretariat

BE2 is supported by a small Secretariat, currently staffed by a contract with MannionDaniels.

Resources

BE2 facilitates co-creation and knowledge exchange to ensure that its members and strategic partners have access to high-quality, contextually relevant public goods, including guidance notes. These are guided by members’ needs, and the needs of the broader research community and evidence users. They include guidance notes (e.g., on implementation research, cost measurement, qualitative research), tools and knowledge products. BE2 also uses its member meetings and supportive research to enhance the thought leadership and understanding on evidence generation and use.

View all resources

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

BE2 members have created several Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on a wide array of education topics. SIGs are member-led and member-driven platforms for knowledge exchange on key education topics. The SIGs discuss ongoing topics, challenges and issues, provide peer reviews on draft research, carry out surveys, and explore areas for coordination and collaboration”. If you would like to learn more about the SIGs, please contact: secretariat@building-evidence-in-education.org

The SIGs are as follows:

A group of children sat outside with a child in the foreground holding up a book to the camera

Climate Smart Education Systems (CSES)

A group of children in a classroom waving at the camera.

Early Childhood Development (ECD)

A group of children sat outside with a child in the foreground writing in a notebook.

Education in Emergencies (EiE)

A group on young students walking outside whilst carrying educational books.

Higher Education (HE)

Children in a classroom looking at a blackboard.

Knowledge Systems Strengthening (KSS)

A teacher presenting in front of a projector screen to a small group of people.

Education Workforce: Supporting Impactful Classrooms (EWF) - Formerly: Teacher Professional Development (TPD)

List of Members

BE2 has a diverse membership base reflected below:

* Until recently, USAID also was a member

Global Connections

UNESCO‘s SDG4 High-Level Steering Committee’s (HLSC) Functional Areas (FA) are interrelated and together create an overall enabling environment for accelerating progress towards the SDG4-Education 2030 agenda by facilitating global and regional cooperation on better evidence use for policy, data and monitoring, and financing.

BE2 is a member of Functional Area 1: Evidence and Policy. The overall objective of Functional Area 1 is to strengthen the institutional capacities of education authorities to use data and evidence for policy, planning and implementation.

UNESCO Functional Area 1 Website

The What Works Hub for Global Education is area large collection of institutions who share a common goal: to help governments use the best evidence on how to get children learning, and to implement these proven ideas at the scale necessary for transformative outcomes. BE2 is a strategic partner for the What Works Hub for Global Education. The other strategic partners are: the Blavatnik School of Government (University of Oxford), the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Gates Foundation, the British Council, the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP), the Learning Generation Initiative, USAID, UNICEF Innocenti, UNESCO-IIEP, the World Bank and the Jacobs Foundation.

What Works Hub Global Education Website

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