The MECS
Motivate. Equip. Celebrate. Three interlocking interventions designed to transform Tanzania's learning system from the inside — and to generate the evidence and costing that lets government scale what works.
A framework, not a portfolio.
Each programme addresses a distinct binding constraint in the system — but they were designed together, are evaluated together, and will scale together.
KiuFunza
A performance-based teacher incentive programme tested across more than 180 schools and ten years of RCT data. Results published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics; replicated, costed, and adopted into the public system in three regions.
Read the programmeE · EquipSOMA
A scale-pathways pilot equipping primary teachers with on-demand pedagogical coaching, delivered via an AI-assisted chatbot. A 70-school RCT in Mtwara region is generating the cost and effectiveness data needed for government adoption — at a marginal cost of $3.12 per student.
Read the programmeC · CelebrateMwalimu Kinara
An annual national recognition initiative honouring excellence in the teaching profession. Mwalimu Kinara ("teacher of teachers") reinforces a culture of accountability and improvement — and reminds the public education system who its heroes are.
Read the programmeKiuFunza
KiuFunza ("thirst to learn") rewards primary-school teachers for the demonstrated learning gains of their pupils. Teachers receive a per-pupil bonus when independent assessments show that students have mastered specific reading and numeracy competencies — and they receive nothing when they have not.
The programme was built around a simple hypothesis: that the binding constraint in many Tanzanian classrooms was not teacher capability or material shortage, but the absence of a clear, measurable, and durable signal of what success looks like. KiuFunza creates that signal — and pays for it.
Across ten years and three randomised controlled trials, KiuFunza schools have outperformed control schools on standardised reading and maths assessments by an average of 21% and 18% respectively. The effects persist after teachers exit the programme, and have replicated across rural and urban contexts.
In 2025 the Ministry of Education adopted the KiuFunza framework as the basis for a national pilot in three regions. LearnImpact serves as the evidence partner, not the implementer.
SOMA
SOMA ("read" / "study" in Kiswahili) gives every participating teacher a private, on-demand pedagogical coach — one that can be reached from any phone, in Kiswahili or English, at any time. The coach is an AI-assisted chatbot, supervised by LearnImpact’s research team and bounded by a curated set of evidence-based pedagogical interventions.
SOMA is explicitly designed as a scale pathways pilot: every operational decision is filtered through the question of whether the Ministry could run this programme in 2027 at full national reach, on its own budget, with its own people. The 70-school RCT in Mtwara is producing not just effectiveness data, but the cost ledger, training playbook, and operational manual that government would need to adopt the programme.
Marginal cost per additional student in the pilot is $3.12 — well below the threshold at which any evidence-backed learning intervention would be considered cost-effective by World Bank standards.
Mwalimu Kinara
Mwalimu Kinara is an annual cycle that nominates, peer-reviews, and publicly honours exceptional primary and secondary teachers across Tanzania. Recognition is not a substitute for systemic change — but in a system where excellent teachers can spend their entire careers unseen, it is a meaningful complement.
The programme is delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Education and a rotating consortium of regional councils. Nominations are open to head teachers, peers, parents, and students. Final selection is made by a panel of educators, researchers, and former awardees.
Beyond the ceremony, Mwalimu Kinara creates a growing alumni network — a peer community of recognised teachers who serve as mentors in subsequent KiuFunza and SOMA cohorts. Recognition feeds the rest of the framework.
Built for government,
not around it.
Every LearnImpact programme is designed from day one for adoption by Tanzania's public education system — with the evidence, costing, and operational playbooks government needs to take it to scale.
See the evidenceDiagnose with government
Identify a binding constraint in the learning system, in partnership with Ministry of Education and regional council stakeholders.
Pilot with rigour
Design and run a pre-registered randomised controlled trial that generates causal evidence — not just outputs. Independent assessors. Open data.
Cost and document
Produce the per-child cost data, training playbook, and operational manual government needs to budget for and replicate the intervention.
Hand over
Transfer what works to the public system; remain available as an evidence partner, not a service provider. Our success is measured by what we no longer run.
Active in 11 regions across Tanzania.
From the coast of Mtwara to the Lake Zone, our programmes operate at the invitation of regional councils and in close coordination with district education officers.