KIX EMAP Skills-Strengthening Workshop: Qualitative Research
Date: 28 – 29 January 2026
Time: 1:00 – 3:00 PM (CET/Geneva)
Location: Online (Zoom)
Languages: English, with simultaneous interpretation to Arabic and Russian
This will be the third workshop in the KIX EMAP Skills-Strengthening Workshop Series. This KIX EMAP skills-strengthening workshop, organised in partnership with the Building Evidence in Education (BE2) initiative, is focused on qualitative research. This workshop will help education stakeholders better understand how to generate and use qualitative evidence in ways that strengthen program design, implementation, and adaptation across the EMAP region.
Qualitative research plays a central role in understanding how education policies and programs actually unfold in diverse contexts. Ministries, researchers, and implementing partners across the EMAP region increasingly face questions that cannot be answered by quantitative data alone – questions about stakeholder perspectives, contextual constraints, mechanisms behind observed outcomes, and how to adapt or scale interventions responsibly.
This workshop will introduce participants to the BE² Guidance Note on Qualitative Research and provide hands-on practice applying qualitative approaches to real policy and implementation challenges.
By the end of the two-day workshop, participants will:
- Strengthen their skill in formulating clear, feasible qualitative research questions that address real policy and implementation needs.
- Enhance their capacity to choose qualitative methods and sampling strategies appropriate to those questions and contexts.
- Deepen their understanding of how qualitative data are collected, analysed, interpreted, and distinguished from other forms of evidence.
- Develop practical strategies for designing or commissioning qualitative studies that balance rigour with feasibility and support timely decision-making.
- Increase confidence in applying qualitative findings to education decisions through hands-on case analysis and discussion of the use and value of qualitative data analysis tools.
Participants must plan to attend both days.
Workshop Outline
Day 1 – Qualitative questions and study design
- What makes a good qualitative research question, grounded in policy and implementation needs
- Linking research questions to intended use and decision-making
- Selecting appropriate qualitative approaches and methods
Day 2 – Interpretation, analysis, and use of qualitative evidence
- Analysing qualitative data in relation to purpose and intended use
- Interpreting qualitative findings to generate insight for policy and program decisions
- How rapid qualitative approaches can support timely decision-making
- Applying learning to participants’ own work through guided reflection and discussion
The training will combine short presentations with interactive exercises, breakout discussions, and applied case examples. Participants will work with their own questions, with opportunities for peer exchange and facilitator guidance. The emphasis is on practical application, and the agenda may adapt slightly in response to participant needs and discussion flow.
Facilitators
Joan DeJaeghere, Author of the BE² Guidance Note on Qualitative Research
Joan DeJaeghere is a Distinguished International Professor of Comparative and International Development Education, and a co-chair holder of the UNESCO Chair, Education, Equity and Wellbeing in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. She also serves as the faculty director of Global Education Research for the College of Education and Human Development.
Dr. DeJaeghere conducts research on educational inequalities, education systems, and social change, including how education fosters democratic citizenship, sustainable livelihoods, and wellbeing. She has more than 25 years of experience leading qualitative and mixed-methods research studies. She has also co/led interdisciplinary research projects and teams in more than 15 countries, working with Ministries of Education, civil society organisations and university researchers. She currently co-leads a research partnership with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Education Out Loud with Oxfam Denmark, and she serves as a co-principal investigator for Education System Resilience in South/Southeast Asia, led by the Mekong Development Research Institute, Vietnam, and funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) & GPE – KIX.
Deborah Greebon, Deputy Lead, Building Evidence in Education (BE²) Secretariat
Deborah Greebon is a specialist in education evidence, evaluation, and learning with 20 years of experience supporting governments, donors, and implementing partners across four continents. She is Deputy Lead of Building Evidence in Education (BE²), a global network focused on strengthening education research, synthesis, and use in low- and middle-income countries.
For the past five years, Deborah served as Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Advisor at USAID’s Center for Education, where she played a central role in strengthening evidence capacity and learning systems across USAID’s global education portfolio. She oversaw large-scale evaluations, supported country teams and partners in strengthening evidence uptake and applying research to policy and program decisions, and led global trainings for staff and partners on evidence use and uptake, mixed-methods research, and implementation research.
A former primary school teacher, Deborah has directed multi-million-dollar USAID and NGO programs and worked closely with ministries of education and research institutions, with extensive experience in the Middle East. She currently leads BE²’s work on AI and evidence ecosystems, including applied training on responsible and AI-enabled research synthesis.
Eligibility
This workshop has limited seats available. Only those based in one of the KIX EMAP partner countries are eligible for this workshop. Individuals working on education policy, planning, practice or research in one of the EMAP countries for whom the skills addressed in this workshop are relevant for their work are welcome to submit an application.
Application
The application deadline is 9 January 2026. Your application can be submitted in English, Arabic or Russian.
Those who are selected to participate in the workshop will receive an invitation by email.
Please spread the news about this event to your colleagues and networks, and on social media: @KIXEMAP and @NORRAG.