The 2026 Yidan Prize Conference, themed “Unleashing Africa’s potential: the role of education in a new era of development,” concluded today with a joint announcement by ARED (https://ARED-Edu.org) and Senegal’s Ministry of National Education to strengthen multilingual learning.
Co-convened by the Yidan Prize Foundation, Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED), and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), under the auspices of the Ministry of National Education of Senegal, the Yidan Prize Conference gathered over 280 delegates from 35 countries. Ministers, educators, researchers, practitioners, and philanthropic partners convened in Dakar for action-driven conversations, centering education as a key driver for sustainable development worldwide.
During the three-day Conference, a series of high-level meetings between government officials and education leaders was held to facilitate intercontinental exchange and deepen cross-border collaboration. This included a bilateral meeting between Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo, and Sierra Leone’s Chief Minister, Dr David Moinina Sengeh, joined by representatives from the Yidan Prize Foundation and the Gates Foundation.
Africa at the heart of global conversations on education
This Conference brought together the global education community to learn from African innovations and funding priorities. Through strategic sessions — including roundtables on evidence-based approaches, locally rooted solutions, and home-grown research — the event highlighted the value of Africa-led approaches. Discussions led by the International Education Funders Group (IEFG) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) further underscored the impact of these principles and models.
“Across the African continent, education innovations are emerging. Changemakers and communities are coming together to support national and continental priorities. And transformation is happening at scale. Hosting our first-ever Yidan Prize Conference in Africa is both a significant milestone and a deliberate choice. Africa’s leadership and innovation are vital to the global education conversation,” said Dr Charles CHEN Yidan, Founder of the Yidan Prize, in his welcome remarks.
Moustapha Mamba Guirassy, Minister of National Education of Senegal, emphasized, “Africa does not come to this Conference as a continent awaiting a solution. It comes as a partner in global reflection. Our experience and solidarity, our linguistic richness, our tradition of intergenerational transmission, our ability to foster dialogue between generational knowledge and scientific knowledge — all of these constitute a contribution that we wish to share with the international community.”
Education as a connected system
Dr David Moinina Sengeh, Chief Minister and Chief Innovation Officer of Sierra Leone, encouraged actors in the education ecosystem to be bold enough to move from islands of excellence to connected systems of excellence. He said that, “We must move from access to learning, from learning to skills, from skills to confidence, from confidence to opportunity, and from opportunity to dignity.”
Strategic partners of the Conference gathered around a shared vision of joint efforts and expertise to advance education development. This vision guided five thematic working groups led by the Gates Foundation, Imaginable Futures, the Mastercard Foundation, GPE, IEFG, Echidna Giving, and the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO). The groups explored foundational learning, secondary education and employment transitions, research for impact, school leadership and teacher professional development, as well as AI and edtech.
Dr Peter Materu, Chief Program Officer of the Mastercard Foundation, shared: “The first Secondary Education in Africa report released in 2020 shows that secondary education is the main pathway to work for most young people in Africa and the main platform for building Africa’s human capital. To make this possible, we need more young people in Africa to complete secondary education with the right knowledge and skills that set them on a path to dignified and fulfilling work. Through genuine partnerships, country-owned solutions, and a commitment to placing young people at the centre of the systems designed to serve them, we have seen what becomes possible. That is the future we are building together.”
The imperative of multilingual foundational education
Multilingual foundational education recognizes language as a vehicle for learning, identity, and dignity. Teaching children in a language they understand helps them learn faster, master foundational skills, and build the knowledge and confidence needed to thrive. It also promotes equity and lays the foundation for stronger economic development.
The final day of the Conference highlighted advancements in this field. A high-level panel moderated by Albert Nsengiyumva, Executive Secretary of ADEA, brought together ministry representatives from the host country Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Mauritania. The panel showcased regional progress and explored how multilingual education can drive stronger learning outcomes for all children.
The closing session culminated in a joint commitment to multilingual foundational learning between ARED and Senegal’s Ministry of National Education. Using the Yidan Prize project funds, ARED launched a new remedial education program Amélioration des Apprentissages par la Remédiation (AAR) to support children experiencing difficulties in the classroom.
Mamadou Amadou Ly, Executive Director of ARED and Yidan Prize laureate, stated, “We hope that, with the resources we have from the Yidan Prize and in partnership with the Ministry of National Education, we will reach 150,000 children struggling academically over the next three years, covering three regions and six school districts in Senegal.”
The Gates Foundation reaffirmed its commitment to MOHEBS’s bilingual reform, partnering with ARED and the Ministry to provide technical assistance that will help scale it across primary education and support its institutionalization.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED).
Download images of the Conference here (https://apo-opa.co/3QRWF9O).
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About the Yidan Prize Foundation:
The Yidan Prize Foundation is a global philanthropic foundation with the mission of creating a better world through education. Through its prize and its network of innovators, the Yidan Prize Foundation supports educational ideas and practices that have the potential to positively transform lives and society.
The Yidan Prize is the world’s highest education accolade. It rewards individuals or teams who have made significant contributions to education theory and practice. It consists of two complementary awards: the Yidan Prize for Education Research and the Yidan Prize for Education Development.
To maximize their impact, each laureate receives HK$15 million in project funds over three years to support program implementation or scaling. A gold medal and an additional HK$15 million cash prize are also awarded, to be shared equally in the case of a team.
For more information, visit https://YidanPrize.org
About Associates in Research and Education for Development (ARED):
ARED is a non-profit non-governmental organization based in Dakar, Senegal. Founded in 1990, ARED works to promote quality education rooted in national languages. The organization is dedicated to the training of teachers and educational stakeholders, the development of curricula and teaching materials, as well as the publishing and dissemination of works in national languages. Through its initiatives, ARED aims to strengthen foundational learning, promote local languages and cultures, and contribute to more inclusive, equitable, and effective education systems in Africa.
About the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA):
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) is a pan-African forum for policy dialogue and the leading voice for education in Africa. They are hosted as a special project by the African Development Bank Group in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. ADEA supports African countries in transforming schooling into meaningful learning by pooling evidence, experiences, and knowledge through globally connected partnerships to foster systemic change at national, regional, and continental levels.
Their vision is a high-quality education and training system that serves Africa’s accelerated sustainable development. Their mission is to act as an open and flexible pan-African organization that informs and facilitates the transformation of education and training systems in favor of resilience, human capital development, and youth empowerment, thanks to a qualified Secretariat and a network of country-led Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQNs).
