Unlocking Potential: Enhancing Teacher Certification Pathways for Refugees in East Africa (2025)

As displacement disrupts education for millions of refugee children, this report highlights the urgent need to certify and support refugee teachers as a cornerstone of delivering quality, inclusive education. Drawing on research across East Africa, it examines the current policy landscape, refugee teacher profiles, and six potential certification pathways, identifying key barriers and enablers to professional recognition. The report finds that enabling refugee teachers to gain accredited qualifications benefits both host and refugee communities, strengthens education systems, and advances global development goals. The report calls on the international community to work together around five core priorities – Prioritise, Plan, Partner, Participation, and Pay – to unlock refugee teachers’ full potential as qualified educators.