One year of CEPE: Strengthening Education Through Evidence in Colombia

March 2025 marks one year since the inception of Colombia Evidencia Potencial en Educación (CEPE) , one of our innovative country programs dedicated to embedding evidence into Colombia’s education system

Designed to foster collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and educators, CEPE is focused on improving learning outcomes through three key components:

• Communities of Change, which support local education leaders in implementing evidence-based policies
• The Education Evidence Lab (EdLab), which connects research to decision-making to ensure policies are backed by rigorous data
• Co-Funding Mechanism, which mobilizes support from the government, philanthropic organizations, and industry funders to sustain long-term change

Over the past year, CEPE has made substantial progress toward systemic change, securing co-funding through a pooled investment of USD 25 million from partners including the Colombia Ministry of Education, UBS Optimus Foundation, Fondation Botnar, Fundación Bancolombia, Fundación Santo Domingo, and Fundación Vélez Reyes.

The initiative will train education leaders to enhance evidence-informed decision-making, share crucial research insights with national and regional stakeholders, and expand pilot initiatives to benefit an increasing number of students. As a result, it is expected to lead to a measurable increase in the adoption of proven classroom practices, improvements in student performance in reading and math, and the implementation of social-emotional skills tracking in schools.

CEPE will have an exponential impact on the Colombian education system in the years ahead. By strengthening Colombia’s learning ecosystem, the initiative has the potential to close crucial gaps in foundational skills and learning, ensuring that every child has access to quality education.

Ana Cubillo, PhD, Global Lead for Learning and Evidence

Ana Cubillo, PhD, Global Lead for Learning and Evidence