The Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) seeks to generate evidence on life skills and values and use this evidence to engage in public policy reforms, and strengthen local capacities in life skills competences in Kenya, Tanzania mainland, Uganda and Zanzibar. ALiVE responds to the need for RELI Africa members and the education systems to develop assessments of life skills and values within the East African context and collate evidence on what works in nurturing these competences. This is intended to grow the local expertise of RELI Africa members.
As the RELI Africa members increase their understanding of these competences, there will be growth of local expertise with hands-on skills in nurturing and measuring complex skills and supporting education systems to better integrate assessments in curricula for improved learning outcomes.
The current focus of the ALiVE programme is on enhancing the capacity of the key government education departments to integrate, nurture and assess life skills and values in the national education systems for a wider system shift. This is achieved by collaboratively developing contextualized classroom-based assessments tools for generating evidence-based learning progressions for prioritized competences and supporting the implementation of Values-based Education (VbE) using the Whole School Approach (WSA). The evidence generated will be crucial for developing and trying out interventions for improved education practices and for public policy advocacy
ALiVE focuses on three interlinked outcome areas:
- System shift: Evidence used to inform policy and practice for assessing and nurturing life skills and values.
- Assessment shift: Assessment capacities for life skills and values strengthened.
- Learning hub: Evidence on life skills and values enriches internal and external learning.
The ALiVE Academy Vision
The ALiVE Academy was established during Phase I of the ALiVE programme (2020 to 2023), as a strategic initiative to strengthen national capacities for life skills and values assessment across Kenya, Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar), and Uganda. Drawing on a multidisciplinary community of 47 local experts from government, academia, and civil society, the Academy played a central role in co-developing contextualized household-based assessment tools for adolescents aged 13–17 years. While the initial academy developed contextualized assessment measures for skills and values, the Academy was not just about creating assessments; it was about growing local capacity and ownership so that education systems in the region could better nurture the full potential of every young person.
Over time, the ALiVE Academy has grown into a vibrant hub for nurturing local expertise and advancing public understanding of life skills and values. It has played a key role in strengthening the capacity of assessment institutions and education systems to integrate, support, and measure these critical competencies. At its core, the Academy supports a broader vision: the establishment of a homegrown African assessment centre, rooted in East Africa and led by local knowledge and leadership.

The training content is directly informed by the mapping and capacity enhancement plans developed under Outcome 1 (System Shift). Key focus areas include adapting the ALiVE tool for younger learners (6-12 years), transitioning its application from household to classroom settings, and expanding its reach across multiple languages and contexts. The work also involves developing additional tasks and items for the existing competences, as well as designing tools for new competences and values as per country priorities.
The second dimension of the academy is finalising the training packages and acquisition of intellectual property rights to safeguard and formalize the tools and resources developed through the ALiVE Initiative. In parallel, the Academy is drawing lessons from established global assessment centres to inform strategies for long term institutionalization and sustainability beyond 2025.
To ensure continuity and local ownership, the Academy is pursuing a dual strategy: deepening the capacity of the current cohort of trainers while expanding participation to include additional professionals from partner institutions. The ALiVE Academy has from time to time admitted interested teachers, curriculum development and assessment experts as well as teacher trainers from the jurisdiction in which ALiVE works (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar). Additionally, the Academy aims to invite identified and interested members from universities and researchers in each participating jurisdiction as well as members of the RELI Africa/VaLi communities. This approach aims to build a wider pool of experts equipped to lead the life skills and values assessment agenda.
ALiVE Academy courses are provided free of charge for the participants who are invited to participate in the various cohorts. Participants are also supported with relevant costs associated with travel, accommodation and other logistics necessary when members are meeting for hybrid or face to face workshops, or when required to go to the field to develop, test or pilot tools.
By Dr. Samuel Mutweleli, Regional Assessment Shift Manager – ALiVE
@MMutweleli