Notre Dame's 'Graduating from Learning Poverty' project partners with local organizations in Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda to improve education outcomes. Through collaborative research with Building Tomorrow and regional partners, the initiative studies sustainable, scalable interventions to address learning challenges in sub-Saharan Africa and create pathways out of poverty.
Notre Dame researchers tackle learning poverty through early-grade reading interventions in Kenya, Uganda, and Senegal. The project studies evidence-based approaches to boost functional literacy—a crucial pathway out of poverty.
Building Tomorrow partners with Notre Dame to improve education in rural Uganda through community-powered learning. Their innovative approach engages local changemakers, achieving 80% improvement in literacy and numeracy for enrolled students in 2024.
Sarah Genz, program manager within Pulte Institute’s Entrepreneurship and Education Division, spent a week with partners at Sidi Abdellah University in Algeria—the National School of Artificial Intelligence and the National Higher School of Mathematics—to help implement an “AI for Social Good” workshop.…
Alejandro Estefan is an Assistant Professor of Development Economics at the Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, and a Core Affilaited Faculty within the Pulte Institute for Global Development. His work centers on evaluating the impacts of economic reform and private sector engagement on economic development, with a geographical focus in Latin America. Whether investigating how tax and labor reforms impact taxpayers and workers in Mexico or how digital tools empower women entrepreneurs in Guatemala, Alejandro’s research reflects a keen interest in the complexities of economic systems and their human consequences. He is motivated by a desire to make meaningful contributions to reducing inequality and improving livelihoods​.