• PAL Network Website
• The ICAN (International Common Assessment of Numeracy) Toolkit
• PAL Network datasets on learning (Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Mexico, Mozambique)
• The Essential Role of Citizen-led Assessments, Reflections from the PAL Network Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal [RISE Blog] by Joe Bullough
• Building on Solid Foundations: Prioritising Universal, Early, Conceptual and Procedural Mastery of Foundational Skills [RISE Insight Note] by Carmen Belafi, Yue-Yi Hwa, & Michelle Kaffenberger
• Getting Real about Unknowns in Complex Policy Work (with application to recent education policy interventions in Mozambique) [RISE Working Paper] by Matt Andrews
• RISE Podcast Episode 14 - Modupe Adefeso-Olateju on how partners can come together to solve Nigeria’s learning crisis

Armando Ali

Armando Ali is the Chief Executive Officer at the PAL Network where he provides overall leadership, nurtures a sense of collective ownership and belonging within the network and ensures sustained growth, health and impact. Armando is an Education Specialist with over 20 years of experience in mobilising citizens to improve the quality of education. He is passionate about improving foundational literacy and numeracy skills of children in the early grades and, since 2001, has held a variety of leadership roles in civil society and academia, advocating for the right of quality education for all children.

Before joining PAL Network, he worked as an education specialist with UNICEF, Mozambique. He also previously worked as the coordinator of Mozambique’s Citizen-led Action, Wiixutta Nithweelaka – an approach inspired by Teaching at the Right Level that helps children to improve their reading and arithmetic competencies. He holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Development Work from Linnaeus University in Sweden. 

Joe Bullough

Joe Bullough is the Partnerships Manager for the RISE Programme and a co-producer of the RISE podcast, based at the Blavantik School of Government at the University of Oxford. 

Joe manages RISE’s engagement with global partners, and facilitates relationships internally across the RISE network. He also leads RISE’s practitioner-focused work through the RISE Community of Practice. Prior to RISE, Joe was a consultant to the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, and also worked as a programme officer for the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation, an intergovernmental agency set up to support the development of education, culture and sciences in the Southeast Asian region. He holds a master's degree in education policy and management from the Danish School of Education (Danmarks Paedagogiske Universitet) in Copenhagen. 

RISE is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Programme is implemented through a partnership between Oxford Policy Management and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. The Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford supports the production of the RISE Podcast.

Producers: Joseph Bullough and Katie Cooper

Audio Editing: James Morris