The ASEAN-UK Supporting the Advancement of Girls’ Education (ASEAN-UK SAGE) Programme is the UK’s flagship education initiative in Southeast Asia. Launched after the UK became an official Dialogue Partner with ASEAN, it is the first of five programmes under the ASEAN-UK Plan of Action 2022–2026.
ASEAN-UK SAGE aims to support ASEAN Member States to develop effective policies and programmes that improve foundational learning outcomes and tackle constraints limiting the achievement of girls and marginalised groups.
One key element of the programme has been the proof-of-concept pilots which have trialled various interventions to support foundational learning and digital skills for employment. These pilot projects have resulted in various tools and materials which we are sharing here.
Please note: Greyed out items are being prepared for upload and will be added to the site by the end of March.The TaRL approach was trialled in two provinces in Cambodia between March 2025 and February 2026, aiming to improve learning outcomes for children in grades 4 and 5 who were at risk of dropping out. The students were grouped by their learning level in reading and mathematics, instead of by grade, to ensure they received the dedicated support they needed.
The following resources were developed for the TaRL project in Cambodia:
The STEP project was delivered in two municipalities in Timor-Leste from April 2025 to January 2026. It offered training in entrepreneurship, basic digital and financial literacy, and employability skills to rural youth, especially young women and girls. It was designed to align with local economic opportunities.
The following resources were developed for the STEP project in Timor-Leste:
The ASEAN-UK SAGE Women in STEM Scholarships provided women from ASEAN member states with the opportunity to study for a master’s level degree programme at select UK universities. They aim to break gender barriers in digital skills and STEM employment, increase access to STEM education for girls, support disadvantaged women pursuing STEM careers, and address the underrepresentation of women in STEM across ASEAN, fostering inspirational advocates and role models.
An alumna from Myanmar developed and carried out training to inspire and support other women and girls from their home countries to study STEM subjects. This package contains the workshop plan and materials:
The Strengthening M&E (monitoring and evaluation) capacity for improving foundational learning outcomes project ran from March 2025 to February 2026 and assessed classroom practice and materials used in Grade 2 in Cambodia. The aim was to provide evidence to improve pre-service courses, support scaling up of the Department of Primary Education’s mentoring system, and the development of early grade reading materials.
The following resources were developed for the Strengthening M&E project in Cambodia:
As part of the Strengthening M&E capacity for improving foundational learning outcomes project a list of high frequency words in Khmer suitable for children was compiled and the online Khmer corpus was expanded in order to support the development of early grade reading materials.
This toolkit is intended to support Ministries of Education in the region have a practical guide to undertake evidence-based policy-making process within the ministry, from the planning stage to the implementation and evaluation stage, at both the technical and leadership levels. This toolkit was developed following an initial request from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Indonesia to support evidence-based policymaking across the teams in the ministry.
Below you will find a directory of all publicly available research carried out as part of the ASEAN-UK SAGE programme.
| Research Document |
|---|
| EdTech in Lao People's Democratic Republic: A Rapid Scan |
| EdTech in Cambodia: A Rapid Scan |
| EdTech in Timor-Leste: A Rapid Scan |
| EdTech for Out-of-School Children and Youth: A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| EdTech for Learners With Cognitive and Learning Disabilities: A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| EdTech for Learners With Hearing and Visual Impairments: A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| EdTech in Vietnam: A Rapid Scan |
| EdTech for Girls' Education: A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| Summary: EdTech in Lao People's Democratic Republic - A Rapid Scan |
| Summary: EdTech for Out-of-School Children and Youth - A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| Summary: EdTech in Vietnam - A Rapid Scan |
| Summary: EdTech in Timor-Leste - A Rapid Scan |
| Summary: EdTech for Girls’ Education - A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| Summary: EdTech for Learners With Cognitive and Learning Disabilities - A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| Summary: EdTech in Cambodia - A Rapid Scan |
| Summary: EdTech for Learners With Hearing and Visual Impairments - A Rapid Evidence Review for the Southeast Asian Region |
| OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: A Rapid Scoping Study |
| EdTech for Marginalised Learners in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from funders and providers on priorities, design, investment, and scaling considerations |
| Leveraging Existing Technology in Low-Resource Settings to Support Learning: Conceiving and developing implementation plans for schools |
| Making the Most of What We Have: A Practical Guide to EdTech in Low-Resource Settings |
| Perspectives from funders and providers in Southeast Asia on priorities, design, investment, and scaling considerations |
| Advancing girls' education: promising initiatives to advance girls' education in the ASEAN region. |
| Narrowing the education data gap: A data gap map for the ASEAN region |
| Strengthening foundational learning for boys and girls |
| Supporting out-of-school girls and marginalised groups |
| Tackling gender barriers to basic digital skills for employment |
| Pathways to progress: Understanding gender gaps across the life stages in the ASEAN region |
| Beyond Buzzwords — Who Pays? The Future of EdTech Financing |
| Beyond Buzzwords — Rules of the Game: Governing AI and EdTech in the ASEAN Region |
| Building Equitable EdTech Ecosystems in Southeast Asia: Key highlights from a regional webinar on Bridging Policy and Practice |
| Beyond Buzzwords — What Do Real Partnerships Look Like? |
| Applying sandbox methodologies to address education policy and implementation challenges in Southeast Asia |
| Summary Briefs: Unpacking considerations for design, scaling and funding EdTech interventions for marginalised learners in Southeast Asia |
| Addressing Cross-Cutting Themes in the Use of Education Technology and Digital Learning in Southeast Asia: Recommendations for policy, practice, and research |
| AI in Southeast Asia: Strategic Partnerships. Insights into leveraging partnerships for sustainable use of AI in education |
| AI in Southeast Asia: Marginalised Learners. Insights for more inclusive and equitable use of AI in education |
| AI in Southeast Asia: Ethical Governance of AI in Education. Assessing regional AI policy alignment and implications for learners and education systems |
| AI in Southeast Asia: Girls’ Education and Empowerment |
| AI in Southeast Asia: The Role of Teachers: Insights from teachers across the region about their role and what matters to them in the age of AI |
| Governance Structures for Open and Distance High Schools: A rapid policy and evidence scan |
| Mapping the employment skills for marginalised girls in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Timor Leste |