Citizen Led Assessments
Over the years, PAL Network member organizations have created an innovative, powerful model to
assess foundational learning in developing countries that is cost-effective, inclusive, and has the
capacity to mobilize citizens to advocate for foundational learning. This model, now known as
Citizen-led Assessments (CLAs), has grown organically from its inception and first innovation in India,
and expanded to vast geographies throughout the globe.
The CLA model is defined by a few key characteristics.
Additionally, CLAs are designed to involve the civil society in the process of data collection. PAL
Network member organizations that lead the process of CLAs in each country create a network of
CSOs that support the implementation of assessment, in many cases gathering volunteers from the
local communities to conduct the assessments themselves, after a carefully designed training.
Due to these powerful and scale friendly features that resonate with many low and middle-income
country contexts, the CLA model has spread organically to 14 countries 1 across the Global South. In
addition, a review in 2019 found that CLA tools were used by 56 national and international
organizations in 33 countries. From 2005, CLAs have reached more than 7.5 million children,
involving more than 690,000 volunteers in more than 40 languages.
