About CoLab
Building a More Equitable Education Ecosystem
CoLab works at the intersection of research, evidence, design and collaboration to help improve education — an independent lab founded in 2019, turning evidence into high-impact, scalable programmes across the Global South.
10+
Research Outputs
10
Solution Packages
15+
Collaborations
Purpose
What Drives Us
Vision
CoLab envisions happier, resilient and thriving communities.
Our Mission
To empower the ecosystem in designing high-impact, innovative and scalable solutions for sustainable development.
Who We Are
CoLab works at the intersection of research, evidence, design and collaboration to help improve education. Founded in 2019, we support CSOs, NGOs and funders across the Global South with research, third-party evaluations, design and capacity building — across education, women's empowerment, livelihoods and environmental sustainability.
Why
Every child deserves equal educational outcomes.
What
Evidence-informed solutions built as digital public goods.
How
Through collaborative emergence with the ecosystem.
Areas of Impact
Where We Work
We work across education, women's empowerment, livelihoods and environmental sustainability — bridging data, design and community wisdom to make change measurable and meaningful.
Education
Women's Empowerment
Livelihoods
Environmental Sustainability
Evidence • Design • Collaboration • Global South • Sustainable Development • Since 2019 •
Our People
The team behind the work
Researchers, designers and builders — led from Bangalore, working across the Global South.
The Challenge
Why This Work Matters
Education systems across the Global South face real, persistent barriers — this is what we're working to change.
What We Do
A Comprehensive Framework for Program Development and Scaling
Step 01
Understanding Context
What You Need to Answer
- What is happening in our context, that matters to us?
- What is happening around the world, that we can learn from?
How CoLab Helps You Answer It
- Research studies
- Landscaping or diagnostic studies
Step 02
Piloting & Testing Ideas
What You Need to Answer
- What are the specific needs of the people we work with and for?
- What ideas are relevant and doable?
How CoLab Helps You Answer It
- Co-implement pilot studies
- Needs assessments
Step 03
Designing Strong Programs
What You Need to Answer
- How might we design programs that enable sustainable change at scale?
- How might we continuously track effective programme implementation and achievement of impact?
How CoLab Helps You Answer It
- Co-create theory of change
- Co-create key programme strategies (or theory of action)
- Co-create monitoring & evaluation frameworks and tools
- Conduct third-party assessments or evaluations
Step 04
Scaling & Ecosystem Engagement
What You Need to Answer
- How might we develop reusable assets like toolkits and process guidelines that help both internal teams and external partners?
- How might we reimagine our programmes for scale?
How CoLab Helps You Answer It
- Implement Design for Scale journey
- Access our Digital Public Goods platform
- Co-create reusable assets (toolkits, guidelines, modules)
Step 05
Thought Leadership
What You Need to Answer
- How might we bring more public and policy focus to issues that matter?
How CoLab Helps You Answer It
- Research studies
How We Work
From Evidence to Impact
Click through the journey a CoLab programme takes, from first evidence to lasting scale.
Step 1 of 5
Research
We start with rigorous research — literature reviews, landscaping and diagnostic studies — to understand what's really happening in a context, and what the rest of the world can teach us.
Step 2 of 5
Piloting
Ideas are co-implemented as pilot studies and tested against real needs assessments, so we learn what's relevant and doable before committing further.
Step 3 of 5
Program Design
We co-create a theory of change and a practical programme strategy — turning evidence and pilot learning into a plan built for real classrooms and communities.
Step 4 of 5
Evaluation
Every programme carries its own monitoring & evaluation framework, backed by third-party assessments, so we can track what's actually working.
Step 5 of 5
Scaling
What works becomes a reusable toolkit or a digital public good — designed for scale and shared across our ecosystem of partners.