Tackling Education and Skills Data Challenge in Africa project team embarks on country visits to deepen stakeholder collaboration

Data-driven decision-making can be critical in addressing resource disparities, enhancing success, and promoting equitable outcomes in education. Collecting and analyzing relevant data gives insights into where the gaps are, and producing quality data is key in informing decisions regarding targeted interventions for the sector. To this end, the Education and Skills Data Challenge in Africa (ESDC) team has embarked on a series of engagements in three countries to deepen their understanding of the country context in terms of quality education and skills data production and use, including existing partners, interventions, systems, gaps, and priorities.

The team visited Angola (Oct 28 – 31), Senegal (Oct 7-11), and South Africa (Oct 21-24) to provide an overview of the ESDC project, assess the needs, agree on priorities, and an action plan for enhancing the production and utilization of quality education and skills data in the respective countries. The three countries are among the first cohort of 11 project countries. The project team engaged key education and skills data-related stakeholders, including government officials from the Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) units in the relevant directorates in the Ministries of Education, TVET, and Higher Education as well as National Statistics Offices, development partners, and other education stakeholders.

Data is essential for decision-making across the spectrum of education systems – from the classroom to national levels. However, the quality and timeliness of data are key factors to consider. Omar Thiam, Head of the Statistics Division in the Ministry of National Education in Senegal, reiterated the importance of quality data, stating that 

“…providing data to a central level is a routine activity for school leaders. However, the quality of data can be improved through capacity development programmes on the use of data to guide decision making to strengthen school’s performance.”

Madam Soraya Teresa de Jesus Mateus Kalongela, the Secretary of State for Secondary Education at the Angolan Ministry of Education, who received the project team on behalf of the Minister, also emphasized the need for decision-makers to have relevant information to make speedy and relevant decisions.

Given the differences in levels of data production, Mr. Bheki Mpanza of the Information and Management Systems unit of the Department of Basic Education in South Africa called on ADEA to deepen its coordination of knowledge sharing on education and skills data across African countries through the ESDC project.

These visits highlighted the varying levels of data production, reporting and use across the countries and re-emphasized the importance of quality data for the needed reforms across the educational systems.

The ESDC Project Manager, Inyang Umoren, remarked, 

“I am happy we got a vast understanding of how we could strategically work together to leverage and improve decisions in the education space in these countries. Their energy, enthusiasm, knowledge, and feedback were amazing, and we have learnt new and collaborative methods of engaging for success.”

A key outcome of each country visit is to agree on the needs and priorities for education and skills data production and prepare a roadmap to address identified priorities for improving the production and use of education and skills data in the country.