Education Management Information System in the Gambia: leadership and collaboration drive progress

• In Event: Data-driven decision making through systems integration, utilization, and digitalization: the remarkable case study of The Gambia.

Proposal

GPE considers data and evidence among the critical enablers to transform education systems. GPE supports partner countries to strengthen their education systems and provides funding to improve the production, analysis and use of data for decision making. The education data challenge is pervasive and urgent. In February 2018, GPE launched the Education Data Solutions Roundtable (DRT) to leverage the expertise of national, private and development partners to improve the availability and use of accurate and timely education data at the country and global level. The group met several times and held its final meeting in April 2019. It visited Ethiopia and The Gambia to understand better the education data challenges in these countries, and to recommend solutions to these challenges that would be of global and country use.
The Education Data Leadership Program (EDLP) grew out of the DRT and is coordinated by and sponsored by GPE. It is a specialized training program aimed at developing leadership skills in data management and analytics among current staff. The program was an initial test run of Cisco’s online course on basic data analysis. The program ensures that staff are well-equipped to handle the evolving demands of educational data management and play a crucial role in shaping the future of education in The Gambia. However, it would offer an initial and low-cost way to accomplish this goal. The course would offer an easy and low-cost introduction which can be used with staff whose need for skills is not as advanced as those offered in the Master’s program described above, and/or as a low-cost induction for new staff, given turnover.

Authors

• Luis A Crouch, RTI

• Ian Macpherson, Global Partnership for Education