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Unlocking data initiative: Increasing the use and users of data in Kenya, Malawi and Cameroon.

Sat, March 22, 2:45 to 4:00pm, Palmer House, Floor: 7th Floor, LaSalle 1

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Education data system management across sub-Saharan Africa faces many challenges at a macro-level including overly theoretical strategies and policies, limited resources and human capacity, capacity, political instability, fragmented/siloed digital platforms and poor coordination between government bodies (Adam et al. 2020; Pambe et al., 2021; NORRAG, 2022 and Arnott et al., 2023). For education data systems in Africa to be effective, more human-centered, (Africa-led) collaborative and innovative approaches are needed (Arnott et al., 2023). The shift of focus from the platform to human capacity is essential to having a system that has accurate and timely data, which increases uses and promotes evidence-based decision-making. Thus, the need to address the problem of technological and top-down education management approaches by recentering the stakeholders involved and strengthening their capacities for data use, particularly sub-national stakeholders, is urgent.

Beyond the EMIS system, institutions including research and civil-society organizations continue to implement initiatives that generate data and evidence critical to informing practices within the education sector. All too often, however, this data is not widely shared and used, increasing data and evidence gaps, duplication of effort and missed opportunities. Connecting these data with EMIS increases their utility and allows for more policy-relevant research.

In the three countries, various efforts have been made to increase the use of evidence for decision-making. For instance, in Kenya, the 2023-2027 National Education Sector Strategic Plan (NESSP) underscores data and evidence as central to informing the implementation of reforms and tracking the progress of various program areas. The MoE has recognized the need to address the siloed approach to education data in the countries with agencies and non-state stakeholders having separate databases that are not linked and with limited access. The Ministry of is also working to strengthen its EMIS system including connecting various data where possible.

In Malawi, the 2020 Joint Sector Review for the education sector in Malawi emphasized the government’s intention to promote evidence-based policy and data-driven decision-making. Like in Kenya, the National Education Sector Investment Plan (2020-2030) identifies the need to bring together the different sources of data that reside in separate data banks and to address data gaps. To this end, the University of Malawi launched the Malawi Open Data for Education Systems Analysis (MODESA) in 2019 in partnership with the Centre for Global Development. MODESA brings together existing systems (e.g., EMIS, national assessments, household surveys) and users, and works with the data holders to conduct more analytical policy-relevant research. In Cameroon, the government, through EMIS is collecting statistical data on public and private schools in the formal and non-formal education system. The system, however, has several limitations in terms of indicators for outcome measurement, actors involved, pupil level data, timeliness, and democratization of the available data.

In the three countries, the need for a shift to focus on data use and bridging the gap between data users and producers is essential. Thus, Zizi Afrique in collaboration with CERT, eBASE, ESSA and EdTech Hub are scaling the unlocking Data Approach in the three countries. This approach was co-developed by a consortium of African and global organizations through a series of multi-stakeholder workshops and pilots in three countries: Kenya, Malawi and Sierra Leone. This panel session will therefore share experiences on increasing use and users of data in the education system while utilizing the Unlocking Data Approach, with a focus on foundational learning.

The panel has four presentations: The first presentation will focus on the evidence eco-system in the three countries. This paper will share results from the mapping exercise providing a holistic view of the state of education data management, sharing, and utilization in the three countries, considering stakeholders at national and sub-national levels and within the ministry agencies. The mapping exercise covered policies, data systems, stakeholders, evidence flows and knowledge in the ecosystem and how technology is embedded within this infrastructure.

The second presentation will share experiential lessons from Malawi in siloed connecting data. The paper provides useful insights into how much we can inform foundational learning if the siloed data systems are connected, synthesized and used within the education systems. The paper expands on this to reflect on the digital divide that could drive inequalities in education provision and decision-making if not well harnessed.

The third focuses on situational analysis to understand the foundational learning in the three countries. The presentation will delve into the current state of foundational learning data in Cameroon, Kenya, and Malawi while uncovering the key obstacles to data access and utilization including technological challenges and opportunities for digital delivery and utilization of evidence.

The fourth paper puts the three papers into context bringing out salient issues around technology in relation to capacity development, a community of learning and expanding users from national to sub-national while at the same time considering key inequality measures such as gender and socio-economic status to advance the acquisition of foundational learning in the context of w- and middle-income countries.

The sessions will be wrapped by reflection from the chair who will also stand in as discussant, highlighting why embedding approaches within education systems, expanding users to include subnational and opportunities provided by digital technology if fully harnessed to advance the use of evidence and bridge inequalities in education access and quality in the context LMICS.

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Individual Presentations