DHIS2 News: DHIS2 EMIS systems showcased at 2022 ADEA Triennale
The DHIS2 for Education team joined Ministries of Education and other stakeholders in discussing challenges and opportunities at this Africa-wide education event
“In my country, we have a very strong EMIS… I can sit anywhere, whether in cabinet or in meetings… and within seconds I can get the data.”
Claudiana Ayo Cole, Minister of Education
Gambian Ministry of Basic & Secondary Education
Africa faces a data crisis in education and skills, further impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Positive efforts were demonstrated in improved reporting on the priorities of the African Union’s Second Decade of Education for Africa’s Plan of Action (2006-2015) and MDGs. However regional, continental and global reports show missing or outdated data for monitoring the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25) and SDG4. Only 17 out of 55 countries had data for SDG Indicator 4.1.1 on achieving minimum proficiency level in foundational literacy and numeracy, and no African country had reported any data for SDG Indicator 4.3.1 on youth and adult participation in formal and non-formal education (UIS, 2018).
“As a result of the perennial challenge of scarce quality data on education and skills for informed decision making, poor data continues to hurt the ability of African countries to make demand-driven policy decisions on education and skills.”
ADEA, 2022
In October 2022, the DHIS2 for Education team attended the ADEA Triennale on Education and Training; one of Africa’s seminal high-level forums for political dialogue and knowledge exchange. HISP Uganda and EMIS experts from MoBSE The Gambia, MoET Eswatini, UNICEF Eswatini and MoES Uganda shared experiences of using DHIS2 for Education. Alpha Bah, System Analyst and Head of EMIS & ICT Unit presented on a panel titled “Tackling the data challenge in Africa’s Education Systems.” He raised the importance of decentralized data use to district and school levels as well as lessons learned from two decades of DHIS2 implementation in the health sector, asking the question: what can we learn from health sector implementations and how can we work more closely across departments within ministries of education and beyond. Meanwhile, the Minister of Education of the Gambia, Claudiana Ayo Cole, explained how she can use her DHIS2-based EMIS system to access education data and indicators at a moment’s notice, helping guide informed policy and support data-driven decision making.
The session reminded the global education community of existing peer learning approaches that can be rejuvenated. We extend our thanks to ADEA and the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology of Mauritius, as the Triennale fostered continental, regional and cross-country interactions, in support of peer learning and knowledge exchange.
Learn more about how the Gambia and other countries are using DHIS2 in the education sector on the DHIS2 for Education website.
