Latest revision as of 12:54, 15 October 2012

Context and objectives

Under the context of UNESCO support to EMIS capacity development in the SADC, UNESCO Institute for Statistics together with UNESCO Maputo Office organized a review workshop in Maputo, 5 to 6 June, 2012.

This meeting constitutes a milestone in the UNESCO support to the EMIS component of the African Union second decade for education as well as in the UIS strategy for improving data quality in Sub-Saharan African countries. It identifies (1) the end of a situational analysis phase conducted in SADC countries with improvement of assessment methodology and tools and (2) the starting point of an overall sustainable development capacity strategy building on partnerships with Regional research and training institutions.

The workshop brought together representatives of SADC countries, ENSEA Abidjan, EASTC Dar es Salaam, UNESCO Maputo and UNESCO HQ with the following objectives:

• Review the implementation progress of the specific DQAF recommendations (decision 5) of the final meeting of SADC Ministers of education (March 18-19, 2010, Kinshasa, DRC). Namely: (i) make the necessary improvements on the DQAF tool, (ii) roll out the diagnosis in all SADC countries, (iii) develop and implement action plans to address challenges identified;
• Share and improve the 2012 UNESCO/UIS work plan related to the follow up on the DQAF conducted in SADC countries. In particular, (i) definition of EMIS action plans and (ii) development of EMIS training modules in partnership with regional training institutions.

SADC secretariat, ADEA Working Group on Education Management and Policy Support (WGEMPS), AFRISTAT, IIEP and Swaziland were invited but couldn’t participate. See list of participants in annex A^[1].

Main outputs

The workshop followed the agenda presented in annex B^[2]. This report presents the outputs of each of the sessions.

Session 1: Main evolutions in DQAF methodology and progress made since Maputo 2009

The recommendations of the meeting hold in Maputo, September 2009 as well as the decisions related to the DQAF initiative made by the SADC Ministers of education in their meeting in Kinshasa, March 2010 and the different activities conducted by UIS since then were presented. The changes incorporated in the methodology and the instruments were summarised^[3].

A Wiki (the Ed-DQAF Wiki) has been prepared by UIS team. It proposes an open space for documentation on Education DQAF and related references and materials on quality statistics in Education. A temporary hosting has been used here for the preliminary test phase.Reports, executive summaries and DQAF matrixes have been made available on line. It was decided that only materials relating to validated DQAF will be made public. The report elaborated after Maputo 2009 meeting presenting the DQAF conducted in 7 pilot countries ^[4] will be updated with all elements presented in this session including the evolution of the methodology.

Session 2: Synthesis of DQAFs conducted in SADC and presentation of latest DQAFs conducted (Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia and Zimbabwe)

The session started with the presentation of main highlights of the DQAF conducted in Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia and Zimbabwe according to the following format: background; positives; areas to strengthen; and recommendations^[5].

After each country’s presentation, a summary was presented on the DQAF scoring methodology as well as the results obtained for all 12 SADC countries for each sub-dimensions. The presentation concluded with best practices and data quality issues examples that were commonly found in SADC countries in the light of these assessments^[6].

Session 3: Feedback from countries (DQAF official validation, recommendations, action plans)

Country reprsentatives reported on (1) the DQAF validation progress (a report is considered validated when UIS receives official communication from the permanent secretary, or authorized by him, acknowledging the report), (2) the recommendations and (3) the action plan.

Botswana: The DQAF report has been validated and some recommendations are already in place. Support is needed to draft action plan. UNESCO Office in Harare is keen to support.

Lesotho: The DQAF report has not been validated yet. Lesotho has recently changed government and will start the validation process once the new government has settled. Some recommendations have already been implemented (e.g. memorandum of understanding with NSO, EMIS budget, decentralization of EMIS to district level, expand EMIS to ECD, TVET, non-formal, EMIS staff increased). Support is needed to draft an action plan. However, with the change in government it is prudent to wait for validation before UIS conducts a follow-up mission. Funds have been identified through UNESCO.

Madagascar: The DQAF report has not been validated although most recommendations have been included in the regular annual action plans. UNICEF has supported its implementation with technical orientation by UIS.

Malawi: The DQAF report has been validated. Recommendations will be considered but have not yet been implemented. Funds will be provided in the next financial year. The MoE will organize a meeting in August to develop an action plan with technical support from UIS.

Mauritius: The validation of the DQAF report will be done in a few weeks. Most of the recommendations will be implemented and the ministry of education will take the lead in the development of the action plan with the support of UIS. UNDP funding has been identified.

Mozambique: The DQAF report has been validated by director of planning and recommendations will be implemented. An action plan has been made but it needs to be improved. A study tour will be organized to Senegal this fall with financial support from UNESCO Maputo Office.

Namibia: The DQAF report is at the last stage of discussion before it will be validated during the coming ministerial committee meeting. Some recommendations have already been taken on board. Others need policy or legislative changes which will take some time to implement. Support has been requested to draft the action plan. UNESCO Windhoek Office and UNICEF are ready to fund.

South Africa: The DQAF report has been validated and disseminated to the districts. Most recommendations have already been implemented through a strategic plan. The Department of Education collaborates with the University of Stellenbosch on training for provincial planers supported by UNICEF. It has been suggested that UIS conduct a mission to South Africa to assess how the DQAF recommendations were implemented.

Tanzania: The DQAF report has not been validated yet however it can be submitted in a month. Some recommendations are already in place. Recommendations can be integrated in the on-going EMIS programme with the assistance of the cluster advisor based in Tanzania.

Zambia: The DQAF report has not yet been validated. Short term recommendations have already been taken into account and medium and longer term recommendations will be incorporated in on existing plans. ADEA WGEMPS has provided support in drafting an action plan.

Zimbabwe: The DQAF report has not yet been validated. The DQAF was conducted before the changes in the methodology. Recommendations have been considered and included in an EMIS road map / strategy developed in collaboration with Zimstat. Electronic data capturing at school level (via flash disk) is promoted. EMIS staff is undergoing training courses at university of Zimbabwe. Country representative requested to adapt the report to the new methodology. UIS suggested conducting a new assessment after the current EMIS road map is operational.

Those countries that requested support from UIS in developing an action plans have been asked to prepare a meeting aiming at its elaboration. This includes agreeing with UIS on the date and to identify and inform relevant technical and development partners.

Session 4: Proposal for training modules

The objective of this session was to identify and agree on a list of topics that will guide the development of training modules addressing some of the main recurrent challenges countries are facing in terms of capacities in producing quality data in a sustainable manner. Once developed and certified, these materials could be included in the offer of regional training institutions. National or regional action plans, trainings of new comers in EMIS units or training of young statisticians will take advantage from the availability of such “certified” modules that could be delivered by recognized institutions. One can also think having these modules made available online for free utilization by countries.

To identify these topics, the UIS team analysed the following sources of information^[7]:

• the DQAF reports conducted in the SADC region
• the findings of the SADC EMIS Assessment Report Findings / SADC Regional capacity building strategy for EMIS
• the SADC countries self-ranking priority EMIS Capacity building needs reported in the latter

The exercise allowed identifying priority topics to be possibly turned into training modules. After these topics were ranked by country representatives, the following eight topics were considered for the development of training materials:

• Education finance statistics
• Data Analysis
• Methodology for data reconciliation of different data sources (surveys and administrative data)
• Methodology for data cleaning
• Education data quality assessment
• Publication release and dissemination strategy
• School records management system
• Data collection processes at different levels of decentralisation and documentation

As an example of collaborative module development, UNESCO HQ representative presented training modules for systematic monitoring of EFA that were developed for Asia and Pacific under UIS coordination.^[8].

Session 5 & 6: Group discussions & plenary session to identify syllabus for capacity development modules

The objective was to define more in detail what could be the contents and target groups for the trainings modules that would address the identified priority topics. It was also mentioned several existing materials that could be used as training modules or that could contribute to the development of it and be delivered by Regional training institutions. Annex S5^[9]. gives a summary of the outputs of this session.

Wrap-up Session

It was mentioned that several existing training modules could be used as background materials for the development of training materials - including those developed by ADEA, and in particular on the School record Management system.

Country representatives expressed their wish to see more effective participation of the WGEMPS in the initiative.

It was recalled that the presentation on possible training modules was built upon the analysis of different sources of need expressions / assessments including the SADC Regional capacity building strategy for EMIS and that the overall strategy addressed in Maputo was in line with the recommendations of the strategy.

Countries demonstrated a keen interest to contribute to the DQAF Wiki contents in particular by populating it with existing training materials relevant to the discussed capacity building topics.

UIS will centralise inputs from countries into the Wiki (see Development of training modules).

UIS will initiate in due course, official contact with other regional institutions and partners in particular those who couldn’t attend (ADEA, AFRISTAT, IIEP, and University of Stellenbosch).

Following the workshop (on Thursday, June 7th), a meeting will be held with the regional institutions (ENSEA and EASTC) to discuss organisational and institutional arrangements for setting up an editorial committee. Outputs of the discussion will be presented to UIS HQ to elaborate the way forward.

Countries proposed that UIS ensures that the outcomes resulting from the Maputo 2012 meeting are communicated at the next SADC Ministers of Education meeting.

Annexes

1. ↑ See Annex A List of participants
2. ↑ See Annex B - Provisional Agenda
3. ↑ See Annex S1 - DQAF Evolution
4. ↑ See DQAF 7 pilot SADC countries synthesis
5. ↑ See Annex S2a - Last DQAF Findings
6. ↑ See Annex S2b - SADC DQAF Synthesis
7. ↑ See Annex S4a - Training modules Proposal
8. ↑ See Annex S4b - Training Modules on EFA Monitoring
9. ↑ See Annex S5 - Group discussions