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According to the , for data to be used effectively, they must be actionable, available to all who are in a position to act and presented in an appropriate form for each group of stakeholders. Unfortunately, in some contexts, education data are inaccurate, obsolete, incomplete or non-existent or inaccessible to a wide base of users. The situation gets more challenging with marginalised groups such as learners on the move (e.g., internally displaced, refugees, returnees and vulnerable migrants), those with disabilities, girls (especially adolescent girls at risk of forced and early marriage or early pregnancy), and overaged children. The lack of reliable data and evidence is a critical factor contributing to the limited coverage of educational needs in crisis settings. National and international actors (e.g., Ministries of Education, NGOs, INGOs, UN Agencies) involved in humanitarian preparedness, response, and recovery need accurate information on the most vulnerable groups and the state of education in the country to accurately assess the education services and resources required for effective and efficient delivery.

Insecurity and forced displacement in some geographical regions also contribute to poor, inaccurate, incomplete, untimely, and uncoordinated data collection and use. Subsequently, education response programmes may not always be adapted to the real challenges and do not fulfill the priority education needs of learners in these areas. Existing education data provide an indication of refugee and IDP figures globally, but they are based on estimates and varying data collection methods. Data discrepancies can occur due to disaggregation by country of origin or country of asylum only. Often data are lacking information on sex and age, disabilities and education levels and other information that is relevant to ensure school attendance. 

COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges of providing children with disabilities with distance learning opportunities after schools were closed as little disaggregated data was available for the development of resources and guidelines that were accessible to every learner. Getting the required disaggregated data on the impact of COVID-19 on education, including learning outcomes of learners with disabilities will be a first step to develop evidence-based recovery and reopening plans. To this end, data collection, analysis, evidence-based sector planning, financing and implementation of interventions need to take into account the gaps that exist and that probably will have widened post COVID-19 period.

Institutional Information Systems, including EMIS, are often unable to adapt to the rapidly changing and complex nature of crisis situations, and lack crisis-sensitive indicators or are missing quality data for such indicators. Humanitarian education data systems may be established in parallel to national systems as a result; and data may not be readily harmonized or integrated between them, deepening the humanitarian-development divide.

Why is EiE data critical and how can it inform education planning and institutional response mechanisms?

In an era where the average humanitarian crisis lasts more than nine years and displacement is estimated to last approximately ten years for refugees, resilient institutional information systems that bring together humanitarian and development considerations become increasingly relevant. Strengthened capacities to collect and use quality crisis-related data will enable national authorities to play a more effective leadership role in preparedness planning for EiE and helping to promote continuity between emergency response and longer-term recovery.

To effectively and sustainability develop resilient and responsive systems, education authorities need to provide and to have access to quality EiE data to facilitate robust evidence-based decision making in situations of crisis. 

Quality, timely and accessible quantitative and qualitative education data contribute to better understanding the gaps and strengths of education systems to address specific education needs. A thorough examination of that data paves the road for the development of national strategies, plans and policies to keep all children safe, protected and learning. There is no protection without education, and data plays an essential role.

Furthermore, by adapting institutional data systems according to international data needs and processes, while reflecting the national-specific realities, authorities and their partners will increase capacities to track progresses made towards SDG4. As a result, national institutions and their partners will increase their awareness on the need and benefit of supporting education in crises.

What needs to be addressed to adapt information systems for crisis-sensitive education planning and management?

The institutional environment comprises “the laws, policies, structure, processes, resources, and data-driven culture surrounding an EMIS that make data collection, management, use, and access possible”. To that effect, in order to create an enabling environment for improved data collection and use by national systems in crisis-affected contexts, efforts should focus on:

1. The improvement of legal, policy and institutional frameworks that institutionalise and enforce the use of EMIS. In Palestine, for example, the absence of a specific data collection policy and the emergence of additional data needs have led most of the technical directorates within the ministry to develop specific information management systems that are used in a parallel manner and that do not generate a unified and cohesive overview of the education system.

2. The technical, financial, human resource and infrastructure capacity to collect and use data to guide crisis responses. For example, in South Sudan, where teachers are the key sources of information, data literacy is identified as a challenge, with some teachers unable to complete data questionnaires correctly; low levels of teacher education, coupled with high levels of turnover due to low and inconsistent salary payments are cited as capacity issues for data collection;

3. Increased coordination between actors, including among line ministries, as key to effective data collection and use under any circumstances. Coordination around data can help to improve preparedness and response, optimise the use of limited resources and strengthen humanitarian-development coherence. For example, in Ethiopia, the Sector Working Group, Education Cluster and Refugee Education Working Group do not optimally interact; key members of the Cluster are not aware of the education sector plan review underway, nor of crisis-sensitive planning efforts. Lack of knowledge of each other’s activities is repeatedly pointed out by partners.

Quality, timely and relevant data enables education actors to make coordinated informed decisions to address a wide variety of challenges in the education system. In crisis-affected contexts, the availability of population data may vary. Such data may be substantially out-of-date, as is the case in South Sudan where the last population census was conducted in 2008; or may be difficult to capture accurately at subnational level because of internal displacement, as is the case in Ethiopia. This makes it difficult to have a precise picture of the number of children and youth out of school, much less to compare over time, and can mask differences within and across regions.

For EMIS data to be relevant and useful in supporting crisis preparedness and response, they need to be crisis-sensitive. Data should enable national authorities to recognize crisis risks and the vulnerabilities of learners, educators and infrastructure; therefore, putting measures in place to help mitigate their impacts on the quality and continuity of education. Ideally, this means a focus on specific populations, including refugees and IDPs as well as learners with special needs, and the inclusion of EiE-relevant indicators that may not already be part of a more traditional EMIS. These data can help to anticipate, identify, understand and address the differential consequences of crisis across the education system.

Data dissemination and use: Data are often only accessible within organisations responsible for their collection. Often data is not made public or is made public in a non-user-friendly format. There are several reasons organisations do not share data or make it public. Firstly, it can be time-consuming as data needs to be de-identified and made available in a way that meets protection and ethical standards. Organisations may derive competitive advantage from having certain data that others do not, which could result in new funding allocation benefits for a few of them. This presents a collective action problem where all would benefit from increased availability of existing data but there is a lack of incentives to do so for all. One method for overcoming this is specific data sharing agreements between organisations. Ultimately it is hoped that increased use of data sharing agreements can contribute to a cultural shift within the sector where data sharing becomes the norm.

For example, in South Sudan, inadequate mechanisms for data dissemination generally among education actors, and more specifically at the Ministry of General Education and Instruction, are highlighted as a major impediment to data use and a main reason for parallel data gathering activities among education stakeholders.

Who’s involved in strengthening institutional education information systems and data for increased resilience?

Entire education systems have an important role to play in enforcing data-driven and crisis sensitive education planning and management for increased resilience.

Humanitarian and development organisations can contribute to improved coordination around EiE and data by ensuring participation of both humanitarian and development partners in coordination mechanisms. Processes related to the review or updating of EMIS and/or specific EMIS tools (e.g., questionnaires, annual school censuses) would benefit from the support of humanitarian and development organisations to determine what data should be collected and how they can be analysed most effectively. The participation of national authorities is of high value in the review and development of strategies and tools related to data collection by humanitarian coordination bodies such as the Education Cluster.

Teachers and education personnel are key sources of information and often continually make assessments and collect data. They evaluate how the students are performing, review the learning material being used, and iteratively assess their own pedagogy.

Parents, tutors and communities at large are an important source of information on factors that take place outside school and that determine whether a student accesses education, opts out or learns. Data on the barriers to education for refugee boys and girls, for instance, or the education modality parents prefer for their children can be collected through assessment exercises with families and communities.

What is UNESCO doing to strengthen education data for increased resilience in crisis settings?

Taking into consideration emerging global promising practices on EiE data, , in partnership with  and, supported by , is responding to the need of quality, timely and accessible data to ensure continuous access to quality education and safe learning spaces for all, particularly vulnerable children and youth in crisis affected contexts. After analysing needs and opportunities in Chad, Ethiopia, Palestine, South Sudan, Syria, and Uganda, UNESCO is now providing country level support in Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, while feeding into regional and global level initiatives to promote the alignment of data collected and used by education authorities and community at large.

The approach envisaged by the proposed project focuses on adapting institutional information systems while supporting alignment among data sets referenced by humanitarian and development partners and education authorities. This will discourage the generation of fragmented and parallel information systems that inhibit a coherent and comprehensive understanding of priority needs and progress, as well as the identification and inclusion of the most marginalized groups (e.g., refugees and IDPs, girls, child labourers, etc.).

Existing institutional education information systems of target countries will be supported to generate EiE data – according to jointly defined needs and standards - and key decision-makers across all levels of the education system will have increased capacities to jointly use the information for emergency preparedness, response and recovery. The project will also explore how needs assessments can be better integrated with information systems used by Ministries of Education and how humanitarian/development partners can contribute to institutional data collection.

Furthermore, national education authorities will enhance their coordination capacities by steering joint EiE assessment and programming efforts in view of promoting collaboration among partners towards addressing systemic barriers to education for crisis-affected children and youth.