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UNESCO, UNICEF co-host panel on Data & Accountability during East African Community Education Conference in Arusha
hosted its inaugural Regional Education Conference from 12 to 15 August 2024 in Arusha, Tanzania. Held in celebration of the African Union Year of Education, the event centered around the theme 鈥淓ducate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Collective Action for Quality, Inclusive, and Lifelong Learning in East Africa.鈥
UNESCO鈥檚 Regional Office for Eastern Africa played a key role in the conference. In collaboration with and the , UNESCO co-organized a panel discussion titled "Data and Accountability for SDG 4.1.1: Fixing Data Gaps to Enhance Learning." The discussion emphasized the importance of national foundational learning assessments in gauging children's learning outcomes. Panelists explored the Global Proficiency Framework (GPF) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) Foundational Learning Module, highlighting their alignment with the GPF.
Bringing together over 600 participants from government, development partners, civil society organizations, and academic institutions across the eight EAC Partner States, the conference became a vibrant hub for sharing experiences and best practices. It underscored the urgent need to tackle the region's learning crisis as a pressing social justice issue.
The discussion attracted significant interest from development partners. Huong Le Thu, an Education Specialist from UNESCO鈥檚 Division for Policies and, reaffirmed UNESCO's commitment to providing technical assistance and training for Member States to understand and contextualize the GPF. She explained how UNESCO collaborates with countries to develop assessment tools, improve data management systems, and use the data to inform policy and decision-making.
Anne Ngatia, Deputy Director of the Research, Innovation and Educational Assessment Resource Centre at the Kenya National Examinations Council, shared Kenya's experience in implementing large-scale national assessments aligned with the GPF. She highlighted the need to harmonize national learning assessment schemes with international frameworks to ensure data consistency and comparability among countries with similar contexts.
Polycarp Otieno, Education Specialist at UNICEF鈥檚 Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, pointed out that many children in the region struggle with basic literacy skills. He stressed that the GPF and MICS Foundational Learning Module provide countries with crucial data in this area and emphasized the importance of supporting policymakers in using this data to inform policy actions.
The East African Community Regional Education Conference marked a pivotal moment in advancing education in the region. The collaborative participation of UNESCO and UNICEF demonstrated the international community's solidarity in supporting data-driven policy decisions and enhancing educational outcomes for all children in East Africa.
