DHIS2 for Education at a glance
DHIS2 began in post-Apartheid South Africa and is now a global open-source project coordinated by the HISP Centre at the University of Oslo (UiO). More than 73 countries worldwide use DHIS2 for collecting and analyzing health data. 2.4 billion people (30% of the world’s population) live in countries where DHIS2 is used. DHIS2 is offered free of charge as a global public good.
The education sector has a number of similarities in information requirements when compared with the health sector. Given that DHIS2 is the world’s largest health information management system – developed through global collaboration led by UiO, has been financed by multiple donors over several decades and its generic data model, makes it an ideal candidate to be applied for information requirements in the field of education.
Through the support of our partners DHIS2 for Education is re-using software features, IT capacity in-country/regions and leveraging on a well-established global community of researchers, developers and implementers to define how we can learn from health and adapt to education.
Our Approach
Action research on how to create resilient and cost-effective EMIS implementations by working closely with Ministries of Education, with a focus on enabling data use in selected districts and schools.
Emphasis on building regional and local capacity to enable countries to adapt their DHIS2 instances to changing needs. This includes sharing of experiences and local innovations through enrollment in a global Community of Practice with 35,000 users and through University collaborations.
Extending the DHIS2 platform ecosystem as a global good through sharing of local EMIS innovations and collective development of training programmes, training materials and implementation guides.
Data Use Innovations for Education Management
Information Systems in The Gambia, Uganda and Togo
Information Systems in The Gambia, Uganda and Togo
The GPE KIX project addresses the lack of “turnkey” education management information systems in the education sector that can be used sustainably and at scale. It aims to strengthen the capacity of Ministries of Education to adapt DHIS2 to local and national education sector needs for better policy formulation, planning and implementation.
Together we seek to leverage DHIS2, a proven innovation in the health sector, that will effectively enhance the demand for data and information use at all levels of the education system and provide innovations that make the display and interactive use of digital data in management information systems accessible and useful to decision-makers, including frontline users.
We employ an action research approach with engaged PhD and Masters students and use community stakeholder mobilization, participatory development of tools to test and evaluate innovations.
A Versatile EMIS Innovation Platform
as a Global Public Good
From 2018-2020 a Norad-supported pilot in Uganda and The Gambia served as a proof of concept for the platform to be used as an effective EMIS.
The current project continues implementation and institutionalization of DHIS2 for Education in The Gambia, Uganda with the addition of Togo, Mozambique and Sri Lanka.
Supported by Norad we are developing a robust and generic knowledge base for how to configure DHIS2 for Education and set up and enhance an out-of-the-box configuration based on international standards and best practices.
The work focuses on the need for systematic data collection based on international standards, improving data utilization at multiple levels of the education system to inform well-functioning, sustainable innovations that are country owned.