Authors: Dr. Angela Affran and Dr. Sam Awuku, Learning Generation Initiative

What conversations at the ADEA Triennale reveal about building education systems that deliver.

Across Africa, governments are investing in education. Policies are written. Reforms are launched. Yet learning poverty remains over 70%, according to the World Bank. UNESCO analysis shows that despite strong commitments to CESA 2016-2025 and SDG 4, progress remains uneven – particularly in equity, quality, and access.  

After decades of effort, a critical question remains: why are our results still so limited?

One answer is increasingly clear. Decisions are often made without the right data, at the right time, or by the right people. When data fails to reflect classroom realities, resources can be misdirected and progress difficult to measure. In effect, systems are being repaired with a broken ruler.

This challenge was at the center of discussions under the ‘Policies to Systems’ sub-theme of the 2025 Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Triennale. Rather than simply calling for more data, discussions highlighted the need for honest, home-grown data that can inform strategic decision making, to accurately reflect the realities on the ground.

Building a Foundation of Trustworthy Data 

Speakers from UNESCO, the government of Lesotho, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), McGill University, and GPE-KIX highlighted a shared concern: Africa’s education challenges sit at the intersection of policy ambition and systemic implementation. Addressing them requires smarter use of existing resources, better coordination among actors, and more consistent data utilisation across countries.

Inyang Umoren of ADEA described how gaps in reliable education data in Africa became especially visible during the COVID 19 pandemic, prompting the creating of the Tackling Education Skills Data Challenge (ESDC). The initiative aims to strengthen data governance, build technical capacity, and ensure that policy data is quality assured, digitalized and expanded for regional integration and harmonization. Its core objectives are to work with national decision makers on the value of reliable data, to build local capacity to manage it and to establish an Africa Education portal to ensure effective and efficient reporting for SDG 4 and CESA 2016-2025.  

The ESDC is being implemented in 17 out of 30 countries in Africa and set a goal to train 300 technical staff at the central level, 140 senior management staff, and over 10,000 subnational staff and headteachers by the end of 2025. 

‘Let’s make evidence the heartbeat of Africa’s education transformation’ –Deborah  Kimathi, Learning Generation Initiative at EDC

That message resonated across contributors. McGill University emphasised the importance of developing a data ecosystem where policymakers can interpret and applying evidence with confidence. The ILO underscored the need to connect education data with labour markets so young people can transition successfully into work.  

Together, these perspectives pointed to a shared conclusion: sustainable reform depends on institutions and people using data as a continuous tool for learning and improvement. 

From Data Collection to Problem-solving 

Better data alone is not enough – how it is used is what counts. Drawing on findings from the DeliverEd initiative, Deborah Kimathi highlighted that traditional delivery strategies still rely on data primarily for top-down accountability, without addressing local implementation barriers. Effective delivery must be responsive to real-time complexity, with challenges resolved closer to the classroom and organisational learning capacity built sustainably within ministries, across the middle tier, and in schools. 

Country examples illustrated what this can look like in practice. Uganda’s Ministry of Education described how simple technologies such as mobile phones and tablets are revolutionising real-time data collection at the school level. Teachers can track attendance, monitor classroom performance, and respond more effectively to learners’ needs.

Rwanda and Burkina Faso also shared similar experiences, showing how digitised school-level systems are effectively bridging data fragmentation and enhancing transparency.

Kenya Is Leading the Way 

Kenya’s experience offers insight into what it takes to move from project-based data collection to systemic evidence generation embedded within ministry functions. This paradigm shift, bolstered by the ongoing education reform, proposes a robust system for tracking learner progress, monitoring teacher effectiveness and providing feedback for curriculum improvement and teacher support. The change depends on a systemic approach, including structural, cultural and procedural enablers.

The Way Forward: A Systemic Approach

The Kenyan example highlights the importance of considering the entire cycle from policy to classroom, enabled by three key elements: structural enablers, such as policy frameworks; cultural enablers, such as leadership commitment and transparency; and procedural enablers, such as professional development and monitoring. Kenya demonstrates how integrating assessment data into a competency-based framework can enable ministries to make informed classroom-focused decisions.

Reliable data is essential for effective government delivery. However, the path to evidence-driven education is less about simply collecting more data and more about building systems that transform information into accountability, action, and improved learning for every child.

This perspective was reinforced by Honourable Thomas Momo Parker, Assistant Minister for Planning Research and Development in Liberia, who outlined key action points to promote system strengthening using data:

  • Facilitate continued collaboration to transition to digital education data systems and related peer learning activities.
  • Support the development and operationalisation of national education data hubs and policy frameworks.
  • Promote initiatives to enhance human capacity in data literacy for policymakers, school leaders, and communities.
  • Advocate for and help secure sustained investments in digital infrastructure and domestic financing for education data systems.
  • Coordinate stronger intersectoral partnerships for integrated strategic efforts in education data use and accountability.

Across these priorities, one message remains clear. For Africa to end learning poverty by 2035, countries must be the authors of their own stories. This requires building transparent systems that generate reliable, home-grown data. Encouragingly, Africa is already developing promising collaboration models. Initiatives like the ESDC, peer-learning exchanges, and the transition from EMIS 1.0 to EMIS 2.0 demonstrate Africa’s growing ownership of its data agenda. When data more accurately reflects lived realities, policies are better positioned to drive the transformative change that learners deserve.