Remember the spark of hope you felt when Dr. Joyce Malombe’s words resonated at the national convenings in 2023? Her message was that each action we take at Regional Education Learning Initiative (RELI), every byte of data we harness, is for the benefit of the children, their future, and their boundless potential. Tanzania’s Bi Salma Maoulid’s call to action during the Tanzania National Convening still rings true: it’s time to transform RELI from a network into a movement.
Imagine education in East Africa, not as a fragmented landscape, but as a vibrant tapestry woven from data insights. Imagine educators, researchers, and policymakers seamlessly collaborating, empowered by a shared vision: unlocking the power of data to propel education forward, at every level.
This is the magic RELI Data and Evidence (RELI-DE) strives to unleash. RELI members are the weavers, gathering the threads of assessments, surveys, observations – each whisper a secret waiting to be heard. But here’s the truth: we often face hurdles transforming this data into actionable insights. Data silos stand tall, reproducibility remains elusive.
But fear not, fellow education champions! The RELI-DE Special Interest Group (SIG) is here to bridge the gap. We’re building a collaborative community, one where data management is streamlined, stakeholders share best practices, and knowledge flows freely. Together, we will co-create a regional data management plan, a unified approach to data storage, analysis, and sharing.
Well-managed data is education’s hidden treasure. It holds the key to unlocking improved learning outcomes, better teaching practices, and evidence-based decision-making. But we can’t do it alone. We need your questions, your challenges, your expertise, and experience. Bring them on! We may not have the answers, but together, we’ll find them.
Join us on this exciting exploration! Let’s delve into the factors that enable or hinder data use, uncover the impact of data on diverse learning contexts, and ultimately, transform education policy and strategies. Every child in East Africa deserves the best education possible, and in the face of shrinking funds and resources, collaboration is our greatest weapon.
This is the power of data. Together, we can unleash it to transform education in the region, one byte at a time. So, grab your metaphorical data lamp, join the RELI-DE SIG, and let’s unleash the data genie for the benefit of every child in East Africa!
Visit RELI-DE Microdata portal and see the progress we’ve made, and the work we are doing with our data.
By Kennedy Kamau
