Supporting middle-tier actors in Chad to access and use data for decision-making

When data becomes a lever for action for school and student success

In Chad, the use of data to guide education policies is not new. From 2009 until now, the Education Management Information System (EMIS) in Chad has routinely collected data from schools, which is used to monitor and manage the education system. In practice, data collected are analysed at central level and a statistical yearbook is produced annually. The government has developed efforts to share this data back to schools through the production and distribution of leaflets, summary reports of statistics and indicators, dashboards and provincial statistical yearbooks¹; however, these efforts do not always reach school principals, educational inspectors, pedagogical facilitators and other local actors, preventing them from easily accessing data for rapid and informed decision-making.

The Data Must Speak to Strengthen Capacity and Build Local Evidence Use (DMS SCALE) research aims to generate evidence on how to improve the access to and use of data at different levels of the education system in Chad. Led by UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion (MENPC), the DMS SCALE research explores existing data use practices, identifies factors that support or hinder effective data use, and aims to generate action insights for how to enhance data use by local actors for more timely, relevant, and equitable decision-making.

DMS SCALE in Chad: Generating evidence to strengthen decision-making at the local level

Since 2018, the MENPC has been collaborating with UNICEF and partners through the global Data Must Speak initiative to build capacity and promote the use of data at different levels of the education system. 

In 2022, DMS launched the positive deviance research component co-created with all stakeholders to identify and analyse practices and behaviours contributing to the success of positive deviant schools – schools that perform better than their peers, despite operating in similar contexts and with similar resources.

Building from these findings, the DMS SCALE research aims to produce evidence on middle-tier actors in Chad, exploring two critical areas:

1. Building better understanding of information exchange mechanisms that exist between the local and central levels, in order to generate evidence on how more effective feedback loops can support decisions that are better adapted to the realities on the ground.
2. Exploring the conditions under which local education actors (IPEP, IDENPC, DPEN) access, interpret and use information in informed and sustainable decision-making, while generating lessons applicable to other similar contexts.

By generating empirical evidence and analysing existing local practices, the research aims to provide useful lessons to strengthen skills in data management and use and contribute to improving the quality of education in Chad.

A deconcentrated system on the move towards decentralisation

The Chadian education system is structured according to a deconcentrated administrative model, with a central administration that defines strategic orientations and local authorities² that ensure day-to-day management. Eight academies, spread over the territory, serve as relays to the deconcentrated levels for the implementation of educational policies and coordinate actions related to education, teaching, training and research. Each academy brings together several Provincial Delegations of National Education (DPEN), which in turn ensure the implementation of educational policies at the provincial level and supervise the Departmental Inspectorates of National Education and Civic Promotion (IDENPC). This chain of supervision continues at the local level with the Pedagogical Inspectorates of Primary Education (IPEP) and the Pedagogical Support Clusters (SAP) within IPEPs, which support schools and teachers in their educational mission. This deconcentrated organisation aims to guarantee local management, adapted to local specificities and the needs of the 12,863 primary schools in Chad as of 2025 (see Figure 1).

Although the education system has long been marked by a high degree of centralization of decisions and programs, it is moving more towards decentralization, in accordance with the guidelines set out in Law 16 on the orientation of the Chadian education system (2006), the Education and Training Sector Plan (PSEF) and the General Code of Decentralized Territorial Authorities. This dynamic is also reflected in the gradual decentralization of the EMIS: already effective in 16 provinces, it is to be extended to seven others as part of the Programme for the Refoundation of Chadian Schools (PRET).

For Gaiwé François Atchina, Head of the Information Technology Division at the Directorate of Planning, Analysis and School Mapping (DPACS), “Capacity building on the use of data would allow local actors to better monitor schools and teachers. With the right tools, they can identify the factors of repetition, reallocate teachers according to the needs of the students and guide in-service training and pedagogical support.”

Figure 1: Feedback of school census data (SIGE) through the Chadian deconcentrated education system

Co-creating the research to support ownership and use of evidence

The DMS SCALE research uses co-creation approaches, conducted in close collaboration with relevant stakeholders, from national-level policymakers to officials and institutions at the deconcentrated level of the MENPC, with the aim to generate evidence and actionable lessons. This approach promotes the production of context-specific knowledge that support the development of solutions tailored to local realities. It also, strengthens stakeholders' ownership and facilitates the effective implementation of these solutions.

Co-creation in Chad has engaged MENPC actors at all levels through workshops and collaborative sessions, which has included:

• mapping existing education data sources;
• developing research questions and designing appropriate data collection strategies to address these questions;
• discussing sampling strategies for geographies and participants to include in the primary data collection;
• co-creating quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments to ensure their contextual relevance;
• discussing how MENPC staff capacity could be built through engagement as enumerators in the data collection exercise.

Leverage these co-creation approaches has helped to ensure that evidence generated is both context-specific and aligned with existing policy priorities and decision-making. Nguinambaye Jérémie, former Head of the Planning, Statistical Studies and Communication Division at the Directorate of Pre-Primary and Primary Education, underlines, "The solutions to the challenges encountered are the result of collaborative work involving those who know their academies, provinces, departments, sub-prefectures/communes and schools best.”

This active participation in the DMS SCALE research design and implementation in Chad strengthens ownership of reforms and increases the chances of lasting impact.

Strengthening capacities of local actors for a more agile and resilient system

DMS SCALE goes beyond data analysis. As a research initiative, it seeks to generate and disseminate actionable knowledge to inform policy and strengthen the capacity of local actors to make evidence-based decisions, thereby supporting more effective and contextually grounded educational outcomes. the initiative aims to bring out, step by step, shared knowledge in order to strengthen evidence-based dialogue and decision-making, in which each actor, from local to central level, feels legitimate and equipped to interpret the information and propose improvements. This momentum is in line with the national objective of decentralization insofar as the more the capacities of local authorities are strengthened in the use of data, the more quickly they will be able to innovate and adapt, whether it is to introduce new pedagogical practices or to respond to an unforeseen crisis. In the long term, the entire system gains in inclusion, agility and resilience.

Emile Ntampera, Education in Emergencies Specialist at UNICEF Chad shares, “Through capacity building on the use of data, school principals and local officials gain a better understanding of the state of their schools and their needs. This allows them to take quick and appropriate action at their level, but also to improve their communication with line managers and strategic partners, based on evidence, to better meet the needs of schools.”

[1] The 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 provincial directories have been produced and validated for four provinces in the Programme for Improving the Quality of Primary Education (ProQEB) intervention area.
[2] At the national level, these bodies are composed of eight academies, 24 DPENs, 129 IDENPC and 380 IPEPs.