EMIS: The Key Component to a Brighter Future of Education in Haiti

In a joint investment with the World Bank, the IDB successfully financed the first year of full implementation of the Education Management and Information System (EMIS), setting up the first pieces of a robust foundation for the collection and management of the education data in Haiti.

Establishing a formal education management information system for a country is hard. Doing so in socio-political unrest, changes in government, and natural disasters is even more challenging.

In Haiti, the IDB has been unwavering in its commitment towards building a stronger Education Management and Information System (EMIS) capable of collecting data on the education sector and monitoring progress.

Over the last five years, from the IDB, we have supported the Haitian Ministry of Education (MENFP) in building its very own EMIS. After years of strategy development and Ministry unit strengthening, in 2020, in coordination with the World Bank, successfully financed the first year of full implementation of the EMIS, setting up the first pieces of a robust foundation for the collection and management education sector data in Haiti.

But what is an EMIS? Is it important?

An EMIS is “an integrated data management system” designed to collect, manage, centralize, and supply personnel, schools, teachers, and students in a broader education system data (Cassidy, pg. 101, 2006). It is especially vital to a highly functioning national system of education because it would serve as a facilitator “…of strategic decision-making, policy formulation and budgeting, and, if possible and relevant, routine management above the school and towards the school (UIS, pg. 11, 2020).” In other words, an EMIS is the foundation of governance in the Education Sector.

The initial EMIS development strategy is based on the following pillars:

• Equip the Ministry of Education with all the materials necessary for a highly functioning, national EMIS.
  • Develop, validate and test a new data collection strategy for the education system. In this process, all actors at the decentralized level were trained and made aware of their various roles and responsibilities in supporting the maintenance of an effective EMIS.
  • Support the development of a shared database made available to all stakeholders in the education system. Although the public launch and completion of this database is still underway, the EMIS has already begun completing key components of this database, including making advances in:
    • the development of a human resource data platform;
    • planning the next school census, the assignment of unique identification numbers to school teachers, staff, and students,
    •  publication of several school maps that showcase where the nations’ schools are geographically located on the ministry webpage.
  • Coordinate with other partners across the sector to avoid duplication of efforts and harmonize various strategies in supporting the EMIS.

Financing these activities contributes to establishing a solid foundation for the EMIS to support a more resilient, data-informed future of education in Haiti. The EMIS has already served as a national tool and an opportunity to face organized disasters. After the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the south of Haiti on August 14, 2021, the system rapidly produced school lists for the MENFP and its partners to identify and target schools needing interventions. In this context, the EMIS became a vital tool for collecting data on the affected schools, making it possible to show an overview of the disaster in the education sector while building the school database.

Ultimately the future of education in Haiti will use data to better support its decision-making processes and responses to systemic shocks. To this end, all the elements were in place to inaugurate a new education era in Latin America and the Caribbean.

What possibilities do you imagine for Haiti’s educational system?  Give us your opinion in the comments section!