Data for Excellence: Co-creating solutions to achieve equitable learning outcomes in Tanzania

3 minute read

In this blog, we hear reflections from Festo Mboya, Monitoring Evaluation Research and Learning Manager at CAMFED Tanzania, and Anna Sawaki, Director of Programs and Partnerships at CAMFED Tanzania, on our journey towards improving data collection and analysis in schools. 

Since 2020, GPE’s Knowledge and Innovation Exchange, in collaboration with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has supported strengthening data systems for education. Working in close collaboration with government and school communities across the country, our work seeks to harness the power of data and support improved learning outcomes, particularly for marginalized girls.

In Tanzania, national commitment to gender inclusive and equitable education systems has led to important policy shifts, including the reversal of the ban that once prevented young mothers from returning to school. However, for this to lead to meaningful changes in practice at sub-national level, processes for collecting, interpreting, and using education data must be further strengthened to achieve inclusive, equitable learning outcomes for all students, particularly girls.

To help address this, CAMFED launched a GPE-KIX funded research project in 2024 focused on strengthening education data systems to better respond to the needs of marginalized learners in Tanzania. Utilizing a collaborative and participatory approach, the project brings together government and school-level stakeholders to co-create solutions for lasting impact. The project will draw on CAMFED’s existing Data for Excellence model, which is proven to unlock the power of data and of school communities to dismantle barriers to girls’ education. This model is informed by — and will be adapted with the support of — local experts, to ensure it is contextually relevant to Tanzania.

Jamila, a newly-qualified teacher and Learner Facilitator (peer mentor) interacting with students. (CAMFED/Abby Brooks)

Developing a co-creation approach

In its first year, the project focused on establishing the systems and partnerships needed to ensure the research is embedded in, and responds to, the Tanzanian context. A key milestone was the establishment of a 20-member Technical Working Group, composed of representatives from the Tanzania Ministry of Education, the President’s Office for Regional Administration and Local Government, and school-level stakeholders. Stakeholder mapping, conducted prior to the development of the Technical Working Group was crucial to ensuring that all relevant voices were included in this collaboration.

Since its inception, the Technical Working Group has been instrumental in shaping the direction of the research, ensuring alignment with national education policies and priorities to ensure work is relevant to the local context. The Technical Working Group’s quarterly meetings and the co-development process have ensured a greater sense of ownership of the data from government representatives and a greater sense of understanding of the specific context-based challenges for the CAMFED project team.

Working alongside the Technical Working Group, CAMFED engaged Altamont Group, a regional research partner, to support the design and implementation of the study and contribute technical expertise to the data collection, analysis and reporting process.

Teachers collaborating during a training session. (CAMFED/Edina Salila)

Understanding country-specific barriers to data use

Together, the Technical Working Group and CAMFED conducted a situational and needs analysis. The analysis, conducted across six districts in rural Tanzania, revealed insights on how education data is currently being captured and used – and where further improvements can be made. We found that while Tanzania has a structured, multi-tiered education data system capable of tracking key indicators like attendance and academic performance, data usability at the school level is constrained by limited staff capacity, infrastructure constraints, and the absence of complementary qualitative data.

Further, while dropout data is indeed collected in detail, it is often aggregated under broad categories like “truancy” in public reports, making it difficult to capture the specific vulnerabilities that result in students—especially girls—having to leave school. These findings underscore the need for greater transparency and granularity in data reporting to enable targeted, informed interventions.

Technical Working Group members’ participation as active co-researchers and strategic collaborators in designing the needs assessment and analyzing the findings, allowed CAMFED to learn from their experiences and deepen understanding of how national data systems operate in practice. Our continued partnership will be critical in upcoming phases of the research project, when a roadmap for scaling the strengthened use of data at local and sub-national level will be developed. The layers of community, district, ward and national level represented within the Technical Working Group will be key to ensuring that the model we co-develop is both relevant and feasible for nationwide implementation.

Secondary students holding books and smiling outside their school in Morogoro district, Tanzania. (CAMFED/Abby Brooks)

Looking forward to Year Two and the Data for Excellence pilot study

With the project foundation now in place, CAMFED and the Technical Working Group will oversee a pilot study examining the extent to which the Data for Education Excellence model can be adapted and adopted to strengthen data use in government schools, including those attended by CAMFED clients.

These efforts will position the project to its final phase, where CAMFED and the Technical Working Group will explore how the enhanced use of data at sub-national level may be integrated at scale to contribute meaningfully to national education data reform and equitable solutions for improved learning outcomes across Tanzania.