East African Universities unveil new Monitoring and Evaluation Portal for real time data collection

The Inter-University Council for East Africa has launched an online Monitoring and Evaluation portal for collecting, analysing, and sharing real time data among technical and vocational institutions in the region.

The portal will also be used by various stakeholders including policy and decision makers, and development partners for informed data driven decision making. It is expected to improve the availability of quality and relevance of data collected from Technical and Vocational Education and Training Institutes in the region.

The portal was developed by a team of Information Technology Experts from Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology.

The DIT is one of the Inter-University Council for East Africa member Institutions and a beneficiary of the World Bank-funded East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP). It is the Regional Flagship TVET Institute in ICT.

Availability of accurate and reliable data is one of the major challenges facing higher education institutions in East Africa.

The Demographics of African Faculty in the East African Community (DAF-EAC) study undertaken by Inter-University Council for East Africa and a consortium of partners, published in 2023, established that there were challenges in accessing quality and reliable data on higher education in the region.

According to the study, there is inadequate documentation and lack of centralized data collection and sharing systems within countries in the region. 

The Monitoring and Evaluation Portal launched by IUCEA is therefore a significant step in addressing the challenge of quality and reliable data in the region.

The Deputy Executive Secretary of Inter-University Council for East Africa Professor Idris Rai, said the portal will create a more structured and organized approach to data collection and management among TVET institutions.

“As part of the East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project, technical institutes will be trained on how to maintain accurate records to enhance the quality and reliability of the data collected,” said Professor Rai.

“Our collaboration with DIT has resulted in the development of this Monitoring and Evaluation portal which will not only enable effective monitoring and evaluating our projects, but also pave the way for the development of an integrated regional Higher Education Information Management System at IUCEA Secretariat in Kampala Uganda,” he added.

Godwin Bonge Muhwezi, the Communication Officer for EASTRIP states that the data collected will be consolidated in the central portal to make it easily accessible to policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders in higher education.

The Dar-es-Salaam Institute of Technology Principal Professor Preksedis Ndomba thanked the World Bank Group for the financial support through the EASTRIP and to IUCEA for granting DIT the opportunity to develop the portal that enhances project monitoring and evaluation.

Over the next three days, the Monitoring and Evaluation officers from TVET institutes supported by East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP) will undergo hands-on capacity building to learn how to operate the portal effectively.

They will be trained on data entry, analysis, and report generation to enhance their skills and expertise in project monitoring and management.