Data & Evidence

Guided by Strategic Priority 3: to provide, curate, and organize knowledge to inform policy and practice, INEE works to strengthen the EiE data and evidence ecosystem. 

Background

While research is increasingly prioritized by the EiE sector, substantial funding shortfalls persist with the Education Commission finding that “only 3 percent of overseas development assistance for education was being spent on Global Public Goods, compared with a full fifth in the health sector” in 2016. Much of the existing knowledge and evidence base is program or agency-specific and not widely accessible. This incoherence hinders existing knowledge from meaningfully informing implementation, and limits the generation of new knowledge due to lack of funding. 

Funded research is often driven by Global North institutions. This can lead to the saturation of knowledge from certain contexts and thematic areas while others receive minimal support, and a disconnect between Northern-driven research priorities and crisis context-informed evidence gaps. It remains vital that new research be prioritized, that knowledge generated produces quality Global Public Goods that are widely accessible, and that uptake and use are encouraged through innovative and approachable dissemination. *INEE defines a Global Public Good as a resource that is freely available with no restriction in access. 

INEE currently approaches its data & evidence-strengthening work, through a variety of projects and network spaces including but not limited to those detailed below. INEE takes this work forward through its functions of Community Building, Convening, Knowledge Management, Amplifying and Advocating, Facilitating and Learning, and Providing Tools and Resources. 

INEE is currently engaged in a process to consolidate its approach to EiE Data & Evidence. This process will result in an Action Agenda for EiE Data & Evidence centered on strengthening the Data & Evidence Ecosystem through individual and collective actions. This Action Agenda builds on a series of member consultations including the EiE Data & Evidence Summit held in Geneva in June 2023. INEE plans to launch this Action Agenda at the beginning of 2024. 

For more information on INEE’s work to strengthen the EiE data & evidence ecosystem please reach out to INEE’s Data & Evidence Team Lead: Sonja Anderson (sonja.anderson@inee.org).