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Developing a Professional Community of Information Managers and Statisticians in Sub-Saharan Africa
Availability of relevant information is a sine qua non of informed decision-making and public discourse, and the development of information systems is an essential part of the transformation of rigid bureaucracies into responsive learning organizations capable of solving the critical developmental issues in sub-Saharan Africa. Likewise, the integration of statistical services into the management systems and the professionalization of statisticians are prerequisites for improving decision-making.
The many potential resource people in information management in Africa have been scattered, unrecognized, isolated, and under-employed in various agencies, ministries, universities, technical colleges, and other institutions. Ministries of education could have a commanding position over the largest pool of information in the countries and the region. Yet those working with education statistics in Africa have long been isolated and demoralized by general neglect and low status and salary.
To harness their potential contribution, ADEA's Working Group on Education Statistics is becoming a structured network of education information managers and statisticians throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Capitalizing on ADEA's "structured informality" and "best management practices," WGES' National Education Statistical Information System (NESIS) program promotes collaboration and resource sharing among ministries and funding and technical agencies (1).
Professional development and collegial sharing
NESIS has been developing technical modules for capacity building. However, more valuable as outputs than the modules, which must be continuously updated, are the motivated, trained, and experienced professionals who carry on the module-development process. Diagnosis, prototype development, pilot testing, implementation, and application are not simply a series of technical tasks but a process of enhancing the participants' knowledge, skills and systems understanding.
Guided by a strong sense of mission, the NESIS corporate culture puts a premium on its members' role as modernizing reformers responding to urgent demand for information to address the acute developmental issues facing their countries.
NESIS focused first on managing "self-regenerative" knowledge, creativity, innovation, and the development of best practices in organization, methods, tools and services. As Quinn and his co-authors observe in "Managing Professional Intellect: Making the Most of the Best," (2) and as the NESIS teams have demonstrated, "highly motivated and creative groups often outperform groups with greater physical or financial resources... Organizations that nurture care-why [self-motivated creativity] in their people can simultaneously thrive in the face of today's rapid changes and renew their cognitive knowledge, advanced skills, and systems understanding in order to compete in the next wave of advances."
The NESIS development cycle
The phases of the NESIS development follow a cyclic pattern.
- Following the diagnosis of the national statistical information system, countries that demonstrate policy-level commitment by designating a high-level advisory council and information-management experts are selected for pilot projects (3).
- Within the country, the NESIS team helps organize the experts into problem-solving teams. They work under contract, within a given time and budget, requiring fast learning by solving real problems. The teams are introduced to a culture that emphasizes mentoring, professional standards, and strong incentives to understand, systematize, and advance the development objectives.
- National teams are brought together for periodic regional peer reviews, sharing of experiences, and demonstrations of success, which not only disseminate valuable knowledge but also stimulate competitive spirit through objective praise and criticism that nurture meritocracy, objectivity and performance appraisal. Out of these intensive interactions among colleagues, outstanding individuals gain special recognition and respect by peers and emerge in leadership positions in the regional groupings.
- These regionally recognized professionals become spokespersons, advisors, and leaders in peer reviews, conferences, and training workshops. They are often requested to assist in other member countries and invited to participate in collaborative projects and mutual assistance programs.
- Each country team goes through phases of WGES membership, starting out as an associated member (participating in WGES activities), progressing to full membership (hosting pilot or test projects), and graduating (successfully completing full implementation). The graduates of this process gain admission into the WGES Steering Committee and constitute the professional core that guides and participates in mutual assistance and provision of training opportunities in the region.
This cycle is now in its third generation, as the membership has expanded from the original five to 47 countries. The first generation of five pilot country teams assisted the second-generation of ten countries. As for the first-generation graduates, some have become professional systems analysts in an upgraded EMIS department. Others have become policy advisors in their ministries, and one is dean of the Faculty of Information Sciences in his university. Some were snatched up by agencies, but the NESIS development cycle continues to produce new generations.
Managing the professional network
Once self-managing teams had been developed in pilot countries, the NESIS program began building a region-wide network in which sub-regional groups can set their own development priorities and task-oriented teams can work together and re-configure as new challenges arise. Opportunities for frequent information exchanges and face-to-face interactions are essential for sustaining a viable network of collaboration among experts, institutions and agencies. To develop the network and provide supporting services, two sub-regional nodes have been established, the East and Southern Africa region support-unit in Harare, in 1998, and the West and Central Africa region unit in Dakar, in 1999.
The network is organized in the way information specialists work together best--not in a hierarchical structure but in a self-organizing configuration. It relies upon the specialists to form task-oriented teams that exceed the capabilities of any one specialist. Just as self-organizing capacity is vested in national advisory councils and technical teams, the sub-regional groupings are guided by advisory groups and the NESIS graduates, who are not only technically competent but also skilled at organizing task-oriented workgroups.
Thus, the NESIS program has contributed significantly to the development of a professional community of information management specialists in sub-Saharan Africa. The concrete impact these professionals are having was manifested in the active participation of virtually all 47 sub-Saharan African countries in the EFA 2000 assessment [see article on page 8] and in the efficient information systems developed by several countries [See articles on Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Zambia on pages 5, 3, and 11].
KO-CHIH TUNG
COORDINATOR
ADEA WORKING GROUP ON EDUCATION STATISTICS
1. See "Partnership For Capacity Building of Sustainable National Statistical Systems For Education Policy", in Partnerships For Capacity-Building and Quality Improvements in Education. PARIS : ADEA, 1999, PP.103-118.
2. J.B Quinn, P. Anderson, and S. Finkelstein, "Managing Professional Intellect: Making the Most of the Best," Harvard Business Review, March-April 1996, P.186.
3. See Articles in this issue on the pilot projects conducted in Zambia (P. 11) and in Burkina Faso (P. 5).
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