In response to the call for a greater focus on equity in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UIS, UNICEF and the World Bank have created the Inter-Agency Group on Education Inequality Indicators (IAG-EII). It aims to promote and coordinate the use of household survey data for education monitoring at the national, regional and global levels. Better coordination will help ensure standardised reporting in order to complement evidence available through administrative data, typically collected by school systems.
The IAG draws partly on the experience of the UIS-UNICEF Global Initiative on Out-of-School Children (OOSCI), which aimed to strengthen the evidence base for national education policymaking by combining data from multiple sources and identifying the characteristics of children and adolescents excluded from education.
Mandate
The IAG will coordinate the following activities:
- Produce recommendations to harmonise the processing of survey data by different agencies;
- Document data requirements and calculation methods for indicators;
- Advise on methods for harmonising the definitions of individual and household characteristics for data disaggregation;
- Prepare guidelines for producers and users of survey data;
- Advocate for funding of special activities by the IAG, including research;
- Liaise with the Technical Coordination Group on the Indicators for SDG 4-Education 2030 and the SDG 4-Education 2030 Steering Committee; and
- Collaborate with the UIS Observatory on Equity and Inclusion in Education.
Structure
Activities of the IAG are coordinated by the UIS. Meetings of the IAG take place at least twice per year. The IAG may also convene Ad-hoc Expert Groups (AEGs) for a limited duration, to give advice to the IAG on specific topics. AEGs will be formed of specialists with technical expertise in education indicators and household survey data. All members of the IAG will be consulted concerning the appointment of AEGs. The activities of the IAG and the AEGs will be funded by the members of the IAG on a per-activity basis.
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Members
Led by the UIS, UNICEF and the World Bank, the IAG also includes as members other organizations involved in the production and use of household survey data: the Global Education Monitoring Report, Global Partnership for Education, ICF International, the OECD, RTI International and USAID. Other organizations with a similar scope of work may join the IAG in the future.