United Nations Development Group Iraq Trust Fund
Project #:B1-13
Date and Quarter Updated: October 2009 (3rd Quarter)
Financially Closed
Participating UN Organisation: UNESCO
Sector: Education
Government of Iraq – Responsible Line Ministry: Ministry of Education.
Title
Geographic
Location
Project Cost
Duration
Approval
Date (SC)
Project
Description
Educational Management Information System (EMIS)
MoE and 23 Directorates of Education in 18 Governorates, as follows: Baghdad (Karkh),
Nainawa (Mosul), Al-Muthanna (Samawa), Ta'meem (Kerkuk), Salah Eddin (Tikrit), AlAnbar (Rumadi), Karbala (Karbala), Najaf (Najaf), Babylon (Hilla), Qadisya (Diwanya),
Basra (Basra), Thiqar (Nassirya), Wasit (Kut), Missan (Al-Amara), Erbil (Erbil), Sulaimanya
(Sulaimanya), Dohuk (Dohuk) and Dyala (Baqouba).
USD 1,500,000
11 November 2004 – 31st December 2007
1st Extension: 27th Oct 2005
2nd Extension: 8th Dec 2005
3rd Extension: 3rd April 2006
4th Extension: 3rd July 2006
5th Extension: 27th Sep 2006
6th Extension: 20th December 06
7th Extension: 25th November 2007
11 November 2004 Starting
11 November
Completion
31st December
Date
2004
Date
2007
The EMIS Project aimed at assisting the central Ministry of Education (MoE) and the
Directorates of Education (DoEs) in Iraq to improve the accessibility, relevance, quality and
efficiency of education through the institutionalization of a system to support informed
decision making. It aimed to establish basic infrastructure for data entry, data analyses, and
preparation of statistical reports at the central MoE and at the 23 DoEs.
Development Goal and Immediate Objectives
Development goal is empowering MoE and the DoEs at the Governorate level to: i) establish an Educational
database, ii) analyze results, iii) develop statistical reports and educational indicators, iv) solve educational
problems, v) rationalize the use of resources and vi) reduce inefficiencies in the education system.
Outputs, Key activities and Procurement
1. Development and customizing of EMIS software for MoE.
Outputs
2. Training of staff and capacity building for MoE and DoEs to utilize the newly
established system.
3. Decentralization of data entry of all school census forms at the DoEs.
4. Provision of basic IT infrastructure and equipment needed for MoE and DoEs to
establish an EMIS.
Activities
1. Development of software and related capacity building for MOE staff (UNESCO
2. Train schools to fill out new school census forms (UNICEF)
3. Procurement of needed equipment and installation of hardware and software at MOE
and DOEs (UNESCO and MOE)
4. Distribution of data forms to schools and data collection (UNICEF and MOE)
5. Data entry (UNESCO and MOE)
6. Data consolidation into a national database (MOE)
Procurement
(major items)
-
Funds Committed
Funds Disbursed
Forecast final date
IT Equipment (25 servers, 510 PCs, 124 printers, 44 UPSs, 50 scanners, LAN
Accessories)
Office Equipment
VSAT Satellite Terminal
$1,451,857
$1,451,857
31st December 2007
Quantitative achievements against objectives and results
 Development and
1. UNESCO contracted a private company to
customizing of EMIS
develop the EMIS software.
software for MoE.
2. A Workshop was conducted in Beirut for
the Director-General of Planning and 5
officials from the respective Directorate to
design and develop the school census
forms.
 Training of staff and
1. Technical Training for 2 programmers and
capacity building for
system analysts was conducted in Beirut on
MoE and DoEs to utilize
various programming languages and tools.
the newly established
2. Two Training workshops on LAN
system.
Administration were organized in Baghdad
and Alexandria for 50 LAN administrators
at the MoE and DoEs.
3. Training workshops were also organized
for MoE and DoE staff on data entry and
training of 5 key IT personnel on SQL
Reporting.
4. Training of 33 statisticians on EFA
statistics organized in Dead Sea/Jordan
during 1 – 13 April 2006 in collaboration
with UNICEF. Training of another 30
statisticians organized during August 2006.
5. Training of 30 MoE and DoE high level
officials on the Planning and Management
of the Education Sector held in Amman
from 15 – 27 April 2006. Another group of
30 officials were trained during August
2006 in Aqaba – Jordan.
6. Training of a Core Team of 5 Officials
from MoE on the management and
maintenance of Microsoft SQL Server
2000, the database structure of the EMIS
Software, and the use of queries and
Reporting Services to extract reports and
output out of the database.
7. Training workshop targeting 17
Statisticians from DoEs and the core team
from MoE on the use of SPSS in the
production of statistical reports and
indicators from the EMIS database.
8. Training workshop in Baghdad on the use
of the SPSS Software for 21 Statisticians
% of approved
% of approved
Delay (months)
96.79%
96.79%
17
% of planned
100%
% of planned
100%
following the previous one in Amman, and
undertaken by MoE staff who were trained
in Amman.
• Decentralization of data
entry of all school
census forms at the
DoEs.
Data entry at the DOEs level started in 2006.
Data entry for the schools year 2004-2005 and
2007-2008 was completed and checked several
times and the yearly statistical books for both of
them are nearly ready for printing. Data entry
for the year 2006-2007 was completed and is
subject to further review. As for the data of the
school year 2005-2006, the data entry is
ongoing and is expected to be completed in
April 2009.
% of planned
• Provision of basic IT
infrastructure and
equipment needed for
MoE and DoEs to
establish an EMIS.
UNESCO provided and installed IT equipment
and servers in addition to some generators
(20PCs per DoE) to establish LANs in all 23
DoEs throughout Iraq.
% of planned
100% (as
the
project
was
destined
to enter
the data
of the
year
20042005
only.)
100%
Qualitative achievements against objectives and results
The untimate development goal of this project, as stated above, aimed at empowering the central MoE and the
DoEs at the Governorate level to achieve the six objectives as stated above. The project was very successful in
achieving the first three objectives, namely the establishment of an educational database, the analyses of data,
and the production of accurate and reliable statistical reports and educational indicators. These outcomes that
resulted from extensive training activities laid a solid foundation for achieving the other three objectives and
subsequently the goal of solving educational problems and rationalizing the use of resources in order to reduce
inefficiencies in the education system. Thus the objectives of sound educational planning and rational policy
formulation would be achieved. These objectives are being presently addressed in the extension of this project
as a component of the newly developed joint project B1-33.
Main implementation constraints & challenges (2-3 sentences)
The project faced during its implementation several obstacles. One major obstacle was the prevailing security
situation in several Governorates in Iraq. It was difficult to distribute EMIS computers and equipment and
establish LANs at all locations throughout Iraq. Another major obstacle was the continued loss of trained staff
who changed positions and jobs throughout the project life. The management of the project by the MoE
suffered from the lack of coordination and cooperation between the Central MoE and DoEs on one side and
between the two DGs for Educational Planning and Information and Communication Center (ICC) on the other
hand. When the Project started in 2004, the staff of ICT formed a section within the DG for Educational
Planning. In the year 2005, ICT staff were moved to the newly established ICC that was established at the level
of a General Directorate. No clear definition of authority and responsibility was made between the two.
An external evaluation of the project has been completed.