DHS EdData - Education Profiles for Africa
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Dear Colleagues:
The Africa Bureau's Office of Sustainable Development and the Global
Bureau's Center for Human Capacity Development are pleased to an-
nounce the publication of the DHS EdData Education Profiles for Af-
rica, a series of country education profiles that uses cross-
nationally comparable data from USAID's Demographic and Health Sur-
veys. This first edition contains data for Benin, Ghana, Guinea1 Ma-
lawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia. The data is used to
characterize children's participation in primary and secondary
schooling and adults' schooling attainment and literacy. The profiles
provide information that - when combined with other country-specific
data - can inform education decision making in sub-Saharan Africa. As
data from new surveys and countries become available, USAID will up-
date and expand the profiles.
What data are presented in the profiles?
These profiles present data collected from nationally representative
household and individual surveys on educational status and attainment
for household members. These data allow the calculation of:
* net and gross attendance ratios (NAR and GAR) for primary and sec-
ondary school (disaggregated by sex, urban/rural residence, and re-
gion)
* over-age, under-age, and on-time for grade
* age-specific schooling status of youth (currently attending, never
attended, left school)
* adult primary and secondary school completion rates and educational
attainment
* male and female literacy rates and women's literacy by years of
primary school completed and by age
* repetition, dropout, and survival rates
How do the profiles differ from other sources of education data?
The DHS measures differ from those typically produced by ministries
of education and UNESCO, which generally derive net and gross enroll-
ment ratios (NER and GER) from data on children's school participa-
tion collected from school records. DHS, on the other hand, measures
participation using data collected from a nationally representative
sample of households. Net and gross attendance ratios are calculated
based on the question, "Is [name of child] still in school?" and on a
question about the highest level attended and grade completed. Thus,
the NAR and GAR might be seen as highly reliable proxies for the NER
and GERs.
What is the DHS EdData project and how can these profiles be used?
The DHS EdData project is an activity of the Center for Human Capac-
ity Development in USAID's Global Bureau, and is being implemented by
Macro International, Inc. In addition to analyzing the education data
collected by DHS surveys, the DHS EdData project also conducts in-
depth education surveys in a subset of DHS survey households such as
reasons for never attending school, dropping out of school, and ab-
senteeism; the age of first school attendance and school leaving; the
frequency of school attendance; and other questions. This education
data, together with the data collected in the DHS survey, provide in-
formation useful for education policy and program planning and for
monitoring USAID basic education activities. The linkage between the
DHS EdData project and DHS surveys allows for an analysis of the re-
lationships between education and health, nutrition, family planning,
and other individual and household characteristics.
How to obtain a printed or electronic copy of this publication?
To download an electronic copy, visit:
http://www.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNACK134.pdf
To obtain a printed or electronic copy, visit:
http://www.dec.org/partners/dexs_public/orderdex.cfm?DocId=PN-ACK-134
or send e-mail to <docorder@dec.cdie.org>, asking for publication no.
PN-ACK-134.
Whom to contact for more information about the profiles?
Tracy Brunette
USAID
AFR/SD
Tel: +1-202-298-2985
mailto:tbrunette@afr-sd.org
Linda Padgett
USAID
G/HCD
Tel: +1-202-712-4161
mailto:lpadgett@usaid.gov
Kristi Fair
MacroInternational
DHS EdData project
Tel: +1-301-572-0200
mailto:kfair@macroint.com
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