Under the Sixth National Development Plan, the Education Sector National Implementation Framework III 2011-2015, the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education is working to improve planning of education delivery, improve budgeting and increase monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

This broad strategy includes the strengthening of training and education in the vocational sector with aim to prepare learners for the ever-changing labour market. The TEVET system is tasked with the creation of a supply of skilled labor to meet the demands of the growing economy and promoting productivity as throughout the country. Through the Better Education for Africa’s Rise Project (BEAR), the country has achieved change in program offerings and enhanced the training of staff and teachers. Another important undertaking is the development of an Education Management Information System to improve methods for reporting and use of data for planning purposes in the TEVET sector.

With the technical assistance from Community Systems Foundation, Zambia piloted OpenEMIS and developed plans for national implementation, where TEVET data will be collected, analyzed and made available to support policies through data based decision-making. Through the project, OpenEMIS software was customized to meet the requirements of the TVET sector in Zambia. The software was piloted with central Ministry staff and four select institutions. Institutions and the central Ministry staff used the OpenEMIS Core tool to record data on students, staff, institutions, and programs. The data will be managed in OpenEMIS Integrator and Data Manager and visualized and published using OpenEMIS dashboard. UNESCO OpenEMIS Core and Dashboard software systems have been configured to the context of Zambia.