Identification of sites for local neighborhood colleges in Ivory Coast

Cote d’Ivoire

The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Cote d’Ivoire benefited from an investment from the Millennium Challenge Corporation to build 80 Colleges de Proximité (local neighborhood colleges) to address their identified educational institutions need. The United States Government interagency partnership, Data Collaboratives for Local Impact (DCLI) is PEPFAR funded, and MCC implemented. It aims to increase a country’s capability to analyze and use data in order to make development partners more sustainable. Its activities in Cote d’Ivoire consists of two investments. One in a Consortium, including two local NGO (COS-Ci and Foundation Performance Sociétales) to conduct data ecosystem building, and in SEJEN a local firm leading a Data Analytics Center.

SEJEN-CI, an Ivorian Data Science firm funded by DCLI, uses GIS and Data tools to support the MOE in a data-based approach to selecting possible geographic sites for proposed colleges de proximité. Their methodology was informed by prior identified objective criteria and priorities to ensure the fairness of the selection process. Their intervention also provided the MOE with a tool and much needed capabilities to replicate this process as they continue to build more local neighborhood schools. This collaboration highlights the success of US agencies leveraging each other’s investments to multiply their impact.