Profiles
Renaud Comba
Education Research Specialist
Renaud is the Data Must Speak (DMS) Research Manager at the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti. Prior to joining UNICEF, Renaud worked for more than three years with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) based in Accra, Ghana in various research and policy positions. Before leading IPA's West Africa policy portfolio, Renaud managed several longitudinal impact evaluations in the Education sector. He was also the Education sector lead for the IPA Ghana country office. Prior to IPA, Renaud spent several years in Ghana as a research assistant and as an interim headmaster of a private school. Renaud holds a M.A. in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po), and a B.A. in International Development and Political Science from McGill University.
Publications
Publication
Data Must Speak: Comprendre les facteurs de performance des écoles maliennes
Le système éducatif malien vise à garantir unaccès universel et équitable à une éducationde qualité à tous les enfants maliens en âged’être scolarisés. Malgré les progrès réalisés dans la mise en œuvre d’une éducation de qualité au Mali, il reste certains défis.
Quelles ressources et quels facteurs contextuels sont associés à de bonnes performances scolaires en Mali? En fusionnant et en analysant les bases de données administratives existantes en Mali, ce rapport permet d'identifier les écoles modèles positives - celles qui obtiennent de meilleurs résultats que les autres écoles bien qu'elles partagent des contextes et des ressources similaires.
La recherche DMS sur les modèles positive est cocréée et mise en œuvre conjointement avec les ministères de l'Éducation et des partenaires clés. La recherche DMS s'appuie sur des méthodes mixtes et des approches innovantes (c'est-à-dire l'approche modèle positive, les sciences du comportement, la recherche sur la mise en œuvre et la science de la mise à l'échelle) pour générer des connaissances et des enseignements pratiques sur " ce qui fonctionne ", " pourquoi " et " comment " mettre à l'échelle des solutions locales pour les décideurs politiques nationaux et la communauté internationale travaillant dans le secteur de l'éducation.
La recherche DMS est actuellement mise en œuvre dans 14 pays : Brésil, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Éthiopie, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Népal, Niger, République démocratique populaire lao, République-Unie de Tanzanie, Tchad, Togo et Zambie.
Publication
Data Must Speak: Unpacking factors influencing school performance in Niger
Niger has developed an Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES) aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular target 4.1 which aims, by 2030, to ensure that all girls and boys attend, on an equal footing, a full cycle of free, quality primary and secondary education, leading to truly useful learning.
What resources and contextual factors are associated with good school performances in Niger? By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Niger, this report helps to identify positive deviant schools – those that outperform other schools despite sharing similar contexts and resources.
Data Must Speak – a global initiative implemented since 2014 – aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about ‘what works’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders.
DMS research is currently implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.
Publication
Data Must Speak: The effects of female head teachers and female teachers on boys’ and girls’ education
To address the challenges facing its education system, Côte d’Ivoire needs to go beyond a traditional sector analysis and analyse existing data in greater depth to find innovative solutions. To do so, Côte d’Ivoire has requested UNICEF’s support, as part of the global Data Must Speak initiative, to identify positive deviant practices and behaviours.
This policy brief – about the effects of female head teachers and female teachers on boys’ and girls’ education – is part of a series that presents key research findings of the quantitative stage of the Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research in Côte d’Ivoire. By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Côte d’Ivoire, this series highlights specific resources and contextual factors associated with good school performances in Côte d’Ivoire. More importantly, it aims to inform policy dialogue and decision-making in Côte d’Ivoire and other interested countries.
Data Must Speak – a global initiative implemented since 2014 – aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about ‘what works’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders.
DMS research is currently implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.
Publication
Data Must Speak: The importance of school inputs to improving learning
To address the challenges facing its education system, Côte d’Ivoire needs to go beyond a traditional sector analysis and analyse existing data in greater depth to find innovative solutions. To do so, Côte d’Ivoire has requested UNICEF’s support, as part of the global Data Must Speak initiative, to identify positive deviant practices and behaviours.
This policy brief – about the importance of school inputs to improving learning – is part of a series that presents key research findings of the quantitative stage of the Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research in Côte d’Ivoire. By merging and analyzing existing administrative datasets in Côte d’Ivoire, this series highlights specific resources and contextual factors associated with good school performances in Côte d’Ivoire. More importantly, it aims to inform policy dialogue and decision-making in Côte d’Ivoire and other interested countries.
Data Must Speak – a global initiative implemented since 2014 – aims to address the evidence gaps to mitigate the learning crisis using existing data. The DMS Positive Deviance research is co-created and co-implemented with Ministries of Education and key partners. DMS research relies on mixed methods and innovative approaches (i.e., positive deviance approach, behavioural sciences, implementation research and scaling science) to generate knowledge and practical lessons about ‘what works’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ to scale grassroots solutions for national policymakers and the broader international community of education stakeholders.
DMS research is currently implemented in 14 countries: Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, the United Republic of Tanzania, Togo and Zambia.
Articles
Podcast
What are the best practices to help build strong foundational skills and better educational systems?
Join educational researcher Nina Alonso for this podcast series as she shares powerful stories from teachers around the world, talking in their own words about their own experiences.
Blog
5 Ways Data Must Speak is Co-Creating Education Research
The Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research believes that the most significant agents of change in the education sector are grassroot-level stakeholders, and that they should be at the forefront of addressing education challenges within their contexts. As such, the DMS team co-creates our research with stakeholders and partners, working together on research design, data collection and analysis, and evidence uptake.
Blog
4 Realities when Co-creating Education Research
Since its launch in 2019, the Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance Research, together with Ministries of Education (MoE) and education partners, has worked to identify and scale the behaviours and practices of exceptional schools (i.e., positive deviant schools). Through a co-creation and co-implementation approach, the DMS research has generated evidence to contribute to addressing the learning crisis in 14 countries.
However, the DMS research has faced unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID-19 global pandemic. During the early stages of the research, the team and partners could not travel, engage in in-person activities, and sustain momentum for research implementation amidst emergency response. While the team has successfully adapted its activities, they were confronted with unforeseen realities when co-creating the research, even after pandemic restrictions were lifted.
Blog
How to Unleash the Power of Data to Transform Education Policies
The Data Must Speak (DMS) research team at UNICEF Innocenti has worked closely with Ministry of Education partners to co-create and conduct in-depth analyses of administrative data. Often, lack of data is seen as barrier to creating evidence-based policy. However, when it comes to education, the vast majority of existing administrative data is still undervalued and underused. Harnessing the potential of existing datasets is not only cost-effective but sustains ownership and investment in national data systems.
Events
Event
Data Systems and Data Use in Education: Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance Research
The Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), is pleased to invite you to the Third Annual KIX Symposium, which will be held virtually on October 12-13, 2022 from 12 NN – 1:30 PM CET.
Event
Strengthening and Promoting Education Data Systems and Utilization in Africa: Lessons from the Data Must Speak Global Initiative
With reliable data, policymakers, school managers, teachers, and communities can identify problems, pose solutions, and direct resources where they are most needed. As part of the Africa Evidence Week 2021, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti is organizing a live webinar to share and discuss how UNICEF’s implementation of the Data Must Speak global initiative has supported countries in Africa strengthen the use of data and research for education management and decision-making. It will draw on panelists from Ministries of Education from Namibia and Togo, as well as UNICEF and its office of research.