DDL Roadmap for Education Programs

The roadmap is designed to help partners fulfill their contractual obligation to submit activity data to the DDL, while also providing guidance on how to make their data discoverable and useful. USAID considers data a public good that should be shared with a global audience, while safeguarding privacy, security, and confidentiality. The Agency encourages the broad use of data by partners, academic and scientific communities, and the public at large. Making data accessible, discoverable, and usable fuels innovation, improves program design and implementation, and ultimately, empowers the students, schools, and communities served. The roadmap is divided into three stages: Producing Data, Cleaning Data, and Uploading Data. Stage 1, Producing Data, focuses on organizing datasets and data assets, creating a codebook, and getting consent from participants. Partners are required to create and maintain an inventory of datasets and documentation, collect, store, and manage data responsibly, and create rich documentation that describes the data. Informed consent is a critical part of data collection, and USAID asks partners to get informed consent from all participants in a data collection activity. The consent form must be attached to the DDL submission, and the language used to obtain consent must be translated into English if necessary. Partners must also include documentation from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Review Committee (ERC) explaining why consent was not required. The roadmap provides guidance on best practices for data management, including creating a data management plan, organizing datasets and data assets, creating a codebook, and getting consent from participants. Partners are also encouraged to document and describe their procedures for submitting data and related documentation to a USAID-managed or approved data repository, such as the DDL. The DDL Roadmap for Education Programs is a valuable resource for partners in education, providing guidance on how to submit high-quality data to the DDL and make it discoverable and useful for others. By following the roadmap, partners can help fuel innovation, drive good practice, and brighten the future for the next generation of learners. USAID invests in education because it is a fundamental driver of development. The Agency's education programs aim to improve learning outcomes, increase access to education, and enhance the quality of education. By making data accessible, discoverable, and usable, USAID can better understand the impact of its education programs and make data-driven decisions to improve program design and implementation. The DDL Roadmap for Education Programs is a critical component of USAID's efforts to make data a public good. By providing guidance on how to submit high-quality data to the DDL, the roadmap helps partners in education to fulfill their contractual obligation to submit activity data to the DDL, while also making their data discoverable and useful for others.