Hypergovernance and Multilayered Data Accountability in Haiti: Implications for Leadership of NGO Schools

Abstract

In this article, we examine the Haitian education data and evidence ecosystem. We focus on schools supported by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating within a system of hypergovernance that is marked by multilayered oversight and systems of data reporting and accountability. We investigate these schools primarily through the eyes of their directors, gleaning from their experience the ways in which data is procured, analyzed, utilized, and reflected on in the provision of schooling to conflict-saturated communities. Through semistructured interviews supported by brief field observations and document review, we identify findings largely consistent with the previous literature: the lack of coherent data collection, analysis, and use; lack of alignment of NGO goals and school-based reality; fragmented responsibilities for collection and oversight of data and evidence; conflicting lines of procedural accountability; and interrupted information flows. Our findings also point to a discrepancy between externally imposed data regulations and the contextual conditions of crisis-affected schools. School directors are under pressure to provide specific types and amounts of data and evidence to be in compliance while being excluded from decisionmaking processes. They are also positioned as intermediaries between the school, the NGO, and international agencies, and are responsible for rendering schools “legible” within a humanitarian-development concurrence. We end by offering recommendations for an EiE data ecosystem that is informed by school directors in order to focus on the crisis-affected communities’ needs and priorities. Key recommendations include training school directors in the effective use of data and involving them in making decisions at the school level.