CSF in collaboration with Save the Children and supported by the IKEA Foundation, conducted applied research in Bangladesh, Kosovo, and Indonesia to improve data management practices for tracking children with disabilities (CWD) both in and out of school.

Despite global progress in access to education, children with disabilities remain among the most excluded — often unseen, uncounted, and unserved in education systems. National data systems frequently lack disaggregated information on disability, hindering policy formulation and resource allocation.

Through this initiative, CSF and Save the Children reviewed and analyzed the Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) in the three countries to identify data gaps, strengthen indicator frameworks, and test innovative data collection and dissemination tools using the OpenEMIS global toolkit. The project’s goal was to ensure that national systems capture accurate, timely, and inclusive data on children with disabilities to support equitable education planning.

The research outcomes informed both national and global education policies, providing practical recommendations for integrating disability data into EMIS and improving monitoring mechanisms for inclusive education.