The ADEA Working Group on Education Management and Policy Support (WGEMPS) co-developed the SADC regional EMIS Norms and Standards Assessment Framework in 2011, together with the region’s EMIS experts and the African Union. SADC faces challenges in reporting on its human resource development achievements due to information gaps or "data blanks", duplication, varying definitions, and poor coordination of sector-wide data, affecting the quality and availability of education statistics. To address this, the framework containing 17 minimum norms and standards for EMIS was developed to guide countries in developing or improving and harmonizing nationally appropriate, comprehensive and sustainable data systems.

The framework, adopted by the SADC Ministers of Education in Kinshasa in 2010, covers  policy and legal frameworks, resource availability and utilization, statistical processes and education information reports, and helps to benchmark countries' capabilities in producing accurate, timely, and comprehensive education statistics. The adoption of these standards ensures the development of sustainable, comprehensive, and appropriate EMIS, facilitating self-assessment, advocacy, regional capacity assessments, and SADC accreditation for quality statistics.

Thus, this framework is a response to the SADC Ministers’ instruction to the Secretariat to create and standardize statistical norms and standards for the region to tackle the education statistics challenges.