SmartTerm Partners with OpenEMIS to Transform National Education Systems

Kingston, Jamaica, June 13, 2025 — SmartTerm Ltd., a Caribbean-based education technology company, has entered into a strategic partnership with U.S.-based nonprofit Community Systems Foundation (CSF), the stewards of the OpenEMIS Initiative, an open-source Education Management Information System (EMIS) used by governments around the world. Together, they’re setting out to transform how education is delivered, managed, and improved in the Global South.

For over a decade, Ministries of Education have relied on OpenEMIS to collect, manage, analyze and use education data from student attendance to teacher performance to school infrastructure. Built through a partnership between UNESCO and CSF, OpenEMIS is now deployed at scale in more than 35 countries. OpenEMIS offers governments a suite of low-cost, open source, sustainable alternative to expensive proprietary systems and gives them control over their own education data.

The OpenEMIS Initiative is most successful in supporting Ministries of Education through a partnership model, where the OpenEMIS Lab at CSF provides technical backstopping to local implementation. This is where SmartTerm comes in.

Founded in 2016, SmartTerm has built a reputation as a full-service education platform and implementation partner across the Caribbean. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, SmartTerm is leading a nationwide EMIS rollout funded by the World Bank delivering real-time dashboards to the Ministry of Education, onboarding schools, and providing the kind of on-the-ground training and support that digital reforms often lack.

“This kind of deep execution capability, paired with a nuanced understanding of local education systems, most definitely improves our ability to better serve the region and beyond ,” said Jon Kapp, Executive Director of CSF.

With this new agreement, SmartTerm becomes an implementing partner for OpenEMIS globally. The partnership formalizes an operating model where CSF provides assistance to the trusted, open-source EMIS solution, and SmartTerm leads deployments, technical support, and country engagements.

“Governments don’t just need technology, they need partners who understand how to make it work,” said Ayodele Pompey, CEO of SmartTerm. “We make the tools work in schools, in ministries, and in classrooms.”

But the partnership is about more than implementation. SmartTerm has built what it calls an education operating system which is a suite of tools that goes beyond data collection. It integrates school management, digital learning, report cards, test prep, and even fundraising via Donafi, SmartTerm’s own donor platform. Ministries that work with SmartTerm don’t just get data, they get the tools to act on it.

The company’s recent success in Nigeria shows how scalable this approach is. In less than a year, SmartTerm is poised to roll out its platform to thousands of private schools, providing everything from billing to digital learning. The impact mirrors its early wins in the Caribbean and confirms that SmartTerm’s model works across diverse education systems.

For CSF, the partnership means OpenEMIS can reach more countries, with better support and services and with more staying power. For SmartTerm, it creates a pipeline of opportunities in Africa and the Caribbean, with a trusted partner and a proven product. Together, they’ve built a framework that lets them respond quickly to new opportunities.

For governments, this means they now have a single, reliable team that can deliver both the platform and the support to make it work.

SmartTerm is a company on a mission to help education systems function at their best and to unlock human potential at scale. With CSF’s global footprint and EMIS expertise and SmartTerm’s execution on the ground, this partnership is positioned to make a lasting impact across ministries, across continents, and across generations.

This partnership is a shared commitment to build smarter, more inclusive systems for the future of education.

To learn more or request support with your OpenEMIS rollout, contact info@smartterm.io.