24 July 2014: Without investment in the production and use of high quality data, there is no guarantee that a data revolution will improve development outcomes, according to participants at an expert workshop on ‘The data revolution: from talk to action.’ The workshop’s outcome document discusses the data revolution, describes principles for sustained improvement to maximize the value of development data, identifies challenges and constraints, and outlines an agenda for action to work towards over the next two years.
The outcome document, titled ‘Towards a Strategy for the Data Revolution,’ proposes a foundation for action on a data revolution, organized around five themes: acceleration of progress on basic activities at the national level; innovation; new partnerships and financing; the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and political strategy.
On the SDGs, it calls for influencing the global panel of data experts convened by the UN Secretary-General to inform his Synthesis Report and ensure the inclusion of views from regional commissions, including by drafting concept notes to inform the group, and advocating for the continued inclusion of elements related to disaggregation of indicators and investments in statistics and tracked indicators. It also recommends influencing the UN’s forthcoming Financing for Development (FfD) Conference to ensure sufficient funding for tracking the SDGs.
Other recommended actions include: convening an inaugural World Forum on Development Data on World Population Day; developing an innovation lab to foster innovative approaches and investment in development data; and supporting governments to include geo-referenced data, key indicators and data sets in open data portals.
Participants agreed that a data revolution should combine both evolution and revolution, including: improvements in the quality, number and reach of traditional statistical systems, such as household surveys and censuses; the generation and use of new data from innovative sources, such as consumer transactions and social networking patterns; and public-private partnerships.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank, UK Department for International Development (DfID), US Agency for International Development (USAID), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Gates Foundation, Development Initiatives, ONE and Paris21 organized the workshop, which took place from 10-11 July 2014, in London, UK. Experts from governments, international and bilateral development agencies, civil society and academia attended the meeting. [Publication: Towards A Strategy for the Data Revolution] [Workshop Programme]