In an increasingly interconnected world, global challenges such as poverty, hunger, and climate change cannot be overcome without collective action. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reminds us that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires cooperation and partnerships. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, emphasizes that collaboration between governments, the private sector, and civil society is crucial for forging bold and lasting solutions. Addressing these challenges demands robust and synchronized cooperation, without which an equitable and sustainable future for all is not only unlikely but impossible.
Recognizing the importance of global collaborations and partnerships, the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE, by its acronym in Spanish), in its role as the national statistical office and coordinator and regulator of the National Statistical System of Colombia, has joined forces with various national and international actors, including the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (the Global Partnership) to demonstrate how alliances can transform a country’s ability to measure and monitor its progress toward the SDGs. Through these collaborations, DANE has strengthened its statistical capacities, with a special focus on innovations to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Colombia and facilitate evidence-based decision-making.
All in on data innovation
Since the mid-2010s, DANE has been working on projects related to machine learning (ML), big data, and alternative sources of information, partly driven by the emergence of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. As early as 2014, DANE organized events such as the Cartagena Data Festival to enhance data use. These efforts were further supported by DANE’s commitment to innovation through new sources and methods, which was evident in Colombia’s invitation to some groups of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and afterwards its participation at the UN Big Data working group, as well as in the UN geospatial data working group.
Based on the different initiatives and data sources that emerge in the data deluge and the Big Data boom, DANE held two consecutive internal innovation contests (2015 and 2016) focused on using data from mobile phones, social media, transaction data, and machine learning models to innovate the statistical production process. Participants received prizes like tablets and the possibility to carry out the project in that institution.
In 2017, projects on the use of geospatial information for calculating SDGs started. Distance related measures were developed, and Colombia was a pioneer country in the world for using satellite imagery and algorithms to classify these images for measuring SDG 9.1.1 and SDG 11.3.1.
Work together to win big
With the establishment of the country’s SDG strategy in 2018, DANE’s role in monitoring and following up on the 2030 Agenda in Colombia took on a new direction, giving the entity the lead role for the data collection process of SDGs in the country. This was boosted by its participation in Colombia’s SDG Commission and the signing of a cooperation framework between the United Nations and the Colombian government in 2020.
During this process, DANE started working with the Global Partnership to strengthen the entity’s innovation processes. This collaboration included launching the Data for Now (D4N) initiative, where Colombia was one of the pioneering countries, exploring various research projects related to statistical production for measuring development needs and progress. Specifically, it focused on SDG 1 (estimation of multidimensional poverty using satellite imagery), 4 (ratio of school drop-off rates of children and distance between home and school), and 16 (estimation of discrimination using social media data). Additionally, there was a focus on enhancing the statistical and technological capacity of the information technology unit. These projects demonstrated the opportunities new data sources and methods have in the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda, and to foster the use of new technologies to fill the data gaps.
Two factors are driving DANE to strengthen its data approaches and innovation. First, the creation of different Research, Development, and Innovation (R+D+I) working groups, showed the need to unify criteria and technical parameters for developing innovation projects; and second, after 2021 there was an acceleration process for implementing updates to have a more robust IT infrastructure.
With the release of major Artificial Intelligence (AI) models like ChatGPT in 2022, DANE started a process to improve and strengthen the technical capacity to handle these technologies and models. In this process, the Global Partnership had a leading role as one of DANE's main collaborators.
During 2023, DANE worked with the Global Partnership on two ML projects; one focused on exploring the different interlinkages between SDGs from metadata and scraped data; the other related to automating the process to collect data in situ for the System of Information of Food and Prices for the Agricultural Sector (Sipsa, by its acronym in Spanish), the later exercise as part of the efforts towards achieving zero hunger by understanding prices changes that have impacted the acquisition of food in Colombia.
SDG data achievements and aspirations
Since the inception of the 2030 Agenda, at the national level, DANE has been measuring SDG indicators. In 2021, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), DANE published the Guide to Measuring and Reporting on the Global Indicators in the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. This guide outlines the process for measuring SDG indicators, from identifying needs to the visualization and publication of results, facilitating an organized, accurate, and effective measurement of the SDGs, and reducing existing information gaps.
Since the development and implementation of this guide, Colombia has significantly improved its SDG data availability, increasing by 91 percent from 64 indicators in 2020 to 122 indicators in 2023. However, despite these advancements in indicator measurement, significant challenges still need to be solved in the availability of information at the subnational level. According to the Subnational Information Availability Guide developed with support from the United Nations, UNFPA, and DNP, the percentage of disaggregated information at the departmental level was only 35 percent, and at the municipal level, it was just 22 percent. These gaps highlight the need for further efforts, as territorialization requires differentiated support, encompassing pedagogy, measurement, monitoring, and visibility, to enable meaningful change and effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs.
In this context, collaboration with UNFPA has been crucial. Pedagogical efforts have been made to equip new local leaders with the necessary knowledge to strategically integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into their development plans. Beyond training these leaders, these initiatives laid the groundwork for strengthening the Alianza para la Territorialización (Spanish name for Territorialization Alliance) and expanding its reach with new partners such as UNFPA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Pro-PacÃfico.
Moreover, it is not only about adapting the SDGs at the local level; it is also about innovating the ways data is collected and used to monitor and evaluate progress. Here, citizen data plays a fundamental role, complementing traditional data sources and providing a more accurate reflection of local realities. Now, DANE and the Global Partnership are working together to find ways to integrate and institutionalize citizen data in national statistics, support territorialization, and push the frontiers of inclusive data in development.
