Recently, the data for development community has started analyzing this relationship and questioning what promotes effective and sustained data use in working towards the SDGs. This community includes non-profit agencies, donors, for-profit, and multilateral organizations carrying out projects in participation with governments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to leverage the potential of data and improve delivery of policies and services. These organizations represent key partners for governments and public authorities from LMICs and have a strong influence through data for development projects on data use and governmental practices. It is worth asking whether these stakeholders are aligned when it comes to identifying barriers and incentives for data use and fostering best practices among public authorities.
This Data Values Project policy brief focuses on what it takes to embed data use in data for development initiatives in LMICs. It builds on three focus group discussions, co-organized by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and Athena Infonomics, targeting donors, multilateral organizations, and civil society/NGOs working closely with governments to improve data use. This brief expands on an earlier discussion paper, and illustrates where stakeholders’ thinking converges and diverges in identifying challenges and drivers for sustained data use. It also offers a set of recommendations for each category of stakeholders to strengthen their impact on sustaining data use in development projects. This policy brief focuses on the views of agencies that partner with governments, with the perspectives of public authorities outside the scope of the focus groups.
The Global Partnership and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) hosted a roundtable on September 16, 2021 on the use of private data for public good, exploring how the private sector can contribute to and invest in data sharing, developing data services/products, and data infrastructure to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Towards A Framework For Governing Data Innovation: Fostering Trust In The Use Of Non-Traditional Data Sources In Statistical Production.TREnDS, DataReady, Open Data Charter, 2021.
Reimagining data responsibility: 10 new approaches toward a culture of trust in re-using data to address critical public needs.Stefaan G. Verhulst, GovLab, 2021.
Unraveling Data’s Gordian Knot : Enablers and Safeguards for Trusted Data Sharing in the New Economy.World Bank 2021.
Big Data: a tool to achieve sustainable development.CEPEI, 2018.
