Executive Summary: In this article, we describe a new approach to assessing the coverage and accessibility of the datasets most pertinent to managing and monitoring the social, economic, and environmental development of a country.
The landmark report by the Independent Expert Advisory Group to the United Nations Secretary General — A World That Counts: Mobilizing the data revolution for sustainable development — spotlights the increasing demands and opportunities for national statistical systems.
To understand how a partnership can mobilize and coordinate efforts around strengthening statistics, this report offers lessons learned from 27 evaluations of statistical capacity programs.
This article reviews three indexes that assess the openness or quality of data produced by national governments: The Open Data Barometer (ODB), the Open Data Index (ODI), and the World Bank’s Statistical Capacity Index (SCI).
For the Data Revolution to truly be revolutionary, national governments need to take the lead in providing data about their country. For most countries, it is much easier to find data about a country through the websites of international organizations rather than through national websites.
The past two decades have seen efforts on multiple fronts to improve the quality and availability of what we will call development data: the statistical information needed for planning, monitoring, and assessing the social and economic development of a country.
In the last five years, many national governments have announced open data initiatives, and states and cities have joined in. Releasing data openly should make governments more credible.
Last year’s report by the High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development Goals — A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development — got the attention of statisticians, politicians, development agencies, and civil society organizations …
Solid, practical, technical assistance must always leverage the energy and diversity of many partners. Many governmental and international agencies, civil society organizations, academic institutions, private foundations, and professional societies are already deeply committed to improving the quality and accessibility of development data.
Official statistics provide an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, serving the Government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic, social and environmental situation.
