The second quarter of 2018 can be characterized with the start of a new round of ODIN assessments, a range of new projects focusing on better understanding data use, and a handful of initiatives promoting more and financing for better. Below is a look at the reports, blogs, and articles on open data, gender data, and other significant developments in the data revolution from April to June. If there is something else to add, please contact us.
April
The 2018 Annual Meetings of PARIS 21 were held in Bern with the participation of Cepei (Apr)
This article recounts Cepei’s participation in the PARIS21 Annual Meetings in Bern, Switzerland on April 4-5. As one of the three non-governmental members of the PARIS21 board, the Director of Cepei, facilitated the working session: “Guidelines for implementation.” (source)
Invisible No More? Report and Country Case Studies on Time Use and Unpaid Work (Apr)
This Data2X report reviews recent efforts using time use surveys, the preferred instrument for measuring unpaid work, to identify good practices for designing comparable, simple measures of unpaid household and care work and using this data for policy making. (source)
The Journey: Collecting data on violence against women in Mongolia (Apr)
The experiences of enumerators for the Violence Against Women survey in Mongolia are shared through visual story-telling. It also highlights the initial impact of these data on advocacy efforts. (source)
Supporting reliable statistics in the “post-truth” era: Moldova is the first country to apply the UNECE Generic Law on Official Statistics (Apr)
This news post announces the modernization of Moldova’s legal framework according to the Generic Law. As the next step, a group of experts will extend the Generic Law so that it is applicable to all countries. (source)
Harnessing the Potential of Earth Observations for Sustainable Development: Emerging Opportunities (4/2)
This article by Argyro Kavvada from NASA and the GEO EO4SDG Initiative shares details about the Planetary Data for Development plenary session at the Data for Development Festival in Bristol, which covered how earth observation data can be harnessed in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (source)
Promoting Data Use Within Changing Environments in Haiti (4/3)
Development Gateway shares news about its partnership with the AidData Center for Development Policy and USAID through a buy-in to the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN) Cooperative Agreement to support Haiti and increase data use for development and disaster readiness. (source)
SDSN TReNDS engages with global experts and data community in Bristol, UK (4/3)
This blog post for the SDSN’s Thematic Research Network on Data and Statistics (TReNDS) provides an overview of sessions at which they spoke during the Data for Development Festival in Bristol. It also summarizes the outcomes of the two-day meetings of the members of SDSN’s expert TReNDS following the Data Festival. (source)
Exploring Big Questions at UNSC and the Data for Development Festival (4/4)
Eleanor Carey and Rachel Quint from Data2X present key questions discussed at the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) and Data for Development Festival in this blog post for the GPSDD. It also mentions gender data as a top priority for so many who interact with the data value chain. (source)
America should borrow from Europe’s data-privacy law (4/5)
This Economist article provides an overview of the legal issues related to data-privacy in the United States and argues that it should follow the example of European Union legislation, which allows consumers should be in charge of their own personal data. (source)
Swiss use public statistics to fight fake news (4/5)
The efforts of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office to use official statistics to fight fake news are described in this Swissinfo.ch news article by Geraldine Wong Sak Hoi. The statistical office is seeking to increase user engagement, particularly with journalists, and to be more transparent about their methodology. (source)
Realising the potential of ONS research data (4/9)
Sarah Henry, Director of Methods at United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics, reports on the ‘Realising the Potential of Research Data’ event. During this event, researchers shared how their findings are being used to help tackle social and economic issues. (source)
How Time Use Surveys Can Put a Value on Women’s Work (4/9)
In a News Deeply article by Jihii Jolly, Mayra Buvinic, senior fellow at the U.N. Foundation, discusses how time use surveys can measure the value of women’s work and what the pathway to policy change looks like when it’s based on sound data. (source)
Open Data Watch published their ranking of 180 different statistical institutes (4/9)
This news post on the European Data Portal shares the views of Dennis Ramondt from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Open Data Inventory (ODIN) country rankings from Open Data Watch. (source)
Aid Data Needs and Use Cases in Nepal (4/11)
This article by Conrad Zellmann shares findings and recommendations from a discussion paper he and Kishor Pradahn wrote assessing selected user needs for data in Nepal and information on aid flows. (source)
During the 4th Meeting of Partners for Review in Georgia, the Director of Cepei discussed big data and open data for SDG measurement (4/11)
The Director of Cepei, Philipp Schönrock, joined the 4th Meeting of Partners for Review in Georgia leading a working group discussion on the integration of big data and open data for the measurement and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (source)
Survey Launched to Understand Use of Official Statistics (4/14)
Open Data Watch announces the launch of a survey of officials in national statistical offices (NSOs) and select line ministries to better understand the barriers to the use of official statistics. (source)
Migration data and the SDGs (4/16)
Claire Melamed, Executive Director of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, shares her views on migration data and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a video interview for the IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC). (source)
Why time use data matters for gender equality—and why it’s hard to find (4/18)
This World Bank blog post by Eliana Rubiano-Matulevich and Haruna Kashiwase discusses the importance of time use data to development policy and the challenges researchers face in collecting these data. The authors present alternative approaches to mitigate these challenges. (source)
Keynote address at Turning Data into Action for Women’s Financial Inclusion event: How Can Data Propel Financial Inclusion for Women? (4/19)
The UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, delivered this keynote address on how to build strong gender-disaggregated data. (source)
Trust in numbers? Why we need strong official statistics in an attention seeking society (4/20)
This op-ed for PARIS21 by Prof. Vincent Hendricks and Dr. Johannes Jütting presents some suggestions for addressing the manipulation and misuse of data. This post is part of the conference on “Truth in numbers: the role of data in a world of fact, fiction and everything in between.” (source)
SDG Knowledge Weekly: Blended Finance, Data and the Private Sector (4/23)
This issue of SDG Knowledge Weekly by Adam Fishman covers the release of a ‘Programme of Action’ for mobilizing financing for the SDGs by the Blended Finance Taskforce. It also mentions the publication of a discussion paper on Evidence-Oriented Approaches in Development Cooperation and guidance on SDG Sector Roadmaps. (source)
Lessons Learned for Financing a Global Pact for Development Data (04/24)
In this paper, Open Data Watch summarizes interim findings from an initial stage of research examining previous global funds for statistical and non-statistical activities. This paper also recommends steps for a more extensive research study on the topic. (source)
Reality Check: Who controls your data? (04/25)
This BBC article by Lora Jones explains what the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is and what it will mean for data privacy. (source)
The dangers of data: why the numbers never tell the full story (4/25)
This article for the World Economic Forum by Kian Bakhtiari argues that a layer of human understanding is needed to give data context and nuance. He calls for renewed discourse on data “for good” and asserts that data needs to reflect and represent the diverse views and needs of all 7.6 billion people in the world. (source)
The necessity for open data on land and property rights (4/26)
This briefing paper is a thematic scoping for GODAN Action, which enables data users, producers and intermediaries to effectively engage with open data and maximize its potential for impact in the agriculture and nutrition sectors. (source)
If data is the answer, what are the African questions? (4/27)
David Cheruiyot, in an article for Africa is a Country, reflects on what the data revolution means for African countries and discusses the potential and need for an “African-driven” data agenda. (source)
Open data and public services (4/30)
This Open Data Institute (ODI) blog post shares recent developments about the new service delivery models, which has awarded funding to four local government organizations to develop open data projects which explore how data could be used to improve public services. (source)
April 2018 global poverty update from the World Bank (4/30)
In a World Bank blog post, Christoph Lakner and co-authors Joao Pedro Azevedo, Daniel Mahler, and Espen Beer Prydz discuss revisions made to the World Bank’s global and regional poverty estimates, which includes 97 new surveys. (source)
May
Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2017 (May)
Last May, United Nations ESCAP published a progress report on the development of SDGs in Asia and the Pacific. The report offers a forecast on the likely progression of the SDGs by 2030 while also identifying issue-areas where more attention is needed. (source)
Sustainable Development Goals Data Hub (May)
The Government of Canada released a Sustainable Development Goals virtual data hub which works towards collection, analysis, and presentation of Canadian data. This hub documents their progress towards the global indicators. (source)
September 2017 Mexico Earthquake Response (May)
This case study on the September 2017 earthquake in Mexico explains the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and their contribution to the earthquake as well as the role of satellite data in response to the earthquake. (source)
Developing Statistical Capacity to Measure Progress for the Sustainable Development Goals (May)
This past April the UNECE organized a meeting in Geneva for countries and agencies to discuss national statistical improvements. The main focus was providing practical tools for data accessibility and discussing significant gaps within the SDGs. (source)
Open Data SDG Hub (May)
The United Nations Statistics division releases a virtual SDG data hub. This hub promotes transparency and data for advocacy. The data is divided by SDG indicator and can be downloaded as regional, global, or country level aggregates. (source)
Why Women’s Financial Inclusion Data Pays (May)
Data2x published an infographic demonstrating the necessity of gender disaggregated data to ensure that women are financially included. Advocating for more financially included women would benefit families and national economies. (source)
Basic Statistics 2018 (May)
In May, The Basic Statistics 2018 publication was released. This report includes development indicators for 45 economies in the Asia and Pacific region. (source)
Survey Results | New approaches to Capacity Development and Future Priorities (May)
PARIS21 releases survey results on new approaches to capacity development. This survey was released to 193 UN members states and 2 non-member states. The survey highlights overlooked aspects of capacity development. (source)
5 GENDER EQUALITY: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (May)
These infographics published by the World Bank demonstrate critical information about SDG 5 on gender equality. (source)
Achieving Food and Nutrition Security through Open Access Data (May)
Global Food Policy published a report on the importance of open data in regard to global food and nutrition security. The report focuses on the impact open data has on research, evidence based solutions, and the performance of food systems. (source)
More and Better Financing for Data (May)
The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data has launched a new initiative to reinforce the value of investing in data, meet needs at country level, and advocate for more financing. (source)
UN Statistics Division Opens Access to Data on SDG Progress (5/1)
Delia Paul from the International Institute of Sustainable Development explores the new virtual hub launched by the UN Statistics Division which is delivering transparency to data used by the UN. The data show achievements on a global scale as well as uneven progress. (source)
Full Interview: Mayra Buvinic on Gender Data and Financial Inclusion (5/2)
In early May, Data2x published a video interview with Mayra Buvinic. The interview explains the importance of gender data for achieving financial inclusion at World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings in April 2018. (source)
Big Data as the Next Public Good (5/2)
Bing Song the director of Berggruen Institute China Center is calling for a shift from the protection of data under the private law to data ownership under the public law so that it can serve the public interest. By handling data as a public good it could counter monopolistic practices as well as adjust the distribution of wealth. (source)
Tapping open data to boost agriculture productivity (5/2)
This article from the Business daily by Sarah Ookoo looks at the future plans of the agriculture ministry in Kenya to offer a new data management system that allows Kenyan farmers to receive real-time data. The launch of this new portal could push Kenya to be the leader of developing nations when it comes to making agricultural data open to the public. (source)
What Do We Know About the Value of Data? (5/3)
Jenna Slotin from Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data introduces a new report called, What Do We Know About the Value of Data, which focuses on five methods to measure the value of data. This report builds on Open Data Watch’s published Value of Data Inventory. (source)
SDSN, Bertelsmann Stiftung Launch Consultation on 2018 SDG Report Cards (5/3)
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and Bertelsmann Stiftung have begun a public consultation on the third annual SDG Index and the Dashboard report. This will provide an assessment, by country, of SDG implementation performance. (source)
A leap in gender equality begins with better data (5/4)
The Brookings Institute highlights the gaps of gender data within the United States. The article suggests that these fallacies are due to their non-comprehensive data approach. By standardizing data collection and analysis, the US government can make greater strides towards gender equality. (source)
What Do We Know About the Value of Data? (5/4)
Bill Anderson, from Development Initiatives reviews, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data report What Do We Know About the Value of Data, and identifies five areas that Development Solutions can commit to doing more research on in order to find policy-based solutions. (source)
Africa Regional Data Cube (5/6)
A video published by Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, looks at the launch of the Africa Regional Data Cube. This is a new tool that uses Earth Observation and satellite technology to address food security, deforestation, and water access in some African countries. (source)
In the Philippines, data and songwriters help prepare for disasters (5/7)
Nicolas Zahn from Government Insider reports a success story connecting open data and citizen empowerment. His focus is Project NOAH, which works towards publishing open data for effective flood evacuations in the Philippines. (source)
Data Stewards: Data Leadership to Address 21st Century Challenges (5/8)
A kickoff event was held in San Francisco to welcome discussion on 21st century data challenges. Attendees included LinkedIn, Facebook, Uber, MasterCard, DigitalGlobe, Cognizant, Streetlight Data, the World Economic Forum, and Nethope. (source)
Achievement of SDGs in Africa won’t be possible without high-quality data (5/9)
This past May the African Centre for Statistics of the Economic Commission for Africa organized a meeting to discuss data gaps in regard to economic indicators for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs). (source)
Open Government Partnership and the Open Data for Development Network join forces to support open data initiatives around the world (5/10)
The Open Government Partnership announced that they will join together with Open Data for Development Network to continue working towards global open data initiatives. (source)
African Centre for Statistics calls for better coordination of Data collection in Africa (5/14)
A press release from All Africa informs the public about the importance of avoiding data inconsistencies. They discuss the need to collect data and standardize the collection methods in order to meet international statistical standards. (source)
12 steps to produce, share, and use data (5/14)
Ravi Kumer from the Code of Nepal outlines 12 steps to produce, share and use data. These 12 steps emerge from a Data2x and Open Data Watch study where they developed a data value chain to demonstrate the proper data collection and dissemination framework. (source)
New ILO report makes strides in measuring informal employment and new insight into women’s economic lives (5/14)
Data2x welcomes the ILO report as a step towards policy-relevant data that can be used to protect the economic rights of women and girls. (source)
Testing, learning and adapting: A year in the life of the Open Data Charter team (5/15)
Ania Calderon outlines a report by Open Data Charter that outlines four key challenges and improvements they wish to make. She also stresses the importance of reflection as a data advocate organization and calls for a measurement of impact. (source)
Take the guessing out of government with AI (5/15)
Government insider published two case studies that demonstrate the importance of data for policy. The first case study explains how ESRI a GIS company is able to map areas with high density of crime and traffic accidents. The second case is about the Red Cross and their use of data against disasters. Both demonstrate how data can help identify issue areas and direct attention to the most vulnerable populations. (source)
Can the UN’s Centre for Humanitarian Data stand out? (5/15)
After many consultations, the UN Center for Humanitarian data decided to prioritize the collection and use of data. One of the main products of this is the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX), a data sharing platform that join data from any approved organizations. (source)
With new Tableau partnership, UN looks to modernize data sharing (5/16)
Last May, the United Nations established a new partnership with Tableau to present real-time flow of data. This partnership will allow for the quicker dissemination of data. (source)
Better mortality data can have big payoffs, say public health experts (5/17)
The article explains the importance of improving civil registration by correctly certifying death causations and birth registration. While it may not save the lives of the people who are being born, it can go a long way in protecting the rights of humans. (source)
Busting silos in statistical capacity in Guatemala (5/16)
Right now, only 15 percent of the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals can be measured in Guatemala. However, the national statistical office is currently working to address this challenge by identifying potential data collection methods. (source)
Stories + Data = Change: The Evidence on Storytelling for Global Health (5/16)
David Isay, the founder of StoryCorps, spoke at the Johns Hopkins Center to describe power of data and storytelling as a catalyst for change. (source)
The Measurement Guide is out now! (5/18)
Open Data Charter, has published a new Measurement guide to analyze the openness of data in accordance to the Open Data Charter principle.(source)
In Washington D.C., Guterres signs pact with World Bank, meets US President Trump (5/18)
The United Nations and the World Bank Group joined to sign an agreement to increase collaboration on the Sustainable Development Goals. Collaboration includes funding and other necessary resources to help countries harness data. (source)
Geek Out with Tariq: An Economist’s Mother (5/21)
Geek Out with Tariq is a new video series about development data. Tariq Khokhar explores data trends around the world, specifically this video focus on gender disaggregated data. (source)
UN Secretary-General Releases Advance Version of 2018 SDG Progress Report (5/22)
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has released an unedited version of the 2018 yearly report on progress towards the SDGs. The report shares what indicators have accessible data and which indicators are still missing data. The report finds that, after a long decline, world hunger is again on the rise. (source)
GODAN Webinar: The Gender and Open Data Intersection (5/29)
A webinar from the World Wide Web Foundation’s offers a gendered view of open data and attempts to address its current challenges. (source)
June
The Big (Data) Bang: What will it mean for compiling SDG indicators? (June)
This paper outlines the opportunities, challenges, and governance issues involved with big data from the perspective of producing SDG indicators. The paper examine some of the challenges surrounding access, and for confidentiality and privacy. (source)
Who wants to know?: the political economy of statistical capacity in Latin America (June)
This book is part of an initiative undertaken in 2015 by the Innovation in Citizen Services Division (IFD/ICS) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to explore the political economy of statistical capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean. (source)
Data for Development Festival 2018 Report (June)
The Data4SDGs’s first Data for Development Festival brought together 400 delegates in Bristol, UK from the 21st to 23rd of March 2018. The new outcome report of the event is now available. (source)
Partner Survey Results 2018 (June)
The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data releases their first Partners Survey. Launched on January 29th, 2018, the survey aimed to understand what value partners were getting for the Global Partnership and how to better work together. (source)
Should We Always Trust What We See in Satellite Images? (6/4)
Writing for Scientific American, Melinda Laituri shares her opinions and views on the role of satellite imagery in the data revolution. She believes it’s important for people to understand the limitations of this technology, lest they misunderstand what they see. (source)
The Africa Regional Data Cube: Harnessing Satellites for SDG Progress (6/4)
In this UN Foundation blog post, Claire Melamed of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data shares the details and ambitions of the recently launched African Regional Cube. (source)
Launch of the Open Data Charter Measurement Guide (6/8)
The Open Data Charter Measurement Guide, a tool by the Open Data Charter, gives an overview on existing measurement tools for each Open Data Charter principle. It provides the possibility to compare the different indicators that are used in the five largest Open Data measurement initiatives. (source)
If development data is so important, why is it chronically underfinanced? (6/11)
Michael M. Lokshin, Zurab Sajaia, and Sardar Azari write a blog post on the World Bank’s Data Blog discussing why raising funds for data-related activities remains a major challenge for development practitioners, particularly for research on techniques for data collection and the development of methodologies to produce quality data. (source)
Ensuring data drives advocacy and action (6/11)
In this blog post for Women Deliver, Alison Holder of Equal Measures 2030 poses the question – how can we ensure that governments are incentivized to make the necessary investments – such as the 12 critical investments in women and girls promoted by the Deliver for Good campaign – to bring about gender equality? (source)
CogX 2018 – What should our data privacy rights look like? (6/12)
Jeni Tennison, CEO of Open Data Institute, discusses what data privacy rights look like in a fireside chat at CoG x18. (source)
How Will Open Data Affect the Geospatial Business? (6/14)
Open data is becoming increasingly available all over the world. How will this trend affect the geospatial business? ‘GIM International’ asks experts from some of the sector’s most influential companies for their opinions and shares them in this article. (source)
Official Statistics in a Post-Truth World (6/14)
Haishan Fu describes three things that producers of official statistics need to consider while charting their future course in this blog post from the World Bank. (source)
Data For All – Building Trust in Data Platforms (6/18)
Kris Oswalt of Community Services Foundation writes a blog post on how to build trust in data platforms for the UN Data Forum blog. (source)
Could Open Data Help Solve World Hunger? 6/19)
Contributing writer, Adrian Bridgwater, writes an article for Forbes discussing GODAN’s role in promoting open data, specifically how it can help respond to global challenges such as hunger and malnutrition. (source)
Applications open for third round of funding for collaborative data innovation projects (6/19)
The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and the World Bank Development Data Group announce that applications are now open for a third round of support for innovative collaborations for data production, dissemination, and use. (source)
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018 (6/20)
The United Nation’s SDG Report presents an overview of progress toward achieving the Goals, which were unanimously adopted by countries in 2015. The report acknowledges that reliable, timely, accessible, and disaggregated data are critically needed. (source)
How running away from home at 15 made me an advocate for the uncounted (6/21)
Mark Hereward, Associate Director for Data & Analytics for UNICEF, shares his reasons for attending the upcoming conference in Dubai and how to ensure no child is left behind in this blog post for the UN World Data Forum. (source)
Regions set priorities for HLFP 2018 (6/21)
In preparation for HLPF 2018, five Regional Forums on Sustainable Development reviewed progress on the 2030 Agenda and the sub-set of SDGs under review in 2018: SDGs 6, 7, 11, 12, 15 and 17. (source)
SDGs show slow progress, not on track to reach 2030 targets, UN reports (6/22)
Amy Lieberman of DevEx shares reports from the UN that progress on the Sustainable Development Goals remains uneven, and is not moving fast enough to meet the ambitious 17 goals on poverty, health, and equality by 2030. (source)
IMF, Partners Launch Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund (6/22)
The International Monetary Fund and its partners launch the Data for Decisions (D4D) Fund in Bern, Switzerland. The fund is expected to provide about US$ 33 million over 5 years for targeted capacity development in the form of technical assistance and training. (source)
Scarcity of data protection laws in Africa leaves NGOs exposed (6/27)
Writing for DevEx, Andrew Green discusses that the level of data protection regulation varies widely across the African continent. Some countries, such as Senegal, have rushed to adopt and implement regulations. But the majority have no legislation in place. (source)
Open Up Field Guides (6/27)
The Open Data Charter publishes a methodology for developing an Open Up Guide — a tool for supporting Governments and other actors to use the publication of strategic datasets to address key policy challenges. (source)