Despite August typically being a slower summer month, it was full of action for Open Data Watch. In partnership with Data2X and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), ODW launched its latest report on regional gender data availability, Bridging the Gap: Mapping Gender Data Availability in Latin America and the Caribbean. The in-depth study looks at 93 indicators and assesses what gender data are needed or missing to monitor progress across development domains for women and girls in five LAC countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Paraguay.
Below is a selected list of sustainable development data articles and reports published in August. For specific articles on the intersection of development data and COVID-19, visit our “Data in the Time of COVID-19″. If there is something else to add, please contact us.
August
The median’s new best friend? Introducing SDG 10.2.1 (8/3)
The World Bank recently started reporting on SDG indicator 10.2.1, which measures the proportion of people living on less than half of median income. Understanding how many people live under the median income is key to a fuller understanding of poverty. (source)
31 Statistics That Highlight The UK’s Deep-Rooted Racial Inequality (8/3)
Charlie Mock from Bustle presents a series of statistics to showcase instances of injustice in employment, education, poverty, housing, and other sectors, hoping to stimulate conversation and actions against racial inequality. (source)
Gender X policy in NYS to change health data reporting (8/3)
In this three-minute podcast, Noelle Evans discusses how including nonbinary gender X in health data reporting can remove more people’s barriers to health service. The inclusion would allow officials to understand the different impacts of communicable diseases on various communities and allocate resources more effectively. (source)
Summer of Open Data: Keynote Conversation with Taiwan’s Audrey Tang (8/5)
The GovLab’s Co-Founder Stefaan Verhulst, interviewed Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister in charge of social innovation and open government. They discuss the role of open data in Taiwan’s COVID-19 strategy, and Tang explains how the government builds a data ecosystem that encourages collaboration and participatory accountability. (source)
What the Numbers Say About Gender Differences (8/6)
Eugenia Cheng authors a piece for the Wall Street Journal on a dataset that reveals that men and women have a considerable overlap of abilities. She explains that this study is critical for eradicating the idea that a gender imbalance in fields, such as math, persists because of biological reasons. (source)
Using differential privacy to harness big data and preserve privacy (8/11)
Chuck Kapelke, a communications specialist for the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity interdisciplinary research and collaboration hub in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, on using differential privacy to reap the benefits of big data and protect against the leakage of sensitive personal data. (source)
Djibouti’s Data Collection Efforts: How Information Helps Tackle Poverty (8/11)
The World Bank Group authors a piece on the Government of Djibouti’s effort to eradicate poverty. They explain that data was a critical factor of the initiative as it served as a roadmap for the Government of Djibouti to determine where to invest resources. (source)
The promise – and pitfalls – of the Aid Transparency Index (8/11)
Dr. Kate Weaver of the University of Texas discusses the highlights and the limitations of the 2020 Aid Transparency Index. She calls for more support to ensure that the Index delivers what it has promised – better, more accountable aid for all. (source)
Summer of Open Data Panel #4: Data Responsibility and New Forms of Collaboration (8/12)
The Open Data Policy Lab’s Summer of Open Data Initiative holds a panel discussion with data experts from the public and private sectors to discuss the importance of data governance and effective collaboration. This panel features Barbara Ubaldi, Arturo Franco, and Jean-Noé Landry. (source)
Charts of the Week: Data on women in work and politics (8/20)
The Brookings Chart of the Week on how women work and serve highlights recent women’s recent trends in the workforce. They find that female participation in the labor force has decreased in the U.S., and many women cite their caring responsibilities for being the reason why. (source)
Six ways the 2020 census will change your life (8/21)
Sara Kiley Watson and Purbita Saha, co-author a piece for Popular Science, on six ways the census will transform your life from land use to healthcare access. They highlight the recent challenges the 2020 Census has encountered and the consequences of not counting everyone. (source)
Asia-Pacific countries commit to data-driven decision-making to build back better (8/26)
Countries in Asia and the Pacific attended the seventh Committee on Statistics, convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to pledge to advance reliable and timely statistics to inform policymaking and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. (source)
The availability of sex-disaggregated information on healthcare worker cases and deaths
Together with Data2X, Open Data Watch released the fourth post of its blog series that examines what emerging methods to measure the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers can tell us about the frontline capacity of countries and how it differs for men and women. (source)
