Driving Forward a New Data Ecosystem
Reflections on this year’s World Data Forum
Written by Alyson Marks
Source: UN DESA
Last week, more than 10,000 data experts from around the world gathered virtually for the third World Data Forum. Increasing investment in statistics, effective communications around data, the importance of disaggregation, emerging data sources, and careful data governance were among the key issues discussed.
Investment in Data and Statistics and the COVID-19 “Opportunity”
Investment in data and statistics is lagging far behind where it should be, but the COVID-19 pandemic offers an unprecedented opportunity to catalyze the necessary funding. As Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed highlighted in the opening session, “investing in data has quite frankly been a really tough ask of our partners…this is data’s moment and it is key for any spending [on the virus]. Now’s the time that we can take the opportunity from any stimulus packages to push for it.”
Beth Blauer, Executive Director and co-founder of the Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University who works with the team responsible for the widely popular Coronavirus Dashboard, also remarked that “COVID-19 has dramatically changed how public data is used and how people think about it. We need to think about how to best use this moment as a catalyst for change.”
In a session hosted by the Bern Network, a multi-sector alliance featuring many of our partners, including Open Data Watch, Paris21, and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, panelists called attention to the issues around financing for development data and statistics, including a fragmented funding landscape, weak business cases, siloed sectors, and difficulties accessing relevant information on aid flows and donor funding priorities. For example, Ola Awad, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics commented on the need to see statistics as a cross-government issue and investment to better mobilize domestic and international resources, stating that “statistics is a cross-cutting issue, and it’s not a sector in itself.”
To respond to many of these issues, the Bern Network is developing a Clearinghouse for Financing Development Data, an online platform that will provide near real-time information on aid flows, country and donor profiles, advocacy resources, and more to better match the demand and supply for statistical funding.
Enhancing Communications Around Data
With the increased attention on data as a result of COVID-19, ensuring that it is effectively communicated is critical. In a session on data use under COVID-19, TReNDS’ expert member, Jeanne Holm, underscored the importance of data literacy and how we must be able to productively communicate data to encourage people to change their behavior, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing.
In another session, TReNDS’ expert member, Samantha Custer shared best practices for communicating data to the public drawing on learnings from AidData’s ‘Listening to Leaders’ survey. These included producing the data with end-users in mind, including involving local stakeholders in producing the data, getting the framing right, and being transparent about methodology, including making the datasets readily available with the metadata and appropriate documentation.
The Importance of Disaggregated Data in Leaving No One Behind
Despite data being produced at a faster and unprecedented rate, critical data are still missing on many vulnerable groups, including youth, persons with disabilities, women and girls, and older people. Without timely and disaggregated data, many are being left behind, and we cannot accurately count and consider them in policymaking. Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, stated in the opening session, “Without better data, countries will continue making decisions that miss the needs of entire population and progress against COVID-19 will stall,” and called for countries to increase the collection and reporting of sex-disaggregated data.
The UN Statistics Division’s newly released report, The World’s Women 2020, highlights the importance of sex-disaggregated data via a collection of 100 distinct stories on women that assesses progress towards gender equality around the world, demonstrating the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on women.
New Data Sources Are Helping to Fill the Gaps
Fortunately, new data sources, including big data, AI, earth observations, and citizen science are helping to fill in these critical gaps, as highlighted in a number of sessions throughout the Forum. For instance, during a session on citizen science co-hosted by TReNDS, expert member, Dilek Fraisl, presented her research, demonstrating that 33% of SDG indicators could be supported by citizen science approaches. TReNDS’ member, Jillian Campbell, also highlighted many of the advantages of citizen science, including the ability to explore inter-relationships that are often hard to monitor with more traditional and sectoral-based approaches. However, she noted that investment in official statistics is still critical and citizen science and other new data sources are a complement, not a replacement for official statistics.
Data Governance and Protection as an Enabler, not a Hindrance
COVID-19 has brought issues around data governance – laws, rules, and procedures around how organizations manage, use, and share data – to the forefront of the public conversation, and this was especially clear throughout many of the sessions. In an event on trust, privacy, and governance during pandemics and disasters, Jeni Tenison, Vice President and Chief Strategy Advisor at the Open Data Institute, underscored the need for adaptive governance and that “data protection is an enabler and an accelerator, not a hindrance.” Protection and use are not a dichotomy and should work hand in hand.
Sessions also highlighted the often siloed system of data governance and the need for more collective forms of governance around data. In a TReNDS’ co-hosted session on taking a holistic approach to data governance, Teki Akuetteh Falconer, CEO at the Africa Digital Rights Hub, reflected on the lack of consistency in approaches and standards around data governance. “If we look at an area like privacy, for example, there are a lot of similarities in issues and approaches across jurisdictions. However, legal systems, enforcement, and implementation systems are not uniform enough to allow for seamless data flows,” she said.
The need to join up islands of excellence, share data expertise across sectors, and the crucial role the National Statistics Office plays in building data ethics and upholding data standards within government were among other prominent themes highlighted. For instance, Sir Ian Diamond, Chief Statistician for the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics, commented, “as a stewarding entity, [the NSO] wants to use data. However, we must build an ethical construct around the data. Most importantly, that data must be understood by the public and made available. There is no point in having brilliant ethics if no one knows that you’ve got them.”
Moving Forward
As we continue to face new challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and venture into the decade of action, these issues are certain to remain at the forefront. The data community must capitalize on the current attention to data and statistics to catalyze the necessary action and change on these issues, otherwise, we risk stalling on the critical progress needed.