Posts tagged data stewardship
Learning from City-Level Chief Data Officers
Learning from City-Level Chief Data Officers

Cities have been leading on innovation to improve civic outcomes for decades – with the origins of the “smart cities” revolution first taking shape in 1970s Los Angeles. Yet, the growth of “smart cities” along with the surge in new technologies and a global pandemic have contributed to the unprecedented data collection, production, and analysis demands facing national and local governments today. In response, a number of cities around the world have recently instituted a Chief Data Officer (CDO) position to improve their data stewardship for better service delivery and policymaking. To better understand how the experiences of CDOs at the city and sub-national levels can help to inform their national counterparts, SDSN TReNDS conducted initial research on this issue, and this blog highlights a number of emerging findings for National Statistics Offices.

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Insights, OpinionAlyson Markssmart city, Smart City Initiatives, data stewardship, chief data officers, COVID-19, UN Statistical Commission
Cities Are Paving the Path for Government Data-Driven Innovation and Stewardship
Cities Are Paving the Path for Government Data-Driven Innovation and Stewardship

In many places, local governments have been at the forefront of innovation around data for sustainable development. For years, cities have been combining traditional and novel data sources to measure performance and benchmark against other cities, to create dashboards to inform citizens, and to advance local policymaking. TReNDS’ research on data governance and stewardship at the municipal and local levels illustrates how national governments and international organizations can benefit from the lessons learned around cities’ approach to data stewardship.

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Insights, OpinionHayden Dahmmcities, data stewardship, data governance, chief data officers, localization
Big Data in a Time of Crisis: Maximizing its Value – And Avoiding its Risks – In the Fight Against COVID-19

It is estimated that approximately 2 million people around the world have been infected by the coronavirus, and the numbers continue to grow. Yet the data being reported are primarily coming from national governments, which are – for the most part – basing it on who has been tested, which likely reveals only a fraction of the scale of the pandemic. There’s a critical need for real-time reported data from hospitals, health clinics and outreach facilities, based not only on testing, but on symptoms and other key determinants. In addition, we need to know in real-time who lacks access to a health clinic or other basic services, and which clinics don’t have personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators or beds – as well as where the most vulnerable people live, their age, gender and other crucial demographic information. If there is one thing this pandemic has exposed, it is the acute weakness of the world’s data systems. 

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InsightsJessica Espeyreal-time data, data stewardship, Big data, COVID-19, data financing, POPGRID
Data Experts Say New Sources Must Not Replace Traditional Data

TReNDS hosted an expert discussion on data for development on the sidelines of the 51st session of the UN Statistical Commission. The breakfast event took place on 3 March 2020, and featured remarks by several experts from the TReNDS network. The discussion highlighted as a key issue the lack of data currently available on SDG indicators, saying significant gaps exist in data timeliness, represented geographies, and other factors.

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NewsGuest ContributorSDGs, datasharing, dataprivacy, datastewardship, Counting on the World, data revolution, data financing, Earth observation, evidence-based policymaking, census, POPGRID, population monitoring, UN World Data Forum, real-time data, data stewardship, public-private partnerships