Big Data Innovation For

Sustainable Development

Cape Town, South Africa | 16 January, 2017

Harnessing Big Data

for the SDGs

Robert Kirkpatrick,

Director, UN Global Pulse

An innovation initiative of the UN Secretary-General

UN Global Pulse

Vision: Big data harnessed responsibly as a public good

Mission: Accelerate discovery and adoption of big data innovation for sustainable development and humanitarian action

Pulse Lab NYC 2010

Pulse Lab Jakarta 2012

Pulse Lab Kampala 2015

Image credit: Eric Fischer, 2014

Image credit: Eric Fischer, 2014

“WE NEED A DATA REVOLUTION FOR SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT”

survey data big data

There may actually be at least three different data

revolutions underway...

1. Measurement 2. Management 3. Accountability

“What People Say” Online news

Social media

Retail advertising

Radio & TV

“What People Do”

Online search

Mobile phone usage

Transaction records

Postal traffic

New digital data sources that

reveal behaviour change

DATA PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

http://www.unglobalpulse.org/privacy-and-data-protection

data philanthropy

Innovation in the field

Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis, Ph.D

Manager, Pulse Lab Kampala

radio mining

radio mining

Automatic

counting of

structures

smart waste

smart waste

Atm transactions

Atm transactions

Hazer gazer

Social media & food prices

Big Data: Opportunities and Challenges Daniel F. Runde (moderator)

Director, Project on U.S. Leadership in Development, CSIS

Enda Ginting

Assistant Deputy, Analysis and Management of Priority Programs,

Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia

Arif Husain

Chief Economist and Director of Food Security Analysis and Trends Service,

UN WFP

Mallory Soldner

Advanced Analytics Manager, UPS

Juan Murillo Arías

Territorial Analysis Manager, BBVA Data & Analytics

Highlighting new resources

Benjamin Kumpf

Policy Specialist, Innovation, UNDP

Rebecca Furst-Nichols

Deputy Director, Data2X, UN Foundation

Sriganesh Lokanathan

Team Leader, Big Data for Development, LIRNEasia

John Quinn

Data Scientist, Pulse Lab Kampala

Robert Kirkpatrick

Director, UN Global Pulse

A guide to data innovation

undp.org/innovation

Unglobalpulse.org

Big Data and the Well-Being of Women and Girls

Remote sensing/geospatial

Improved spatial and temporal resolution of pre-existing data, e.g.

household surveys

Tracking of vulnerable subpopulations

Digital exhaust (CDRs & credit cards)

Real-time expenditure and mobility patterns, by sex

Analysis of economic resilience in the face of shocks and

stressors

Internet activity

Social media as a database of emotions and ideas

Tracking mental health trends, other issues of concern

3 pilots:

@Data2X Next steps: Scaling up

Big data for development in Sri Lanka & Bangladesh @ LIRNEasia

http://lirneasia.net/projects/bd4d/

• We conduct big data analytics using data from private sector & government; study its impacts on society and the marketplace; and facilitate evidence to policy in the use of big data

• Our big data research insights on transportation and urban planning are being used by the Sri Lankan government in both the planning and implementation stages of the Western Region Megapolis Project (WRMP).

• Partnerships ongoing or being initiated with government in diverse areas: urban and transportation planning, health, official statistics, etc.

• Mainstreaming data partnerships with the state and private sectors:

– Leverage growing demand for data literacy in both the private and state sectors

– Sequencing activities based on local context

– Guidelines for Third-Party Use of Big Data Generated by Mobile Network Operators (https://goo.gl/lbM495)

www.datascienceafrica.org

Integrating Big Data Into M&E Programmes A resource for practitioners

Closing Remarks Bitange Ndemo Associate Professor, University of Nairobi Business School

World Data Lab

January 2017

- Making everyone count -

worlddata.io

Why does our work matter?

• How many poor people are in the world at the moment?

• Where do the poor people live in Kenya? (Subnational data model)

• How long will I live for?

Leadership Team – worlddata.io

Homi Kharas (Chief Economic Advisor) Florian Schlochow (Chief Technology Officer)

Wolfgang Fengler (Advisor) Bitange Ndemo (VP Africa)

Linet Kwamboka (Director Africa) Charmaine Taus (Operations)

www.unglobalpulse.org