the data revolution – from talk to action workshop ... · the data revolution – from talk to...

The data revolution – from talk to action

Workshop programme: background briefing, agenda, biographies

Background briefing

1. The Objective: A revolution in data production, dissemination and use

An unprecedented interest in data for development presents a huge opportunity to improve the quality, availability and usefulness of information shaping the well-being of people. This interest has been catalysed by the imminent need for new data to monitor the implementation of new development goals after 2015 but it goes beyond that – the lack of data for domestic level policymaking and for accountability is a hindrance to effective action at many levels.

This background paper builds upon the multitude of conferences, seminars, research projects and new networks that have been launched and taken place over the past year, and suggests some of the emerging areas of convergence. It also identifies some remaining questions that need to be resolved in order to move on to an agenda for substantive change.

There is strong consensus on the need for action: the development community, national statistical systems and governments are not maximizing the potential of data and technology to make better economic decisions for better lives and serve the poor. Data is also under-utilized as a tool for individual decisions and for citizens to hold their political leadership to account.

In response to this there is a hope and an expectation that we are witnessing the beginning of a revolution in the use of technology, in addressing institutional bottlenecks and in the production and use of more timely and high quality data to solve domestic and global development problems. There is

Workshop programme The data revolution – from talk to action, 10 – 11 July 2014

a sense that the technological and institutional possibilities are aligning with pressure for political action and resources.

A Data Revolution for development, combining technological and institutional change, new resources and increased political momentum, could be a set of leaps forward in the quality and availability of information that is useful for – and used for – decision making at all levels. It could encompass both major improvements in the number, quality and reach of traditional statistical systems, such as censuses, civil registration and vital statistics and household surveys, as well as the generation and use of data from non-traditional (official) sources, such as consumer transactions, satellite imagery, patterns of social networking and others made possible through newer technologies. It could be based on a partnership that draws on the best assets of public and private sectors. It could engender a change in the collective understanding of the value of data and the importance of ethical data capture and use. It could help to change the enabling environment for using the best available data for sound decisions, and accountability for those decisions, which could ultimately help improve social and economic outcomes globally.

This is the broad, shared aspiration that has brought many individuals and institutions to the ‘data revolution’. The plethora of events and writings that have resulted also suggest some further areas of consensus on which to build.

Long-term objectives: sustained improvements and innovations to maximise value There would be many ways to express the long-term objectives and the principles on which much of the debate builds, but the following summarise the characteristics of the system that most seem to agree is the ultimate objective of the ‘data revolution’.

Maximize value from the data produced How data are produced and used matter for how beneficial they are. Given limited resources, the data that is collected needs to be the most relevant for decision making and available in a format that can be easily used for multiple purposes. This requires that data be open, disaggregated and interoperable. Maximizing value of data also requires that different actors (e.g., governments, civil society, private sector) have both the technical capacity and the means necessary to use data for planning, measurement and accountability.

Continuously improve data production and use The skills of multiple actors should be brought to bear to continually improve the availability, quality, relevance, timeliness and frequency of data. Continual improvement requires strengthening the capacity of traditional actors and welcoming new partners, including the private sectors and citizens/non-profit organizations. Feedback loops between these actors are necessary to ensure the right data is produced at the right time for course corrections and decision making. It includes close attention to issues of ethics and privacy, and concerted efforts to reduce distorted incentives that hinder quality, coverage or relevance of data production.


Sustain improvements of the data ecosystem This requires commitment of predictable resources from governments (including donors) and international institutions. It also means spending the available resources in a way that is supporting country systems, balancing and as far as possible aligning investment for monitoring international commitments with the production of data that can make a difference at the national and local level. It includes finding cost-effective ways to scale up production of the essential data all countries need to make basic development decisions, and people need to hold governments accountable and manage their own affairs. It requires fostering a new generation of leaders in data production, analysis, visualization and use.

Balancing technological innovations with institutional change While the data revolution will certainly be looking at the prospects for technological innovation in facilitating the collection, processing and use of data, it is important to recall that a technology revolution alone will not be sufficient to produce more timely data for effective policy use. In fact, parts of the revolution need to happen with changing institutional structures and mind-sets of decision makers – from international donor agencies to national statistical offices.

2. Challenges and opportunities for the data revolution The objectives above provide a common map to guide action, but how this is turned into an agenda for change will depend on the way the current data problem is expressed. Recent discussions suggest a number of specific and immediate bottlenecks to progress, and a range of possible ways of overcoming these challenges.

High and increasing demand for data By many measures, developing countries are much better equipped now than in 2000 to measure progress. Yet the demands on national statistical systems continue to grow – both in terms of the potential range of socio-economic issues that are informed by data and the commitments made by governments to improve their openness and transparency. The attendant pressures for well-documented, accessible, more frequent, more granular data published under open data licenses have, therefore, never been higher. While these developments are in principle very welcome, it could lead to (further) frustration and disappointment if the data is not produced or made available.

There is a need for standards to inform the integration of non-traditional data into official data systems, to ensure quality and interoperability.


There is consensus that managing these new demands will involve both “official statistics” and other data central to improving the capacity for citizens to take decisions and hold leaders accountable. However, other questions include:

• How do we ensure we are collecting and disclosing data that allows citizens themselves to lead on accountability?

• How do we create ecosystems so that a range of players are producing high quality data which is interoperable?

• How do we strengthen “statistical literacy” to have citizens interested and actively engaged in the discussions?

Low and variable levels of financial and technical resources (from domestic sources and from donors) In many low-income countries, much of the demand for statistics has originated from the international development community, especially donors and international agencies. While this has led to increased levels of aid for statistics as documented by the annual PRESS reports, this has not always been at the level required or sufficiently consistent. Also, as a new study by the Centre for Development Research shows, donor resources often support specific institutional needs: on a specific of the sectoral topic, on the granularity of the data to be collected, on the timing of the survey, on their reporting needs…etc. Within countries, more limited capacity for analysis and use has tended to undervalue the importance of statistics, and led to a lack of domestic resources for statistical programs. Similar constraints are faced by governments opening up other sources of data.

The net effect on statistical producers has been inadequate budgets and problems in attracting and retaining qualified staff. Skilled and experienced professional statisticians, data scientists, and other data-related personnel are in short supply globally, but the problem is particularly acute in developing countries. Many statistical systems find it difficult to attract and retain people with good quantitative backgrounds. Universities and professional training centres are also finding it increasingly difficult to maintain and expand training programmes.

Building national statistical capacity will be a cornerstone of the data revolution. While there is a consensus that this will involve a substantial increase in resources, both the source of and destination for any new money is as yet unclear. Open questions include:

• What new money is needed, where would it come from and how should it be delivered? Is there a need for a new ‘global partnership’ mechanism and if yes what would it look like bearing in mind the already quite fragmented data production system and increased transaction costs?

• Would a new flexible fund to invest in promising new developments within government and multilateral systems lead to cheaper ways to collect data more frequently at a higher quality? Who would manage such a fund, and how would it be designed to operate effectively?


• How can investment by governments and donors in long- term capacity for data collection and use be encouraged?

• What scale of resources is required?

Persisting data gaps While the supply of data has improved enormously since 2000 significant gaps remain. These vary by country and by sector, but the reliance on household surveys for demographic and health data, and the weakness of administrative data and censuses has led to some specific gaps in knowledge about small but marginalised populations (e.g small but very disadvantaged ethnic groups), in the monitoring of relatively rare events (e.g. maternal mortality rates which contain a large margin of error), and in monitoring among rapidly shifting populations (e.g. urban informal settlements). All of these create considerable barriers to government and other agencies’ attempts to reach the very poorest.

A new post-2015 development agenda will also create new gaps, as information may not be available to monitor all the agreed indicators. New and enhanced survey instruments will be one way to fill those gaps, but other sources of data may also have a role. Data is also often out of date, creating temporal gaps particularly important where populations are shifting or economies and societies are changing rapidly. Time lags also make it impossible to monitor the impact of policies and programmes in real time, and to assess progress on agreed targets.

There is broad consensus that more disaggregated data is needed to accurately measure progress on the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, and to inform decisions by governments, business people, civil society actors and individuals. Such disaggregation is needed to overcome the “information paradox” whereby the neediest are the least represented in statistics and leave no one behind. There is consensus that ‘big data’ is a potential resource for filling some data gaps and creating more timely data. Digital databanks of tweets, transactions and travels have been used to gain useful insights into key issues such as prices, popular opinion and safety. Most proponents of the data revolution think this potential should be further exploited, though proven methodologies for doing so are still under development. However practical questions remain:

• What is the cheapest, most timely and easiest way to increase information about currently under-represented populations, and to increase the range of indicators that can be monitored?

• What is the appropriate role of existing methodologies for data collection (household surveys, administrative data etc), and to what extent can new methods (big data, etc), be deployed to fill gaps?

• To what extent can better coordination help, and to what extent are new methods and increased resources needed?


• How much will greater disaggregation cost, and what is the appropriate level of spending on depth versus breadth of coverage (e.g. more disaggregation or more indicators?)

Weak capacity to turn data into knowledge and knowledge into action Countries are better equipped now than in 2000 to measure progress, but the demands on national statistical systems continue to grow exponentially – in terms of quantity (e.g. disaggregation), quality (e.g. adherence to international standards), frequency (e.g. real-time) and availability (e.g. open data).

In recent years many of the incentives, both on the part of donors as well as statistical agencies have been towards data collection, rather than improving domestic capacity for analysis and use. Much of the focus of the past 15 years has been in supporting the collection of data through programmes such as the LSMS (World Bank), MICS (UNICEF) and the DHS (USAID). While this has certainly resulted in substantial improvements in the availability of data to monitor the MDG indicators, the focus on data collection has often been at the expense of developing survey instruments that can be sustainably produced with the resources and skills available domestically. In many cases, analysis has been done externally and more needs to be done to ensure local actors can maximize the value of the data produced.

• How do we bridge the capacity and skills gap in national statistical authorities? Would a ‘Statisticians Without Borders’ improving technical quality of statistics?

• What changes in the curricula of training institutes are required and would investment in regional statistical academies help?

• How can leadership at various levels of national systems be improved? • Is an independent monitoring body which evaluates progress of national and multilateral

statistics authorities desirable?

Poor coordination at all levels In almost all countries official statistics are produced and disseminated by a number of different agencies. National Statistical Offices, the central bank, line ministries, administrative systems are all playing some sort of a role – but often the different data collection systems are not necessarily co-ordinated. Through the NSDS process, coordination of the activities of these agencies, to reduce duplication and to promote consistency has improved, but much more needs to happen in particular at the country level. Donors continue to push for the collection for specific data of their needs which too often is not in line with the specific country set and agreed priorities as expressed in the national planning.

There are also concerns over coordination within the international statistical system, both in terms of international data programs as well as areas such as the provision of technical assistance and the development of standards and recommendations. Too much data collection is driven by the needs and interests of external agencies, is not done in a way that different sources can be combined to give a


bigger picture (e.g. the different household survey instruments), and is focused on particular sectors or regions, not giving policy makers the full range of information on which to act.

A particular concern is the extent to which low-income countries are able to participate effectively in the international system and to have a voice in its governance.

The problems raised by lack of coordination have been a central feature of the data revolution conversation to date, but there remain few specific ideas for tackling it.

• How could financing – for example, a new catalytic finance mechanism - ensure strategic and coordinated approaches to national statistics?

• Do we need a broker and coordinator to fix the parts of the system where a lack of coordination is a barrier to progress? Is this a role for a ‘global partnership’ mechanism, and what form would this take? Who could lead this?

Statistical systems in developing countries find it difficult to innovate Where resources for routine operations are severely constrained, the potential for innovation is almost zero. This is particularly the case in low-income countries with relatively small statistical systems. Countries have been able to make use of information and communication technology in data processing, analysis and dissemination with the support of aid programmes, but domestically generated innovations in areas such as data collection and field work are much more limited.

With more actors coming into play such as the private sector or NGOs, the need to develop institutional arrangements such as public-private partnerships becomes important – yet the capacity to do so is still low.

Again, while this problem is referred to often in the data revolution conversation, there are few specific ideas to draw on:

• Would an innovation fund - managed by someone with private sector expertise, catalyse new approaches to collecting data and ensuring its interoperability with official statistics? Is this a role for a new ‘global partnership’ mechanism?

• How do we integrate the private sector and tech companies into the discussion in a way which ensures coordination?

• How do we increase interoperability?

3. The next step: an agenda for action Since the HLP first called for a data revolution last May, an army of would-be revolutionaries have stepped forward to support the cause. Numerous discussions have revealed a loose consensus on why


we need a data revolution and what some of its key goals might be, as summarised above. However, the means by which such objectives could be achieved remains to be determined.

The strongest alignment seems to be on the motivation for a data revolution: the whole of the development community is asking for better data and statistics for policy monitoring and evaluation, decision making in all sectors, and to strengthen capacities, transparency and accountability. As a result, the data revolution is now one of the critical elements of the Post-2015 framework.

There is a sense that this can be done: the various parts of the data ecosystem can do better in terms of producing accurate, timely, usable, relevant data and statistics. Technological innovations are one cause for optimism along with recognition that current production processes could be streamlined, particularly at the international level (e.g. co-ordination of surveys). Many have also highlighted the possibility to use existing data more often and more efficiently, for example by opening up data and publishing them in machine-readable format and/or linking them to other datasets. Lastly, with the emergence of new data producers, the “data revolution” is seen as an opportunity to bring new actors into the fold.

Despite the strong support for the data revolution and consensus on core elements, much remains to be determined regarding how to make it happen, and there are some issues on which there is less agreement. There is an urgent need for clarity from an expert group on the technical and political steps required to solve existing problems and build long term support in line with agreed principles – and so make the data revolution a reality. As well as the detailed questions raised in relation to specific issues posed above, two key questions remain for strategy over the next few months.

Creating a global partnership on development data: why, what, who? The HLP report calls for the establishment of a new global partnership on development data. As a funder, a coordinator, a repository for best practice and the developer and guardian of new standards, a new institution could have a range of roles in a data revolution that are currently spread among several agencies. In general terms, this idea has received some interest with many calling for flexible and inclusive forms of co-operation to take the data revolution forward. However, the specific role and activities of such a partnership have not been discussed yet and it might take some time to reach a consensus with key players on its specific role, the funding and the institutional design.

• What would be precisely the added value of any new global partnership and how would it address the identified bottlenecks?

• What role, governance and mandate would a new parthership need to have to ensure that it complements rather than undermines existing initiatives at country level, among NGOs and in the private sector?

• How long will it take to set up such a partnership and become operational? What resources would be required and where would they come from?


• Is there an existing institution that can play this role, or is a new institution required?

How do we make all of this happen? The biggest questions that remain are the political. Once there is a set of common objectives, and consensus on the nature of the partnership required, there will still be a need for a political moment to gather the commitments – financial and otherwise – to make something happen before the momentum dissipates.

• Do we need an action forcing / pledging moment in early 2015 which ensures technical and financial commitments are delivered ahead of the September summit?

• How can the potential of the post-2015 agenda to catalyse long-term improvements in data collection and use best be used? Is a ‘baseline campaign’, involving old and new actors, governments, NGOs and others in the co-production of the baseline for new goals a way of galvanising and concretising actions and investments in this area for the long term?

• What kinds of advocacy and other actions do we need to deliver change? Who will lead this effort?

4. Upcoming events on the Post-2015 agenda

Post-2015 Events Calendar

Dates Topic Event Location Organzation

July 1-9, 2014

Monitoring and Accountability

High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

New York UN

July 8-9, 2014 SDGs Overall Annual Ministerial Review New York UN

July 10-11, 2014

Development Cooperation

ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum New York UN

July 14-18, 2014 SDGs Overall Last Open Working Group

Session New York UN

July 17-18, 2014 Data Revolution Informing a Data

Revolution Bangkok, Thailand Paris21

Aug. 4-8, 2014

Development Finance

Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing

New York UN

Aug. 6-8, 2014 Data Revolution

International Workshop on Open Data for Science and Sustainability in developing Countries

Narobi, Kenya UNESCO


Sept. 11-12, 2014 Data Revolution

Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities

Rome UN

Sept. 22-26, 2014 Data Revolution

UNECE Workshop and Expert Meeting on Population and Housing Consensus

Geneva UN

Sept. 23-29, 2014

Development Finance & SDGs Overall

UN General Assembly General Debate New York UN

Oct. 8-14, 2014 Data Revolution IAOS 2014 Conference on

Official Statistics Da Nang, Vietnam IAOS

Oct. 10-12, 2014 SDGs Overall Annual meetings of World

Bank and IMF Washington, DC WB & IMF

Dec. 2014 Development Finance

OECD DAC High Level Meeting Paris OECD

Mar-15 Data Revolution United Nations Statistical Commission

New York UN

July 13-16, 2015

Development Finance

Conference on Financing for Development

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

UN

Sept. 22-28, 2015 SDGs Overall UN General Assembly

General Debate New York UN

Sep-15 Development Finance

World Bank Annual Meetings Washington, DC WB

Dec. 2015 Innovation UNFCCC COP-20 Lima, Peru UN


Workshop agenda

Location: The King's Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0AN

Workshop day one - Thursday 10 July

09.00 Registration and coffee

09.30 Introduction and providing an overall context for the workshop • Outlining the purpose of the workshop • Exploring expectations of participants • Providing an update on key initiatives and events • Delivering a timeline for political developments on the data revolution up to

September 2015

11.00 Coffee break 11.15 Part 1 - The Data Revolution: Long-term objectives, challenges and opportunities

• What consensus exists on the long-term objectives of the data revolution and the key challenges and opportunities for realising that objective?

13.00 Networking lunch 14.00 Part 2 - The Data Revolution: Long-term objectives, challenges and opportunities 15.00 Setting the right course: The data revolution to 2030

• What actions, relationships and institutions need to be in place and when for the different challenges to be overcome and objectives to be realised by 2030?

17.30 End of workshop day one 18.00 Pre-dinner drinks reception 19.00 Dinner

Workshop day two - Friday 11 July

09.00 Registration and coffee 09.30 Recap and reflect

• Reviewing discussion points from day one • Summarising key conclusions

10.30 Part 1 - Priority actions and political deliverables for the next 18 months

• What needs to happen over the next 18 months to set the right course for 2030?

11.00 Coffee break 11.15 Part 2 - Priority actions and political deliverables for the next 18 months 13.00 Networking lunch 14.00 Summarising priorities and work plans – what are the next steps? 15.00 End of workshop


Participant list

Name Job Title Organistion Workshop facilitator: Aileen Lyon Director Delta Partnership Solutions Ltd. Trevor Fletcher Senior Project Coordinator PARIS21 Philipp Schonrock Director CEPEI

Haishan Fu

Director - Development Data Group, Development Economics Vice Presidency The World Bank

Claire Melamed Director of Growth, Poverty and Inequality Programme ODI

Emma Samman Research Fellow ODI Johannes Jutting Manager PARIS21

Kimberly Cernak

Acting Director, Office of Policy, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning USAID

David McNair Director - Transparency and Accountability ONE

Sara Harcourt Director - Research and Publications ONE

Saara Romu Senior Project Officer, Global Development Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Andrew Palmer Head of External Relations Development Initiatives Neil Jackson Chief Statistician DFID Tim Wheeler Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor DFID

Grant Cameron Manager, Data Development Group The World Bank

Amanda Glassman Senior Fellow and Director of Global Health Policy Center for Global Development

Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya

Chair, Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Development Agenda and Distinguished Fellow Center for Policy Dialogue

Muhammad Sani Abdullahi Policy Advisor – Executive Office of Secretary General United Nations

Graham Eele “Informing a Data Revolution” Advisor PARIS21

Simon de Haan Chief Engineer Praekelt Foundation Pali Lehohla Statistician General Statistics South Africa Trevor Croft Technical Director ICF International


Attila Hancioglu Global Coordinator Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)

Sabina Alkire Director Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative

Guido Schmidt-Traub Executive Director UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Kristen Stelljes Program Officer, Evidence-informed Policymaking

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development and Population Program

Muchiri Nyaggah Policy Lead and Deputy Executive Director Open Institute Kenya

Enrico Giovannini Professor of Economic Statistics University of Rome

Linet Kwamboka Founder and CEO

Data Science & Kenya Open Data Initiative and Open Government Partnership at Kenya ICT Board

Eduardo Clark Director of Data for Development Office of the President of Mexico

Indu Bhushan Deputy Director General, Strategy and Policy Department Asian Development Bank

Emmanuel Letouzé Director and Co-Founder Data-Pop Alliance on Big Data and development

Shaida Badiee Co-Founder and Managing Director Open Data Watch

Chukwudozie 'Dozie' Ezigbalike Officer for the African Centre for Statistics

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Jenna Slotin Deputy Director, Post-2015 Initiative UN Foundation

Serge Kapto Policy Specialist for E-governance and Access to Information UNDP

Lysa John Campaigns and Advocacy Specialist CIVICUS

Bibhusan Bista CEO Young Innovations Pvt. Ltd Molly Elgin-Cossart Senior Fellow Center for American Progress


Participant biographies

Aileen Lyon, Director, Delta Partnership Solutions Ltd. - Workshop Facilitator Aileen has worked extensively in Europe, Africa, and Asia, bringing her skills to lead and support a range of assignments for government and non-government clients. She is an institutional development specialist, trained in social development and gender, with over 20 years of experience. She has worked with groups of senior civil servants, civil society leaders, senior advisors and programme managers across a range of organisational cultures and countries. A skilled facilitator, she uses a range of techniques to increase involvement of teams, to analyse lessons learned, process ideas, agree solutions and to address challenges in an honest and constructive manner. She is proficient in facilitating change in dynamic environments, with diverse teams and through all stages of programming, from design and logframes, through implementation to evaluations. She is currently directing the implementation of a large programme to improve policy and practice in HIV/ AIDS in Uganda through better communication of knowledge (http://www.kmcc.org.ug/), and leading a team to improve the capacity of partners to plan for and deliver results in improving cross-border trade in East Africa (http://www.trademarkea.com/)

Amanda Glassman, Senior Fellow and Director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development Amanda Glassman is a Senior Fellow and Director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development, leading work on data for development in Africa as part of the post-2015 discussion, as well as priority-setting, resource allocation, value for money and results-based funding in global health. She has more than 20 years’ experience working on health, social protection, data and evaluation policy and programs in Latin America and elsewhere in the developing world. Prior to her current position, Glassman was principal technical lead for health at the Inter-American Development Bank, Deputy Director of the Global Health Financing Initiative at the Brookings Institution, Senior Social Development Specialist and Senior Evaluation Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, and Population Reference Bureau Fellow at the US Agency for International Development. Glassman holds degrees from Harvard and Brown, and has published on a wide range of health and social protection topics including ‘From Few to Many: A Decade of Health Insurance Expansion in Colombia’ (IDB and Brookings 2010) and ‘The Health of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean’ (World Bank 2001). Bibhusan Bista, CEO, YoungInnovations Bibhusan Bista is the CEO and co-founder of YoungInnovations, a software development firm based in Nepal. He has a strong background in technology, research and international development. He has led successful projects around open data, transparency and accountability in collaboration with different partners from different countries both at national and international level. He is also an active member of International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) technical advisory group and has been part of other


http://www.kmcc.org.ug/

http://www.trademarkea.com/

similar initiatives. Bibhusan is involved in facilitating the open data movement in Nepal through OpenNepal consortium and is responsible for the development of the first open data portal there. He is passionate about facilitating the demand side of open data and is involved in organizing different trainings and community events in Nepal. Bibhusan has worked with Bellanet, and IDRC project and SAP International, a regional INGO in South Asia and is also a part time faculty member at Kathmandu College of Management. Chukwudozie Ezigbalike, Officer for the African Centre for Statistics, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Chukwudozie (Dozie) Ezigbalike has been the officer in charge of the African Centre for Statistics since September 2013. In that capacity, he oversees UNECA’s statistics sub programme, with five sections dealing with Economic Statistics and National Accounts; Demography and Social Statistics; Statistical Development; Geoinformation and Sectoral Statistics; and Data Technology. His substantive function is the Chief of the Data Technology Section, in which role he oversees UNECA’s corporate data resources based on standard and current data management concepts and practices. He ensures that all policy and knowledge products of UNECA draw their data from the same source, and that UNECA’s data resources are globally accessible to the general public. His duties also include advising African countries on methods, policies, standards and appropriate technologies for collecting, managing and disseminating statistical data products effectively and efficiently to various user communities. In this role, he is leading UNECA’s thinking on the data revolution and what it means for Africa.

David McNair, Director - Transparency and Accountability, ONE David McNair is Director for Transparency and Accountability at the ONE campaign, an international, nonpartisan, non-profit, advocacy and campaigning organisation that fights extreme poverty and preventable disease.

Between 2012 and 2014 he was Head of Growth, Equity and Sustainable Livelihoods at Save the Children. Here he designed advocacy strategies that contributed to a $4.1bn new investment in nutrition and pioneering policies on company transparency. Previously, David led Christian Aid's work on tax and development, and played a key role in turning a niche NGO campaign into a global issue on the agenda of the G20, EU, OECD, UN and many international businesses and civil society networks.

David has served as chair of the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Network, a trustee for Tax Justice Network, Jubilee Debt Campaign (UK), and sat on the OECD's Informal Task Force on Tax and Development. He holds a PhD in Social Geography from the Queen's University of Belfast and is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). In 2012, Diplomatic Courier magazine voted him among the 99 most influential foreign policy leaders under 33.


Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, Chair, Southern Voice on Post-MDG International Development Agenda and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya is a macro-economist and public policy analyst. He is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in Dhaka, where he was previously the Executive Director. He is a former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UN Offices of Geneva and Vienna. He has been the Special Advisor on LDCs to the Secretary General of UNCTAD and is deeply involved in many international development networks, sitting in the governing bodies of a number of leading institutions and in the editorial board of reputed journals. He has published extensively on pro-poor macro-economics, development challenges of the LDCs and issues related to trade negotiations. Dr Debapriya has studied in Dhaka, Moscow and Oxford. He held a number of visiting positions, among others, at the Centre for Global Development (CGD), Washington DC. He is currently the chair of two global initiatives, viz. LDC IV Monitor and Southern Voices on Post MDG International Development Goals. Eduardo Clark, Director of Data for Development, Office of the President of Mexico Eduardo Clark is the Director of Data for Development at the Office of the President of Mexico where he leads the Data Science team at the Coordination of the National Digital Strategy. He is primarily in charge of the Data for Development program, an initiative to foster the use of data, both public and private, for the creation, implementation and evaluation of public policy by the federal government of Mexico. Eduardo was previously the Head Data Scientist at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, one of Mexico's leading public policy think tanks, where he specialized on research focused on organized crime and illegal drug markets. Emmanuel Letouzé, Director and Co-Founder, Data-Pop Alliance on Big Data and development Emmanuel Letouzé is the Director and Co-Founder of the Data-Pop Alliance on Big Data and Development jointly created by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), the MIT Media Lab and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). He is a Visiting Scholar at MIT Media Lab, a Fellow at HHI and a Senior Research Associate at ODI, as well as a PhD candidate (ABD) at UC Berkeley and a Non-Resident Adviser at the International Peace Institute. Emmanuel is the author of the UN Global Pulse's White Paper "Big Data for Development: Challenges and Opportunities" (2012), lead author of a UNDP-USAID-IPI paper "Big Data for Conflict Prevention: When the New Oil Meets Old Fires" and a regular contributor and speaker on Big Data's applications and implications for poverty, conflict, migration, and official statistics. He is also the lead author of the 2013 and 2014 OECD Fragile States reports. Emmanuel previously worked for UNDP in New York (2006-09), on the research team of the Human Development Report on Migration, and in Hanoi for the French Ministry of Finance as a Technical Assistant in Public Finance and Official Statistics (2000-04). He holds a BA in Political Science and an MA


in Economic Demography from Sciences Po Paris and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, where he was a Fulbright fellow. He is also a political cartoonist for various media outlets. Prof. Enrico Giovannini, Professor of Economic Statistics, University of Rome Prof. Enrico Giovannini graduated with honours from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and since 2002 he has been a Professor of Economic Statistics at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. From 28th April 2013 to 22 February 2014 he was Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the Italian Government and before that from August 2009 to April 2013 he was President of the Italian Statistical Institute (Istat). From January 2001 to July 2009 Prof. Giovannini was Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the OECD, where he designed and implemented a thorough reform of the statistical system of the Organization, established the World Forum on “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy” and launched the “Global Project on the Measurement of the Progress of Societies”, which fostered the setting up of numerous worldwide initiatives on the issue "Beyond GDP". He was member of the "Stiglitz Commission”, established by the French President Nikolas Sarkozy, and Chair of the Global Council on the "Evaluation of Societal Progress" established by the World Economic Forum. He has authored numerous publications and articles in the field of statistics and economics, as well as four books. Graham Eele, “Informing a Data Revolution” Advisor, PARIS21 Graham Eele is a professional statistician with more than 40 years’ experience working in development and in developing countries. He has a degree in statistics from the University of London and has worked as an agricultural statistician, a statistical trainer, a policy adviser on poverty and rural development and an adviser on the development of statistical services. From 2000 to 2009 he worked with the World Bank as a senior statistician supporting the development of national statistical systems. Since retiring from the Bank in 2009, he has been working as a consultant for the World Bank, FAO and other agencies. He is currently working with PARIS21 as an advisor on a project “Informing a Data Revolution”.

Grant Cameron, Manager, Development Data Group, World Bank Grant Cameron is a Manager at the World Bank in Washington DC. He leads a team supporting developing countries to improve their capacity to produce data and statistics to make them more accessible and useful. This support ranges from targeted technical assistance that improves specific data products and surveys to large scale financial operations that improve a country's entire national statistical system. Grant also manages the International Comparison program that released GDP based purchasing power parities for over 190 countries and economies in the autumn of 2013. Before joining the Bank, he has worked for the Government of Canada in policy work (Manager, Personal Income Tax Policy, Finance Canada) and in statistical production (Statistics Canada).


Guido Schmidt-Traub, Executive Director, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network Guido Schmidt-Traub is Executive Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He has served as Climate Change Advisor to the Africa Progress Panel Secretariat and was CEO of Paris-based CDC Climat Asset Management, an investment company regulated by the French financial markets regulator. From 2008-2010 Guido was Director and Partner at South Pole Carbon Asset Management in Zurich, a leading developer of greenhouse gas emissions projects. Prior to managing the MDG Support Team at UNDP (2006-2008) he served as Policy Advisor and then as Associate Director of the UN Millennium Project in New York, which was tasked with developing a concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Earlier Guido was Partner at IndexIT Scandinavia, a private equity fund for early-stage technology companies, and consultant at McKinsey & Company in Germany. Guido holds an M.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar) and a Masters in physical chemistry from the Free University Berlin. He resides in Paris with his family. Haishan Fu, Director, Development Data Group, Development Economics Vice Presidency, The World Bank Ms. Haishan Fu is the Director of the Development Data Group, in the Development Economics Vice Presidency, at The World Bank. Previously, she had held positions as Director, Statistics Division of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP); Chief of Statistics at the Human Development Report Office of United Nations Development Progrmme (UNDP) and Senior Research Associate at the Guttmacher Institute in New York. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania and Visiting Research Collaborator at the Office of Population Research, Princeton University. A native of China, Ms Fu holds a doctoral degree in Demography from Princeton University and a bachelor degree in Economics from Peking University. Indu Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Strategy and Policy Department, Asian Development Bank Indu Bhushan is Deputy Director General of the Strategy and Policy Department. The Department leads the preparation and coordination of ADB’s corporate strategy and policies, resource mobilization and allocation, and results management. He has been with ADB since 1997. Before joining ADB, he worked with the World Bank in the Africa region. He was a faculty member of the Department of Population Dynamics, School of Hygiene and Public Health; and Draper Fellow of the Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University. He worked in the Indian Administrative Service where he managed development programs in various capacities. Indu Bhushan holds a Ph.D in Economics and Master of Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. He also finished a Summer Course in Communication Planning and Strategy from Cornell University, USA. He obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in Control Systems and Instrumentation from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India. He completed his Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India as Valedictorian. He obtained his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification in 2010.


Jenna Slotin, Deputy Director, Post-2015 Initiative, UN Foundation Jenna Slotin is Deputy Director, Post-2015 Initiative at the UN Foundation where she is responsible for the day-to-day management of the initiative. Most recently she served as Advisor on Post-2015 at the NYU Center on International Cooperation. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer of Building Markets, a social enterprise that promotes entrepreneurship and private sector development in fragile and post-conflict countries. At Building Markets, she was responsible for managing the organization’s New York headquarters and overseeing field projects in Timor-Leste, Liberia, Burma/Myanmar, Mozambique and Afghanistan. Jenna has several years’ experience working with the UN and on UN policy. She worked in the Peacebuilding Support Office on the Secretary-General’s Report on Peacebuilding in the Immediate Aftermath of Conflict as well as the International Review of Civilian Capacities. Jenna spent three years at the International Peace Institute where she co-managed a program on peacebuilding and state fragility. She published several independent reports on the UN’s peacebuilding architecture and contributed to publications for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Previously, she worked at UNDP Kosovo on local governance and UN coordination as the Special Assistant to the Resident Coordinator. Jenna holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University with a concentration in International Security Policy and a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Toronto. Johannes Jütting, Manager, PARIS21 Secretariat Johannes Jütting is Manager of the PARIS21 Secretariat, hosted at the OECD, leading the partnership’s work in supporting developing country capacity to better produce and use statistical data for policy-making and monitoring of development outcomes. He also contributes to the reflections on the design and implementation of the OECD Development Strategy as well as the Post-2015 Development Framework.

Previously, Mr. Jütting worked at the OECD’s Development Centre as a Senior Economist conducting research and policy work on institutions, decentralization and statistics/indicators. He later led the Poverty Reduction Unit working mainly on employment and informality, social protection and gender and created WIKIGENDER and the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). Mr. Jütting also co-directed the production of the OECD's first Perspectives on Global Development 2010 on “Shifting Wealth”, and led the second 2012 edition on “Social Cohesion”.

Prior to the OECD, he was a Research Fellow at the Center for Development Research in Bonn (ZEF) leading a research group on poverty. Mr. Jütting is German, holds a PhD in Development and Agriculture Economics and a Masters in Agriculture from Humboldt-University (Berlin) and also studied at the Ecole


Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Rennes. He received his habilitation in development economics from the University of Bonn.

Kimberly Cernak, Acting Director, Office of Policy, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning, U.S. Agency for International Development Kimberly Cernak is the Acting Director for the Office of Policy in the Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning at the U.S. Agency for International Development. The office is responsible for leading the Agency in advancing evidence-based policies and strategies to shape strategic planning and operations; providing specific policy direction on emerging issues and priority areas for USAID bureaus, missions, and implementing partners; and reinvigorating USAID's policy leadership within the development community. Prior to this position, Ms. Cernak served in a variety of other assignments at USAID and the Department of State, including Deputy Director of USAID‘s Office of Policy; Development and Humanitarian Assistance Advisor to the Special Representative for Burma at the Department of State; Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of State JacobLew; and a Policy Analyst in USAID's Bureau of Global Health. Prior to her service in government, Ms. Cernak worked for non-governmental and community development organizations in Thailand, Indonesia, and New Orleans. Kristen Stelljes, Program Officer, Evidence-informed Policymaking, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development and Population Program Kristen Stelljes is a Program Officer in Evidence-informed Policymaking at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation’s Global Development and Population Program. Previously she was a Fellow in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Health Fellows Program II in Ethiopia. In that capacity, she was a Population, Health, and Environment Advisor to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. She provided support to Packard Foundation grantees including the Population, Health and Environment Ethiopia Consortium, focused on strengthening the evidence base for integrated approaches to development. There, she helped to develop a monitoring and evaluation toolkit, guides for documenting champion stories and good practices, and supported one of the first evaluations of a population, health, and environment program in Ethiopia. Prior to that, Stelljes was a senior program officer for Management Sciences for Health, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization working to improve access to health care internationally. There, she managed the advocacy and fostering change work of the Leadership, Management and Sustainability Program in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Stelljes holds a Master’s degree in urban and environmental policy and planning from Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and environmental studies from Brandeis University.

Linet Kwamboka, Founder and CEO, Data Science & Kenya Open Data Initiative and Open Government Partnership at Kenya ICT Board

Linet Kwamboka is the Founder and CEO of DataScience LTD, a company that is focused on using data to discover intelligent insights about people, products and services.


She has been on the forefront of coordinating the Kenya Open Data Initiative and the Open Government Partnership for the Government of Kenya and the World Bank (World Bank Spot Award recipient) and is also consulting for development initiatives on the Open Data and Data Revolution agenda. She has been a Software Engineer with Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University.

Linet has an Under-Graduate degree in computer science from the University of Nairobi among other self-taught qualifications especially in GIS and data analysis and mining tools within the MIT Open Course Ware program, with a keen focus on the awareness of using data for business intelligence, decision making, resource allocation and development.

She has gained recognition by the American Embassy in Kenya for her efforts to encourage more women into the technology and computing space.

Lysa John, Campaigns and Advocacy Specialist, CIVICUS Lysa has worked on issues of governance accountability and social justice across sixteen years. She began her career in 1998 with YUVA, Mumbai working on issues of urban poverty, governance and women’s rights. She left the organization in the capacity of Executive Director in 2006 and continues to be associated with its efforts as part of its Governing Board. Following this, she worked with ‘Wada Na Todo Abhiyan’ (Don’t Break the Promise Campaign) as National Coordinator, helping create what is now one of India’s largest and most influential advocacy networks. The campaign’s efforts were organised around accountability for the Millennium Declaration and national development goals, with over 3000 organisations and 550,000 supporters directly engaged in initiatives undertaken in the period between 2006 and 2009. In 2009, Lysa joined the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) as International Campaign Director - a role that involved connecting and strengthening efforts to end poverty and address inequality through civil society-led initiatives across 83+ countries. In 2013, she served as Head of Outreach in the Secretariat of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda, and is currently Campaigns and Advocacy Specialist with the CIVICUS Alliance for Citizen Participation. Lysa has authored several reports and contributed to publications such as Earthscan, Outlook India and the Guardian. She holds a Master degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai – and is currently pursuing a PhD on digital activism and its relevance to social movements from the same university.

Molly Elgin-Cossart, Senior Fellow, Centre for American Progress Molly Elgin-Cossart is a Senior Fellow at American Progress, where she works on issues involving foreign policy, international development, and global conflict. She is a Non-Resident Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation. Previously, she was a Senior Fellow on global


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development at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation, and Chief of Staff to the U.N. Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. She focuses on the post-2015 development agenda, development financing and implementation, and international economic cooperation. She has spoken on the post-2015 development agenda at civil-society, academic, and government gatherings around the world.

Muchiri Nyaggah, Policy Lead and Deputy Executive Director, Open Institute Kenya

Muchiri Nyaggah is the Policy Lead and Deputy Executive Director at Open Institute, a think/do tank based in Nairobi, Kenya working on open government across Africa. With a background in technology and innovation consulting, Muchiri founded Semacraft Consulting Partners, a Nairobi-based multi-disciplinary practice that helped leaders to identify opportunities to create and deliver new value to citizens in Africa. In 2012, he served as the Lead Fellow in the inaugural Code4Kenya program which embedded fellows in civil society and media organisations. Muchiri is currently focused on how civil society organisations and governments in Africa can safeguard inclusive and sustainable development through innovation and public participation in governance today and in the Post-2015 era. His work explores the impact of international initiatives on local development and how open government results in better outcomes in the quality of life of Africa's people.

Muhammad Abdullahi, Policy Advisor – Executive Office of Secretary General, United Nations Muhammad is a Policy Adviser at the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary General in New York. Formerly the Economic Adviser of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, he is currently a member of the Secretary General’s core team coordinating the design of the UN Post-2015 development agenda. Muhammad is a UK Chevening Scholar, member of the University of Oxford Business Alumni Network and a Fellow of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Institute.

He has served in the past as an Economist in Nigeria’s Presidency focusing on accelerating the country’s progress on the MDGs and has extensive experience in data gathering and analysis at the national and sub-national levels. Muhammad holds an MSc in Development Economics and Policy from the University of Manchester, a Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and has also studied at the London School of Economics and at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

Neil Jackson, Chief Statistician, DFID Neil Jackson, Chief Statistician, DFID. Neil joined DFID 18 months ago. He is responsible for providing leadership for DFID’s 50 statistics advisers who are bedded out across the organisation, in both Headquarter and country office roles. His responsibilities include assuring the quality and integrity of statistics produced by DFID and improving the use of statistics and statistical analysis in DFID to strengthen decision-making. Neil is currently the Chair of PARIS21’s Executive Committee, and has a particular interest in working with international partners to shape the role of statistics and statistics capacity building in the post-2015 development agenda


Neil’s career spans 25 years working on statistics and economics in a range of different government departments in the UK. His work has had a particular focus on the use of evidence to inform better policy making. Before joining DFID, Neil worked for the UK Statistics Authority, an independent watchdog for statistics in the UK. He has also filled senior analytical positions in the UK Department for Transport and in the Scottish Government.

Sabina Alkire, Director, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative Sabina Alkire directs the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), a research centre within the Department of International Development, University of Oxford. Her research has included conceptual work related to the capability approach and human development; the methodologies and applications of multidimensional poverty measurement, and the measurement of well-being, gross-national-happiness, and agency/empowerment. Publications include ‘Valuing Freedoms: Sen’s Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction’, as well as numerous articles in Philosophy and Economics. She holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford. Sara Harcourt, Director of Research and Publications, ONE Sara Harcourt is Director of Research and Publications at the ONE Campaign, based in London. She is responsible for producing ONE’s policy publications, including the annual DATA Report. She also leads research on development finance. Previously Harcourt led ONE’s policy work on aid effectiveness, representing ONE at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea. From 2007-2010, she worked at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, where she helped to set up the Africa Growth Initiative. Harcourt holds a Master’s degree in International Relations.

Serge Kapto, Policy Specialist for E-governance and Access to Information, Democratic Governance Group, UNDP Serge Kapto is Policy Specialist for E-governance and Access to Information in the Democratic Governance Group of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at its headquarters in New York. Serge started his career with the Sustainable Development Networking Programme, a UNDP pioneering initiative that played a major role in introducing Internet to many developing countries. Serge then went on to UNDESA where he remained involved in ICT for Development issues at the United Nations ICT Task Force and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Prior to returning to UNDP, Serge worked on ICT for Development and e-governance at the Global Centre for ICT in Parliament in Rome. Serge also covers Governance and Post-2015, as part of the UNDP team in charge of managing the United Nations global consultations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Shaida Badie, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Open Data Watch Shaida Badiee, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Open Data Watch, a non-profit NGO devoted to open data and improving the quality of development statistics. Shaida brings several decades of experience in managing global development statistics as the long-time Director of the World Bank's Development Data Group. During her tenure, flagship global statistical products were launched such as


the World Development Indicators, Global Development Finance, and the Atlas of Global Development. In 2010, she led the World Bank's Open Data Initiative, a ground-breaking program to provide full and free access to the World Bank's extensive statistical databases. Prior to that, she played a key role in the creation and operation of PARIS21 as well as leading international efforts to coordinate technical and financial support for statistics through initiatives like the Marrakech Action Plan.

Tim Wheeler, Deputy Chief Scientific Advisor, DFID Tim Wheeler is Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK Department for International Development. He is on secondment from the University of Reading where he is Professor of Crop Science. At DFID, Tim provides science advice to Ministers and oversees the research portfolio of the Research and Evidence Division. He has extensive experience of working with policy-makers in the UK and internationally and was Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords in 2010. Tim has published more than 165 scientific papers, including in Science and Nature, over the last 20 years on how climate change could impact on the sustainability of agriculture and food, undertaking research in Bolivia, Honduras, The Gambia, Uganda, China, India and elsewhere. He has provided advice on the sustainability of food and farming to agri-businesses and food multi-nationals, often up to Board level. In 2005 he delivered a Royal Society Public Lecture. Tim is a member of BBSRC Council, the HEFCE REF sub-panel for Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science and two of the UK’s Government’s Leadership Councils (Agricultural Technology and Space).

Trevor Croft, Technical Director, ICF International Trevor Croft is a Technical Director with ICF International working on The Demographic and Health Surveys Program, providing technical assistance for the implementation of household surveys. He has 35 years’ experience in international survey data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of results, having worked with DHS from 1987 to present (with a break from 2003 to 2008). Previously he was Chief of Data Processing for 16 years. He developed easy access to DHS datasets through www.dhsprogram.com and to indicators and tables through www.statcompiler.com.

From 2005 to 2008, Trevor Croft was Vice President of Blancroft Research International, LLC, providing technical assistance for statistics and monitoring in population and health.

From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Croft was Chief of Strategic Information at UNICEF, New York, responsible for statistics and monitoring of the situation of children and women, including reporting on progress towards the MDGs, and producing the statistics for the annual State of the World’s Children report. He also oversaw the implementation of the Multiple Indicator Clusters Surveys (MICS) and the continued development of DevInfo for monitoring the MDGs.

Mr. Croft started his career as a data processing specialist for the World Fertility Survey (WFS) program.


Trevor Fletcher, Senior Project Coordinator, PARIS21 Trevor Fletcher has worked in the Information Technology sector since the 1980s in both the private and public sectors. He is currently Senior Project Coordinator in the “Informing a Data Revolution” Project in the Partnership in Data for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21). He was formerly Head of Statistical Information Management and Support Division in the OECD Statistics Directorate, responsible for the development and implementation strategies for the OECD Statistical Information System (data/metadata collection, processing & dissemination) in consultation within the OECD and with other International organizations and National Agencies. Prior to that he was Head of the Analytical and Statistical Systems Unit within the OECD IT division, managed the team responsible for development and support of software systems that underpin the Organisation’s analytical and statistical activities. He has also worked for the UK Government, New York and Sydney-based consultancies, Reuters in London and the Food and Agriculture agency of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome before moving to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris in 1995.

Saara Romu, Senior Project Officer, Global Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Saara Romu is a Senior Project Officer within Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Her career focused on private sector global investment banking and capital markets for the international finance sector, before transitioning into the development sector as a Corporate Liaison for an NGO consortium in Bangalore, India. Saara’s leadership includes heading the national bioinformatics program for the Canadian Network Centers of Excellence and as a researcher in the USA and Canada. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Washington, with concentrations in Strategy and Finance, a BSc from the Queen’s University and a Certificate in Decision Sciences from Stanford. Andrew Palmer, Head of External Relations, Development Initiatives Andrew leads the External Relations team for Development Initiatives. His role involves helping build the case for evidence-based decision making and promote the need for better data/information for effective poverty eradication. He leads engagement with key processes such as the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Open Government Partnership. Prior to DI, Andrew worked in the private sector as Group Corporate Affairs Manager for the international healthcare company. He also spent 4 years working as Parliamentary Advisor on international development in the Houses of Parliament. He is co-founder of Conservative Friends of International Development and has experience of running social programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. Andrew has a BA in History and Politics from Nottingham University.


Dr. Attila Hancioglu, Global Coordinator, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) Dr. Attila Hancioglu is the Global Coordinator of the UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS,) one of the largest global household surveys on the situation of children and women. Since 2004, Dr. Hancioglu has coordinated the technical support to and implementation of more than 150 MICS surveys worldwide. Dr. Hancioglu holds a Ph.D. degree in Demography. His research interests include household survey methodology, estimation of child mortality, indirect estimation methods, and child poverty.

Mr. Philipp Schönrock, Director, Centro de Pensamiento Estratégico Internacional (CEPEI), Colombia Over the last ten years he has been the Director of CEPEI in Bogota, Colombia. CEPEI is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental think tank, which works through field-based analyses and high level advocacy to ensure that development stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean will be supported to make a meaningful and sustained contribution to the decision making process for the global development agendas. He has also worked as a Program Official for the Ecole de la Paix in Grenoble and has served as an adviser to the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation in Paris, France. In the public sector he was an advisor for the Colombian government’s commercial office in Germany. Philipp has published numerous essays in Latin America, Europe and the United States and writes periodically in the Latin American press. He is also a guest-lecture on subjects regarding international development cooperation at various universities across the LAC region. He is a Board Member of the Executive Committees of the Colombian Confederation of NGO and the global Beyond 2015 campaign, as well as Co-Chair of the LAC Community of Practice on Management for Development Results. Emma Samman, Research Fellow, ODI Emma Samman is a Research Fellow at ODI. She has experience in analysis of multidimensional poverty and inequality, the human development approach, survey design and the use of subjective indicators to inform development policy. She has also worked on the socio-economic effects of market development and the effects of space (and segregation) upon wellbeing. She has field experience in Chile, Philippines, Tanzania and Viet Nam. Prior to joining ODI in 2011, Emma has worked for the Human Development Report Office (UNDP), Institute of Development Studies (IDS, University of Sussex), Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), Trinity College (University of Dublin) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). She has also undertaken consultancy assignments for Agrifood Consulting International, Oxfam International, Twaweza Initiative, UNDP and UNICEF. Claire Melamed, Director of Growth, Poverty and Inequality Programme, ODI Claire Melamed is the Director of Growth, Poverty and Inequality Programme at ODI. She was previously the Head of Policy at ActionAid UK. She has also worked for Christian Aid, the United Nations in Mozambique and taught at the University of London and the Open University. Claire's work focuses on measurement of poverty and inequality and on how to use the insights from measurement to improve policy and outcomes. She heads ODI's work on the post-2015 agenda, looking at sectoral and cross-cutting issues, tracking the political negotiations, co-leading the 'MY World' survey with UNDP and working on the 'data revolution'.


Simon de Haan, Chief Engineer, Praekelt Foundation Simon de Haan is the Chief Engineer at Praekelt Foundation. He has the rare talent to demystify software systems and platforms for non-engineers. He is the main brain behind Praekelt’s Vumi platform, a messaging tool that allows conversations over SMS, USSD, Gtalk and other basic technologies, at low cost, and at scale. He has hosted various talks, webinars and hackathons about his passion for development and for building systems that can scale and reach their audience with lifesaving information. Growing up in the Middle East set him on a direct course to be involved in community development, entrepreneurship and technology. Simon moved to South Africa to be involved in technology and community work in a number of townships in Cape Town. He joined Praekelt in 2009 and takes responsibility for ensuring that the team applies good software development principles, ensuring that the systems designed are for population scale and ensuring consistent quality of solutions developed. Prior to joining Praekelt, Simon was based in the Netherlands where he held the positions of CTO at Soocial.com, Senior Developer at Eight.nl and was the Owner at Fission.nl. Pali Lehohla, Statistician-General, Statistics South Africa Pali Lehohla is the Statistician General of South Africa, a position he held since November of 2000. He is the Chair of Africa Symposium for Statistical Development (ASSD), a country led initiative established in 2006 and the aim of which is to put statistical evidence at the centre of policy in Africa. From 2005 to 2010 he served in a variety of portfolios. He was Chair of the United Nations Statistics Commission, Chair of Statistics Commission Africa and also Chair of PARIS21 a global partnership for statistical development in the 21st Century. He is also the Chair for the Sub-Group on Harmonization of Statistics in Africa.

Post

15 Data Revolution: The Road so far Overview of previous meetings on the Post-2015 Data Revolution

Below is a non-exhaustive list of initiatives and activities that have taken place to date to inform and discuss the Post-2015 data revolution.

Data revolution for sustainable development - 2 September 2013 (Cali, Colombia)

Convened by CEPEI, the ICESI University, the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ECLAC and the High Level Panel on Post-2015 Secretariat, the conference aimed to engage representatives from the regional and national statistical bodies, the governments, the civil society, the media, the private sector, and


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academia in discussions about how to leverage and scale up a data revolution for sustainable development. The conference recognized the need to promote a common understanding of what the “Data Revolution” means and entails. While it noted that the Latin America region was ahead of the curve, it called for more work on mapping the needs and gaps around national capacities to produce and use good quality data in order to foster transparency and better accountability.

Engineering a data revolution – 27 September 2013 (New York USA)

PARIS21/Philippines side event at UNGA on the "why", "what" and "how" of the data revolution. It confirmed the need for better, faster and more accessible data for bringing poverty down to zero and achieving sustainable development (see video). More than 40 representatives from countries, national statistical offices, international organizations and CSO’s participated.

Post-2015 Global Development Framework: Going from Goals (the What) to Solutions (the How)

- 10 October 2013 (Washington, DC, USA)

This seminar, organized by the World Bank, aimed to strengthen the understanding of what it will take to end poverty and promote shared prosperity and, under the anticipated new development goals, the need for data, statistical capacity, and results management. The discussion explored potential for new sources, relevant challenges, and how to maintain momentum on current activities.

Towards Better Economic Policy Making: Strengthening Africa’s Data - 11 October 2013 (Washington, DC, USA)

This IMF seminar focused on the state of economic statistics in Sub-Saharan Africa, the priorities for improvement, and the role that the IMF and others can play in building capacity. The discussions focused on the current state of macroeconomic statistics in Africa, the benefits of good data, the impact on policy makers and ideas for improvement. Policy makers recognised that much progress has been made but needed to be sustained, and more capacity was required, in particular for improving primary sources of data and donor coordination.

Unpacking the data revolution at the country level

Led by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), the North South Institute (NSI) and the Southern Voice on Post-MDG International development Goals, this initiative aims to examine how the universal post-2015 development agenda can be applied and measured across a variety of country contexts. In doing so, it will assess the adequacy of data available for measuring post-2015 progress at the country level, seeking


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4LKaE83Cak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4LKaE83Cak

http://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2013/09/26/Post-2015-Global-Development-Framework-Going-from-Goals-the-What-to-Solutions-the-How

http://www.imf.org/external/mmedia/view.aspx?vid=2737720961001

http://www.post2015datatest.com/

to inform debates and decisions on the architecture and priorities of the “data revolution.” It will also identify opportunities and challenges that may arise from a universal, country-relevant post-2015 framework. Furthermore, the initiative seeks to enhance the capacity of Southern think-tanks to contribute to the global policy processes shaping the post-2015 agenda, while also ensuring that the global processes are informed by country-level realities.

• An Early Examination of Candidate Post-2015 Goals, Targets and Indicators - 21 November 2013 (New York, USA): Bringing together experts from around the world, this methodology and planning workshop discussed the rationale and objectives of the initiative, country selection, criteria for selecting and examining goals, targets and indicators and the implementation and outreach plans of the initiative.

• Country Workshops: The workshops aim to introduce country level stakeholders to the initiative; solicit feedback regarding national priorities for each potential goal area; conduct an initial scoping of the key issues related to data availability and accessibility at country level; and map stakeholders participating in the data revolution and post-2015 debates at country, and where appropriate, regional-level, and identify key informants and participants for interviews and focus groups. The following national workshops have been convened: Tanzania (27 February 2014), Senegal (4 March 2014), Bangladesh (11 March 2014), Peru (9 April 2014), Canada (24 April 2014), Sierra Leone (14 May 2014), Ghana (15 May 2015).

• Nairobi Mid-stream Workshop - 29-30 April 2014: This workshop aimed to take stock of the implementation of the initiative across country studies. Researchers met with experts on the post-2015 development agenda and the data revolution to discuss experiences to date, lessons learned, how to address challenges arising from the implementation of the study and next steps.

• Tanzania Validation Workshop - 20 June 2014 (Dar Es Salaam): Part of the peer review process of the initiative, the workshop discussed the draft report for the Tanzania country study, and identified a number of key challenges. Participants noted that the majority of available data to measure progress is spotty for the seven potential goal areas covered by the study. Another challenge pertains to ensuring that indicators to measure key priorities are SMART (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound). Stakeholders at the workshop also noted that significant financial and personnel constraints to both users and producers of data exist. It was emphasized that an ongoing challenge in the Tanzanian context is that no agreed platform across different sectors for data harmonization exists.

Acting together for better statistics and better decisions - 27 November (Brussels, Belgium)

Part of European Development Days, the event focused on good practices for the data revolution in several areas, ranging from supporting statistical capacity development in countries, to how statistics can bolster transparency and accountability. Key takeaways include:


http://www.post2015datatest.com/event/early-examination-candidate-post-2015-goals-targets-indicators/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/country-studies/tanzania/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/country-studies/senegal/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/country-studies/peru/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/country-studies/canada/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/country-studies/sierra-leone/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/country-studies/ghana/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/event/nairobi-mid-stream-workshop/

http://www.post2015datatest.com/event/tazania-validation-workshop/

http://eudevdays.eu/topics/engineering-data-revolution

• There needs to be a joined up effort between supply and demand of data, with particular consideration paid to difficulties faced by national statistics offices already facing budget shortfalls.

• Rather than a series of numbers that has little meaning to most people, information needs to be relevant, accessible and timely if it is to foster development.

• Usability of data is the key to the success of the data revolution. • The provision of data which leads to accountability is as important to the data revolution as

capacity building and the use of new technology.

African Forum on Post-2015 Data Revolution - 3-4 December 2013 (Nairobi, Kenya)

The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) in collaboration with the UN Foundation and the Overseas Development Institute, supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, held a two-day forum to explore the call for a data revolution and its specific implications for Africa. The event was structured to investigate four dimensions associated with the collection/development of, access to and use of data in the African context. Participants were drawn from members of the African research community in universities, think tanks and other research organisations in the region, as well as from African governments, international and regional organisations, civil society organisations, the private sector, and selected non-African research organisations.

Informal meeting on measuring progress - 17 December (New York, USA)

Following the December meeting of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, this informal seminar was held to facilitate dialogue between country statisticians and UN missions. It brought together national chief statisticians and monitoring experts with the members of the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to discuss how statistics can assist in the design of the SDGs and the post-2015 goals and targets to ensure that goals and targets will be measurable.

Dialogue: Data and Accountability for the Post-2015 Development Agenda - 29-31 January 2014 (New York, USA)

Building on the outcomes of the first phase of United Nations consultations on the Post-2015 development priorities, UNDP, with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and in collaboration with several partners, convened a global meeting focused on data and accountability in the new development framework. The event aimed to bridge the gap across different communities and constituencies holding stakes on data for development issues and to inform the intergovernmental


http://www.pasgr.org/african-forum-on-post-2015-data-revolution/

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/Dissemination/workshops/OWG_2013/default.html

http://www.worldwewant2015.org/Data-Accountability2015

debate on the Post-2015 development agenda as it moves towards concrete specifications of new development goals, targets and indicators to measure progress.

Informing a Data Revolution – 17-18 February (Paris, France)

The purpose of this workshop, attended by representatives from international organizations, national statistical offices, think-tanks, academia, and the private sector was to review and agree upon an outline work programme, discuss the different modules of Informing a Data Revolution and establish a process for review and quality control.

UNSC Friday Seminar “Managing the Data Revolution: Integrated Statistics and Partnerships in Data for Statistical Organizations in the Post-2015 Era” - 28 February 2014 (New York, USA)

This interactive dialogue between the providers of official statistics and their existing and prospective partners focused on the formulation of shared statistical objectives within the context of the post-2015 development agenda. Success stories were shared from government officials, private actors and non-governmental bodies. Key messages were: NSOs need to prepare themselves for the high demands that will inevitably arise from the post-2015 development agenda for integrated economic, social and environmental statistics. They should introduce innovations in their structures, systems and processes to increase their efficiency and ability to adapt to new requests. Also, advancing open and easy access to micro-data will increase the relevance and value of the official statistics, and will strengthen the NSOs in delivering their mission in the post-2015 era.

Talking about a data revolution - 10 April 2014 (Washington, DC, USA)

Convened as part of the Bretton Woods institutions spring meetings, this seminar discussed the data phenomena from different angles, identifying concrete actions related to:


http://www.paris21.org/event/informing-data-revolution-launch

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/events/2014/unsc/data-revolution.asp

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/trade/events/2014/unsc/data-revolution.asp

http://live.worldbank.org/talking-about-a-data-revolution

• leveraging the post-2015 Development Agenda to enable a transformational change in data activities for improving accountability and providing new services

• identifying the most pressing policy needs • supporting countries in taking ownership and creating, opening up, and maintaining their own

data that capture the realities on the ground • the linkages between open data and accountability • filling data gaps with new technology-driven data (e.g. from remote sensing and crowd sourced

data from mobile phones) • The potential for new and/or innovative funding sources and new forms of public-private

collaborations. Data Revolution Donors’ Meeting - April 28-29, 2014 (Washington DC, USA) This meeting brought together a small group of bilateral donors, foundations and multilaterals to discuss common principles and ideas to inform policy and programming on the data revolution. Designing indicators for the SDGs: Collecting comprehensive, timely data, Expert Roundtable Discussion organized by the SDSN and UNSD - New York, 23-24 June 2014

This meeting brought together an international group of experts to discuss the monitoring requirements for the new SDGs and how data collection for new indicators might be improved.


the data revolution – from talk to action workshop ... · the data revolution – from talk to...

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