How the SDGs Increased Data Production and What This Means for Policy Making

Dr. Steve MacFeely is the Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics and Data Directorate at the OECD. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Department of Economics at University College Cork in Ireland.
He chairs the Advisory Board of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, the UNs Productive Capacity Index Statistical and Technical Expert Group, and the Advisory Board of the International Statistics Literacy Project. Steve is an elected member of the International Statistics Institute.
Prior to joining the OECD, Steve served as the Director of Data and Analytics at the World Health Organization and as Director of Statistics and Information at UN Trade and Development. Before joining the UN, he was the Deputy Director-General at the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland.

Ms. Cara Williams is the Director of International Cooperation Division at Statistics Canada, where she oversees Statistics Canada’s SDG unit, the organization’s international initiatives and statistical capacity development projects. She is also currently the co-chair and Canadian representative on the United Nations Inter-Agency and Expert Advisory Group for Sustainable Development Goal indicators.

Prior to this, Cara worked as the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Social Trends and as Senior Researcher for Perspectives on Labour and Income at Statistics Canada where she published several research papers on various social issues in Canada.  Cara has spent the last 27 years at Statistics Canada and prior to this worked for the Government of British Columbia where she conducted socio-economic impact assessments of treaties under negotiation.

Ms. Williams has completed a BA in Economics from the University of Alberta and a MA in Economics from the University of Victoria.

Umar Serajuddin is a Manager at the World Bank’s Development Data Group, in charge of its Indicators and Data Services unit. He leads the Bank’s Open Data initiative and oversees the management of the World Development Indicators (WDI). He manages the teams that publish some of World Bank’s most prominent global public goods, including the global poverty numbers (PIP), the Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI), the World Integrated Trade Solutions (WITS), the Microdata Library, and Open Data Catalogue (Development Data Hub). He also coordinates the Bank’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) monitoring initiatives and, most recently, the production of the Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals.

Previously, Umar worked as a poverty economist for the Middle East and North Africa and the South Asia regions of the World Bank. During that time, he led the World Bank’s efforts in poverty analysis and policy development in Jordan and Yemen.

Umar holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and has published work in the fields of poverty, inequality, and social protection.

Dr. Johannes Jütting is Executive Head of the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) Secretariat, a global partnership hosted at the OECD, promoting the better use and production of data in low- and middle-income countries. Before joining PARIS21 in 2012, Johannes headed the Poverty and Social Cohesion Team at the OECD Development Centre for 10 years, where he spearheaded innovative work in the areas of employment, social cohesion, gender and global development. He is a programme committee member of the United Nations World Data Forum and was a member of the UN General Secretaries Expert Group on Data Revolution. Johannes Jütting was awarded a PhD from Humboldt University and is a visiting professor at Passau University, Germany where he teaches Development Economics.

As the Communications and Advocacy Manager at Open Data Watch (ODW), she leads efforts to amplify the organization’s impact in shaping global policy agendas and ensure that data remains at the forefront of the development agenda—including open data, gender data, and smarter financing for data overall. As part of her work with ODW, she also supports PARIS21 on a various range of related tasks. She holds a Master of Global Policy Studies with a specialization in International Development from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Adam is a Project Officer at The Data for Change Foundation. He holds a Masters degree in International Trade, Finance and Development Economics from the Barcelona School of Economics. Before joining Data for Change Foundation, Adam worked at PARIS21, where he led the work on the Discussion Paper ‘How the SDGs Increased Data Production and What This Means for Policy Making’ . During this time, he also served as a Teaching Assistant for a Development Studies class at the University of Passau, where he supported Professor Johannes Jütting. Adam also works at the World Bank Development Data Group, researching factors that influence the development of statistical systems worldwide. Adam is multilingual, fluent in English, French, and Spanish, and is currently learning Portuguese. At Data for Change, Adam is committed to using data to empower developing nations. He recognises the significant data gaps that are prevalent worldwide, typically in LMICs, and the crucial role filling these gaps plays in addressing global challenges. He is committed to leveraging his expertise to support the Data for Change vision to create meaningful difference for those most at risk of being left behind.