Research Dive Review: Statistics for the SDGs

“From 12th to 15th March, Pulse Lab Jakarta hosted its third research dive, bringing together statisticians from across Indonesia to analyse data from the Millennium Development Goals in order to support the implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (…)In kicking off the event, Dr. Ali Said, the Head of Sub-directorate for Statistical Indicators at the National Bureau of Statistics (BPS), highlighted the big picture: that after remapping the SDGs indicators, 31 percent of global indicators are not yet tracked in Indonesia.”

Pulse Lab Jakarta (Indonesia)

Poor coordination hampers implementation of open-data system: Officials

“The open-data system could prevent governance problems such as overlapping management. But, it would run effectively only if the government could better coordinate its institutions in implementing the system.”

The Jakarta Post (Indonesia)

ONS looks to big data as it explores new ways to measure UK economy

“The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is opening a new data science campus at its headquarters in Newport, south Wales, on Monday as part of a £17m investment in the way the UK collects and presents data. It will explore new ways of measuring the economy, including using traffic sensors to gauge activity, mobile phone data to track commuter patterns and satellite images to estimate populations.”

The Guardian (UK)

Census: (Dis)Counting Others

“It took Pakistan 19 years, and much stalling, to hold a new population census, which began on March 15 after a ruling from the top court. But rights activists, while lauding the decision, are concerned that the exercise is deliberately leaving out non-Muslim communities, including Sikhs, Parsis, Baha’is, Kalash, and Buddhists, from the headcount.”

Geo TV (Pakistan)

Will SDGs fail, as did MDGs?

“So far the SDG process has been federally focused, with donors vying to set up units in the provinces. Punjab, the most advanced province, has included SDGs in the guidelines for preparing the development programme, but not on the recurrent side. In actual plan formulation, however, one does not see a coherent set of targets, allocations, policies and programmes. (…) Mainstreaming, acceleration, reporting and policy support cannot be achieved by “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The Express Tribune (Pakistan)

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics to go for capacity building after census

“The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has requested the World Bank for restructuring Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building (TFSCB) since the census cost Rs14 billion along with major capacity constraints issues, it is learnt. (…)The grant agreement, signed with the World Bank in 2015, meant for improving sampling for the Population and Agricultural Censuses, will be meterialised now after completion of the ongoing census.”

Pakistan Today

Is this the start of an SDG reporting boom?

“As the annual sustainability reporting season kicks off, Littan and co-authors of a recent Thomson Reuters report pinpoint the U.N. goals — which include sweeping objectives such as ending poverty and hunger — as an area where companies increasingly look to demonstrate commitment.”

GreenBiz

Where do we stand today?

“In Bangladesh, the implementation of the 7th Five Year Plan (FYP) 2016-2020 and SDGs have started concomitantly. Both the documents share the same core objectives like empowering people, ensuring prosperity, encouraging innovation, advancing peace, strengthening partnership, protecting the planet.”

The Daily Star (Bangladesh)

Open data policy the key to success

“If [the government] is truly determined to transform the country under the tag "Thailand 4.0" and combat corruption it should certainly declare open data a national agenda. It should also adopt the "presumption of openness" principle, which implies all state organisations are to disclose administrative data by default unless they can provide evidence the disclosure will cause material harm.”

The Bangkok Post (Thailand)

‘Big Data’: ¿antídoto contra la corrupción?

“Corremos el riesgo de sustituir la “tiranía de los expertos” por una “tiranía de los datos” si no somos conscientes y tomamos medidas para minimizar o eliminar las limitaciones inherentes en las decisiones basadas en datos. Para poder aprovechar adecuadamente el potencial de las decisiones basadas en datos y avanzar hacia un mundo más justo, honesto e igualitario hay cuatro retos importantes que debemos resolver en el empleo de algoritmos en la toma de decisiones.”

El Pais (Spain)

Using Data to Find the Middle Ground

“The cost-benefit analysis includes all of this: economic benefits, social benefits for the country, and environmental benefits (and perhaps costs) for the world. As a result, this approach cuts across the political spectrum. (…) Cost-benefit analysis should not be the only input to a government’s decision-making. But for countries like Bangladesh and Haiti, it provides a vital, independent injection of data on which sound decisions can be based.”

Project Syndicate

The Top 12 Tips for Data Visualization

“A data analyst’s job is not just to collect and analyze data; he or she must then present it to the interested parties and end users who will act on that data. That’s where data visualization comes in.”

Data Informed

If you break literature down by the numbers

MPRNews

Big Data Innovation Summit

30-31^st March, London, England

3^rd Data Innovation Summit

30^th March, Brussels, Belgium

Open data : qui veut des données brutes ?

31^st March, Paris, France

Smart Data Summit

3-4^th April, Dubai, United Arab Emirates