Access to data matters for local communities
Data production has improved markedly over the last 20 years, and there is measurably more and better data for reporting on international frameworks that target improvements in people’s lives and the environments in which they live, supporting discussions progress at international levels, as well as peer learning and sharing. However, national data are less used by individuals and communities within countries. Uptake is hampered by a number of factors that include – low levels of data literacy and education, problems with access to official statistics, and a lack of trust between users and national statistics offices.
National statistics offices, supported by partners such as PARIS21, have understood the need to engage with national stakeholders, not only by making datasets available, but also in learning what data their users need, and helping them build the skills to use data. Agricultural data is a particularly important sector. Underpinning the economies of many countries across West Africa and directly affecting people’s lives in many ways. Media and journalists in many countries are relied on to turn data and statistics into succinct and clear messages that people in professions such as farming, market traders and transport can use to inform their decision making.
PARIS21 and FAO joined forces to improve the communication of agricultural statistics
From 2021-2023, PARIS21 worked closely with the FAO to support various aspects of the FAO Global Strategy to Improve Agricultural and Rural Statistics (GSARS) in Africa. The initiative aimed to strengthen the quality, availability and use of agricultural data across African countries and PARIS21 supported the work in a number of ways: including agricultural statistics in national statistical planning, improving HR policies to help agricultural agencies to recruit skilled staff, and strengthening leadership and communications skills so governments can produce reliable, timely, and comparable data on agriculture, rural development, and food security. As a result, many countries modernised their agricultural surveys, adopted cost-effective data collection tools and enhanced coordination between ministries and statistical offices.
PARIS21 provided communications support under the GSARS project to Benin, Madagascar, Mali, Sierra Leone and Togo, supporting NSOs to improve their agricultural data communications and building skills among media and journalists to improve the uptake and use.
Information is a weapon to fight instability
Young Malians have grown up in a climate of instability and economic shocks that have reversed the country’s development trajectory since 2012.1 This young generation will determine the shape of the country’s future and it is essential that they have the right tools and information to hand.
Soumaila Sagara began studying for his bachelors degree in Communicating for Peace in Bamako in 2022. Soumaila’s passion and enthusiasm for journalism led to his being nominated by his lecturers to attend a PARIS21 workshop that was held under the scope of the GSARS project. This experience helped Soumaila to build skills that have been put into use from the beginning of his career, and highlights to the global data community why communicating with users is a worthwhile exercise with positive impacts throughout development, humanitarian and other organisations.
Soumaila’s story
Journalism has been my passion since I was a child. It is the job of journalists to provide detailed information to keep people informed, detailed information needs data to back it up, and to get this data we have to carry out research. That’s why during my studies I wanted to understand better key data concepts, so that I could produce articles that would be interesting and inform my readers. My undergraduate degree course on Communication for Peace and Development is new in Mali, it focusses on communications with humanitarian organisations, NGOs and international organisations working on food insecurity. We are experiencing a time of crisis, and communications can help us to fight back, but we need the right tools.
During my degree, I was nominated by my lecturers to attend the FAO/PARIS21 Communicating Agricultural Statistics Workshop in Cotonou, Benin which took place from 5-7 July 2023. The workshop helped me to see that agricultural data are important for development, and that I could help to keep Malian communities informed through relevant and well sourced data and contribute to my country’s development. Before the workshop, my knowledge of data communications was limited, so I was able to strengthen these skills. I saw that communicating with data helped to improve understanding, for example, maps and visuals can help to break information down and make it easier to understand rather than long texts. I particularly appreciated the exchanges with the trainers and the other participants who were from Benin, Togo and Mali. For the three days of the workshop we were able to ask any questions, and when we didn’t understand we got helpful answers.
The participants were from different countries but we were able to connect as if we were from the same country. We have a WhatsApp group where we continue to exchange information, and I regularly read the updates from journalists and INStaD Benin. Mali is landlocked, like many countries in the Sahel, so in Benin I was able to visit the sea for the first time in my life. I also visited the Amazon monument and I understood the importance of women in Benin. I really appreciated that, without the workshop I don’t think I would have had this opportunity.
I was really struck by how much can be communicated through data. The written press used to contain long articles, which makes it hard to read and understand. During the PARIS21 workshop, we learned how to transform text into graphical representations, for example infographics. Infographics are easier to understand, percentages are clearly presented and the colours can support messages such as favourable and unfavourable conditions. This is useful as a Malian, when showing regions suffering from food insecurity or malnutrition in the north of the country.
After the workshop, my course director asked me to share what I had learned in Benin with my classmates. I showed them what I had learned on communicating through data so that people who lack time to read a full article can easily understand a message through a visual representation. Even before I finished my undergraduate degree, I found a job using these skills. I was recruited by the FAO and worked there for three months as a communications intern. After my internship, I was employed as communications assistant for almost a year. I brought my skills to good use there, particularly in working on data visualisation and making information more accessible. One of my tasks was preparing the newsletter. Thanks to the workshop, I realised that the information we were circulating to humanitarian organisations would benefit from data visualisation and graphics.
After my course, I began a masters programme in peace and development and I also work for an education programme. We gather information for example on the support needs of school children: materials for school, obtaining birth certificates, fixing school infrastructure and school canteens. I still use my data communications skills to do this and apply the good practices I learned, such as making sure that I cite the NSO to show that we are using reliable data in the materials we produce. A lot of my colleagues are impressed and ask me where I learned my skills. Even though we train as journalists, we don’t have a specific training on how to use and present data in our articles.
Participating in the workshop was a rare opportunity for me. As well as a security crisis, there is also an employment crisis, but this workshop opened a door for me professionally and I was able to start a job before I had even finished my degree. My dream is to strengthen data use especially in the humanitarian field. If we don’t use reliable data it will be hard to secure funding for our projects. Funding is becoming more and more scarce so we have to make sure we use reliable data that are presented in a way that speaks to people, then we can support vulnerable communities who are facing hardship.