Implementing 2030 Agenda Requires ‘Data Revolution’ to Address Gaps in Collection, Quality, Secretary-General Tells Development Committee, Urging New Partnerships
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is explicit about the need for quality, accessible and timely data. Data are the basis for sound decision-making. They are fundamental to the implementation and success of the Agenda.
The Millennium Development Goals have demonstrated the benefits of monitoring a set of concrete and time-bound goals with statistically robust indicators. They have shown the value of using data to galvanize development efforts, implement successful targeted interventions, track performance, and improve accountability. And they have energized efforts to increase the production and use of development data.
Yet, despite improvement, we are faced with large data gaps and poor data quality in many areas. The poorest and most vulnerable people often remain invisible.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty is most severe, about 60 per cent of countries lack adequate data to monitor poverty trends.
It is estimated that the births of nearly 230 million children worldwide under age five are never registered — that is approximately one third of children under the age of five. Children unregistered at birth or lacking identifying documents are often excluded from access to education, health care and other essential services.
In countries where the malaria disease burden is highest, surveillance systems are usually weakest and case detection rates are lowest. In 2012, routine health information systems detected only 14 per cent of the world’s malaria cases.
Only by counting the uncounted can we reach the unreached.
To ensure no one is left behind, we must know where the most vulnerable people are. This is essential for making informed decisions that will provide them the education, housing, and health services they need. The new development agenda contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets across a broad range of development issues.
The monitoring requirements pose a significant challenge to even the most developed countries.
Sustainable development therefore demands a data revolution. The costs involved in making the data revolution work for everybody are not trivial. Many countries will require strong national commitment, as well as international technical and financial support during the years ahead. Investing in data and strengthening statistical capacity is the foundation for monitoring progress.
The necessary data revolution is a joint responsibility of Governments, international and regional organizations, the private sector and civil society.
The international statistical community is working hard to support the implementation of the new agenda.
In April 2013, heads of multilateral development banks, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the UN signed a memorandum of understanding that sets out the basis of their enhanced collaboration to strengthen country-level statistical capacity-building.
A proposal for an indicator framework will be presented in March 2016 by the Statistical Commission. And the UN System is supporting innovative multi-stakeholder collaboration platforms to help harness the data revolution for sustainable development.
Building new partnerships will be essential to ensure that data are available to inform the new development agenda and support development decision-making for the next 15 years.
I encourage all present to increase resources for their statistical systems and contribute to building global statistical capacity to meet the challenging requirements to monitor progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
On 20 October, the World Statistics Day will be observed globally. This is an excellent opportunity to start a global conversation between users and producers of statistics and data at all levels.
Let us together commit to measure what we treasure.
Thank you.