title: Data for development: an agenda for German development cooperation
Creators: name: Schwegmann, Claudia
name: Holzapfel, Sarah
Publisher: name: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/01t3zke88
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Agenda 2030
subject: Wirksamkeit
subject: Evaluierung
subject: Agenda 2030
subject: Effectiveness
subject: Evaluation

description: Data is a central but underestimated prerequisite for the realisation of the 2030
 Agenda. Although technical innovations such as smartphones or the internet of things have
 led to a data explosion in recent years, there are still considerable gaps in the
 availability and use of data in developing countries and development cooperation (DC) in
 particular. So far it is not possible to report regularly on the majority of the 230
 indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). <br> Already in 2014 an
 independent panel of experts, called for nothing less than a data revolution to support
 the implementation of the SDGs in their 2014 report to the UN Secretary-General, A World
 that Counts. Data is one of the key requirements for planning, managing and evaluating
 development projects and strategies. The aim of the data revolution for sustainable
 development is 1) to close data gaps with the aid of new technologies and additional
 resources, 2) to strengthen global data literacy, promote data use and enable equality of
 access, 3) to create a “data ecosystem” that follows global standards in order to improve
 data quality, enable data aggregation and prevent abuse. <br> The data revolution for
 sustainable development is a challenge for all countries. There is a lot of room for
 improvement in both partner countries and all areas of German policy making. This paper
 focuses on German DC. <br> Overall, the subject of data has to date received little
 attention in the organisations of German DC and their projects. The demand for evidence-
 and data-based work is often limited to evaluation. <br> A results framework to support
 portfolio management in German DC does not exist. Monitoring at project level is often not
 sufficient, as data quality is frequently poor and capacity is lacking. In the partner
 countries the implementing organisations (IOs) often introduce parallel structures for
 monitoring and evaluation (M&amp;E) in order to keep track of the measures
 implemented, instead of using and strengthening national statistical systems as much as
 possible. Collected data and project progress reports are usually not published. <br> The
 following recommendations can be derived from the analysis: 
 

 
 German DC should agree on common data standards and principles for data use, such as
 Open Data by Default. At the same time, personal rights should also be ensured.
 

 The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) should work with
 all German DC actors (other ministries, IOs, non-state actors) to develop a data
 strategy that takes into account the different data sources and types, builds upon
 common standards and principles and aims to promote a data culture in all areas of
 German DC.

 At international level the German government should take an active role in the
 realisation and further development of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable
 Development Data.

 Germany should increase its financial contribution to the development of data and
 statistics in partner countries, stop the use of parallel M&amp;E systems in the
 medium term and promote the support of national statistical systems in all DC
 measures.
description: Briefing Paper, 12/2018