A Data Revolution for SDG Indicators

UN World Data Forum 19-21 October

By Steve MacFeely, Head of the Statistics, UNCTAD

Next week the virtual United Nations World Data Forum kicks off. In the run up to the forum, it is useful to reflect on the conclusions of the last one. 

The Dubai Declaration, drafted at the close of the 2018 UN World Data Forum stated that “the data demands for the 2030 Agenda require urgent new solutions that leverage the power of new data sources and technologies through partnerships between national statistical authorities and the private sector, civil society, and academia and other research institutions.” [ 59 : para. 7 ] .

Like motherhood and apple pie, who could disagree? But reading the declaration back in 2018, I found myself wondering, ok, so how do we leverage this power? What are these new solutions? What would incentivize the private sector to cooperate with official statisticians? What would allow official statisticians to trust statistics compiled by civil society or citizen science? How do we move from words to actions?

I…