DATA FOR NOW STAKEHOLDERS MEETING July 2019 #DATA4NOW This slide will be up during introductory remarks by Mahmoud Mohieldin, Jeff Sachs, Claire Melamed and a senior representative from UN DESA.

MEETING OBJECTIVES Inform potential stakeholders about the objectives and vision of the initiative Understand countries’ needs and demand to define SDG timely data priorities Find common ground among partners as basis for strong commitment, collaboration and engagement Receive feedback and comments to refine the initiative’s value proposition

Our data lags far behind and does not necessarily capture the present: Poverty data on two-thirds of the population of Sub- Saharan Africa is based on surveys that were done before the SDGs were agreed in 2015 (Povcal net, 2019). It is believed that approximately 15 billion trees are cut down each year. However, our latest global figures on deforestation are four years out of date, from 2015 (Crowther et al., 2015). Current figures for global ambient air pollution mortality estimates are from 2012 (UNSDSN 2018). THE PROBLEM

THE SOLUTIONS AT HAND THAT’S WHAT DATA FOR NOW IS ABOUT. We will increase the sustainable use of robust methods and tools that improve the timeliness, coverage, and quality of SDG data through collaboration and partnership, technical and capacity support, and information sharing. Multitude of pilots, experiments, validated methods Problem is countries’ lack of access and capacity by countries to scale up, mainstream and sustain

WHY NOW? Strong political support Greater receptiveness and confidence in official statistical system Strong country demand for innovation/access to new tools and methods Focus on impact and return on investment in capacity building for better data Critical mass of robust methods

WHAT WILL IT BE? 1. TIMELY, COMPARABLE GLOBAL INFORMATION Hectares Of Forest Cover Number Of People In Extreme Poverty WHAT WILL IT BE? Number Of Women w/ Bank Account Volume Of Freshwater Resources

2. TAILORED, COUNTRY-SPECIFIC SUPPORT Work with countries to identify the measures they most urgently need, in high frequency, to make sound policy and management decisions Work together and across government (coordinated by the National Statistical Office) to improve capacity to produce the data Bring in external experts, from academia, the private sector and so on, as relevant, to support the national process 2. TAILORED, COUNTRY-SPECIFIC SUPPORT

LINK TO SDG REPORTING AND UN DATA PLATFORMS Fully integrate innovative methods and tools into regular data production to inform the implementation of the SDGs in country Increase the availability and use of timely data for policy and decision-making on the SDGs at the local and national levels Integrate the timely data into existing national platforms for easy access by all users (UN Info for UN CTs, FIS4SDGs) Timely data not only for monitoring – but crucial to inform policies and action to achieve the SDGs

INVESTMENT IN CAPACITY BUILDING AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

INVESTMENT TO PROMOTE CAPACITY AND KNOWLEDGE 1 2 3 Pilot Middle Scale Programmatic investments across several countries SMALL GRANTS MAJOR LENDING Data For Now Initiative Many one-time, Validated, Proof of Concepts (Current-State) Accelerate validation; systematize capabilities, operations to use and sustain measures Global capabilities to sustain new measures toward data-driven decisions (Future-State)

DATA FOR NOW CAPACITY BUILDING APPROACH 1 2 3 Middle Pilot APPROACH Public Goods: Open Data, Reusable Methods, Open Training and Content Proven methods: Accountability to member countries Responsible Use: Privacy preserving, ethical, secure use of data Data Integration: big data to enrich & amplify survey data (complement) [..] LOCAL ECOSYSTEM TRAINING CONTENT Analytical Design Data Management APIs, Record Linkage Machine Learning Privacy, Ethics [..] Scale COMPATIBLE, OPEN TOOLS RESULTS Trained Staff Data Partnerships Country networks New Measures Better Decisions for SDGs The middle mile is about working with a set of countries to strengthen capacity in the local ecosystem to use and sustain the measures. The methods will be open standards base so they are reusable and compatible across a wide range of government platforms. The local governments, universities and partners will be trained to deliver skills needed to help government sustain the measures. The process of learning and knowledge sharing will foster broader adoption at regional and global scale. Data For Now Initiative

PARTNERSHIP OPTIONS AND HOW TO GET INVOLVED DATA RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

WHAT NEXT UNGA launch Sept 2019 Partners’ workshop November 2019 Partnerships for trailblazer countries operationalized November 2019 onwards UNGA 2020 – showcase results and build momentum