1. High level National Data Forum
Parallel Session 3 Open Data in Uganda: Challenges and Opportunities to Address
Quality Assurance Concerns for ‘Non-Official’ Statistics, and Challenges of Opening up Official Data
Richard B. Lutalo
Uganda National Council for Science and Technology
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

2. The Sustainable Development Agenda High level National Data Forum
In September 2015 the UN Member States agreed on a comprehensive and long-term policy agenda for all countries of the world - Agenda 2030.
Member States have pledged to leave no one behind.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

3. High level National Data Forum
193 Countries, including Uganda, committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030
15 Years
17 Goals
169 Targets
230 Indicators
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

4. The Sustainable Development Agenda High level National Data Forum
Globally, the adoption of SDGs has stimulated a massive investment to improve the availability and the quality of statistical indicators.
In Uganda, the demand for SDGs indicators should absorb existing sectoral programs. If it does not happen the National Statistical System (NSS) will face an unsustainable situation, given the limited resources available.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

5. Preliminary assessment of the data availability for SDGs
A lot of data do not exist or are produced too late.
Big differences between developed and developing countries.
None looks able to produce all data with the necessary timeliness
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

6. FOR MORE EFFECTIVE EVIDENCE-BASED PLANNING AND POLICY-MAKING
NEED for:
More disaggregated statistics
More up-to-date information especially with emerging concerns, e.g., climate change
FOR MORE EFFECTIVE EVIDENCE-BASED PLANNING AND POLICY-MAKING
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

7. High level National Data Forum
The Data Revolution
The report A World that Counts published by IEAG two years ago ( called for a better coordination of statistical programmes developed by international organisations.
Notwithstanding the improvements made over the last few years, such a coordination is still unsatisfactory, especially in terms of data collection and the development of common infrastructures, also to exploit economies of scale.
In the meantime, the private sector and civil society is moving very fast.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

8. Article “Who will lead development’s High level National Data Forum
big data revolution?”
“In New York, as United Nations delegates adopted the Sustainable Development Goals this week, celebration met a stern reminder: the goals cannot be achieved without a way to monitor and measure progress toward them. And with that call to action, big data companies are racing to position themselves as ideal partners for development organizations seeking better analysis in real time”.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

9. High level National Data Forum
What Next?
Time is running and the international statistical system is not fast enough
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

10. Data, open data, statistics and official statistics
Non-government data
Government data
Official statistics
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

11. Towards global statistical infrastructures for SDGs
Strengthen the role of the NSO (or UBOS)
Develop a coordinated national statistical programme
Establish new rules to engage key non-governmental data providers in the NSS
Develop a national data and metadata collection portal (National Standard Indicators Framework)
Speed up the development and the adoption of standards for data and metadata exchange
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

12. Towards global statistical infrastructures for SDGs
Quickly identify a research agenda to fill the existing gaps in statistical standards.
Strengthen the process of implementing the Uganda Standards (US942 & US943)
Foster the linkage between statistical and geospatial information and standards
Establish a “national data users network”
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

13. Challenges and Opportunities of the NSS High level National Data Forum
The data revolution and the SDGs is a great opportunity to strengthen the institutional setting of the NSO and NSS.
UBOS is more oriented to re-use data collected by other organisations.
Therefore, administrative data and other Big Data must be fully accessible to the NSO, which is expected by mandate, to check the quality of data produced by others.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

14. Challenges and Opportunities of the NSS High level National Data Forum
Appropriate revisions of legal and institutional settings under which the NSO and data producers operate supported by:
the adoption of global principles on legal and technical issues;
the review of principles for confidentiality protection, while allowing the maximum circulation of properly anonymised data for research and business purposes.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

15. Challenges and Opportunities of the NSS High level National Data Forum
The very high pace of technological and methodological developments, as well as the availability of new data sources, require a growing capacity by the NSO to benefit from them.
Given the limited resources available, it is vital to join forces to experiment new approaches and exploit economies of scale. For example:
the use of satellite images by a properly resourced central unit;
the development of “experimental” statistics and indicators on some new SDGs domains, or of “early estimates” could be carried out at the regional level.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

16. Challenges and Opportunities of the NSS High level National Data Forum
The NSO and NSS should invest in continuous innovation to minimise costs and improve efficiency and the quality of services provided to users.
Modernization of the NSS should be broadly formulated in terms of:
mainstreaming principles and standards,
strengthening institutional arrangements (including access and use of public and privately generated administrative data sources), and
harmonizing and centralizing statistical production processes using a standard-based architecture.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

17. High level National Data Forum
Way Forward
Government through the NSO should:
Support multi-stakeholder data initiatives that harness the data revolution to achieve the SDGs, focusing on building capacity to generate, share and use data at both national and local levels;
Help to develop and build support for international principles to harness the data revolution to achieve the SDGs, including sharing, leveraging and assessing privately held data; and
Organise thematic data events (such as the NDF) to foster increased connectivity, collaboration and innovation towards achieving and measuring the SDGs.
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017

18. High level National Data Forum
Q & A
9/9/2018
High level National Data Forum
14th -17th November 2017