Data Partnership for the Sustainable Development Goals

Purpose

SDG monitoring is key to ensuring effective planning and implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Yet, this is a field in which states face numerous challenges. Limited institutional statistical capacity, significant data gaps and lack of sufficient disaggregated data impair countries’ ability to unveil the situation of the most vulnerable populations and to adequately monitor and report on the SDGs.

This initiative promotes the establishment of inclusive and plural data ecosystems to strengthen SDG monitoring through the use of alternative data such as citizen-generated data and human rights data.
In a series of virtual workshops, participants from six countries will address some of the questions that seem to hamper a progressive growth of data partnerships in the SDG sector: Which data is relevant in which context? Who are relevant data producers and what are the ‘rules and roles’ of a data collaboration? How can we enhance trust and willingness to collaborate?

This Data Partnership initiative connects relevant stakeholders and data sources such as civil society organisations and national human rights institutions with national statistics offices and SDG coordination units. The participating countries are Canada, Costa Rica, Ghana, Nepal, Palestine, and the Philippines. The initiative allows participants to learn from each other and it provides them with guidance to fulfil key steps towards building a sustainable cross-sector data collaboration such as: 

• Identifying data gaps, key stakeholders and potential data sources 
• Applying a human rights-based approach to indicators and data
• Agreeing on methodologies for data collection
• Developing a plan for implementing the data partnership

The overall goal is to discuss, analyse and consolidate these learnings, allowing participants to explore possible entry points and concrete steps towards a strengthened SDG data ecosystem in their own national context. Ultimately, the process aims to provide participating countries with the necessary toolset to initiate a pilot multi-stakeholder collaboration in their country.

Activities

• First step: Onboarding surveys and webinar with individuals from government, civil society, national human rights institutions, national statistics office and other stakeholders to consolidate the participating group, map entry points for this collaboration and prepare for a series of virtual workshops.
• Second step: Series of virtual workshops with the six selected countries encompassing a mix of technical contributions from external partners, cross-country knowledge exchange, and guided in-country discussions to identify country priorities and build pathways for a sustained data partnership for the SDGs. 
• Third step: Cross-sector stakeholder national consultation in countries which agree to a follow-up action after step 2,  to determine and formally agree on the scope, conditions and mutual requirements for a data collaboration on identified priority areas.  
• Fourth step: Joint fundraising for the national data partnerships, supported by the organisers, on the precondition that national consultations come to a conclusion that represents a mutual benefit to involved stakeholders and that clear rules, roles and responsibilities for the data partnership have been mutually agreed.

Partners

Implementing partners

•  Partners for Review (implemented by the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH, or GIZ) 
• International Civil Society Centre
• The Danish Institute for Human Rights 

External contributors

This Data Partnership draws from knowledge and experiences of external partners, among others:

• United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
• The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD)
• The United National Development Programme (UNDP)
• The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) 
• Paris 21