Blog Post

Investment or Innovation? On the Next Stage of #Data4SDGs at HLPF 2018

  • By Jay Neuner
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  • 25 Jul, 2018
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By Jay Neuner with support from Deirdre Appel, Shaida Badiee, Hayden Dahmm, Melika Edquist, and Jessica Espey
At this year’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN and its extended community hosted discussions on global progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A question loomed large above the chatter: How can we accurately determine what progress we’ve made when so many challenges remain in gathering and using data for measurement of the SDGs? Stakeholders of every stripe issued clarion calls throughout HLPF: We want – and need – higher quality, more quantity of, and more inclusive data on the SDGs. As the conversations at HLPF revealed, there is no single, best approach to reach this SDG “data utopia”.
In the opening session, s peakers from international organizations, national statistics offices, and civil society addressed cross-cutting data issues, including gaps in country capacity to produce the data needs of the SDGs, data innovations and data linking, and financing for data to support the SDGs. (This last conversation was led by TReNDS’ own Shaida Badiee, co-founder and managing director of Open Data Watch.) A number of these conversations revolved around limited capacity and funding for data use and production for the SDGs. Similarly, new approaches and extant concerns about data were raised in the Voluntary National Reviews presented throughout HLPF. Bhutan, Jamaica, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Sri Lanka cited the value of disaggregated data for monitoring their SDG progress, while Ecuador was among those stressing the need for financing. Sri Lanka also mentioned the value of digital platforms for their data disaggregation efforts. (Read overviews on the Voluntary National Reviews at HLPF via IISD here and here.)
Related side events included the launch of the Inclusive Data Charter, an initiative of partners to the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD). The charter lays out a set of principles on leaving no one behind to which stakeholders can commit, with an emphasis on disaggregated data. Its launch event profiled approaches such as national-level indicator integration in the Philippines, as well as examples of partnerships to achieve these principles from the likes of UNICEF. (You can read more about the event on the GPSDD website here.)
Throughout these events, two schools of thought battled for dominance: systems investment versus innovation. National representatives led the call for revitalization of national statistics office capacities, while non-governmental stakeholders cited emerging technology and other innovations that can complement or leapfrog traditional approaches.
Jeffrey Sachs, Director of SDSN, was among those citing a joint approach: investment in long-term systems building, while concurrently using innovative techniques – such as ICT-based data collection and big data analysis – to provide real- (or near real) time interim data complementing official statistics for key SDG indicators. In a final call to action at the event on financing data for the SDGs, he challenged all stakeholders – from governments, to civil society, to the private sector – to work together to identify interim measures for a minimum of one key SDG indicator per goal. With lynchpin poverty statistics, for example, running years out of date, a country may be measuring a reality that no longer exists. Interim data can provide proxies for those indicators, enabling timely action to address gaps in achieving relevant SDGs.
The initiative POPGRID (co-led by TReNDS co-chair Bob Chen) is one such attempt to foster collaboration, supporting innovative approaches to population measurement. It promotes cooperation among data providers, users, and sponsors engaged to design harmonized data products and services, specifically for georeferenced data on population, human settlements and infrastructure. Among the potential approaches it is investigating: using earth observation data on dwellings or mobile telecommunications data to estimate populations. While this data does not replace official population figures derived from a census, it can provide more timely interim data. This would give stakeholders the right information to connect at the right time and with the right resources.
As the SDG deadline fast approaches, these jointly innovative and systems improvement-focused approaches can and should gain traction. With partners under banners such as GPSDD committing to action and technical groups like TReNDS primed to respond alongside their own cross-sector partners, data can become more agile, better resourced, and more effective for both monitoring and achieving the SDGs.

SDSN Newsletter - July 2021

By SDSN Secretariat • 03 Aug, 2021 •
This month, SDSN celebrated its growing network, talked about the incredible amount of media coverage on the 2021 SDR, and reflected on this year's High Level Political Forum

WRI Report Spotlight: “Unlocking a Renewable Energy Future: How Government Action Can Drive Private Investment”

By Fiona Laird • 02 Aug, 2021 •
World Resources Institute recently released Unlocking a Renewable Energy Future: How Government Action Can Drive Private Investment, a report outlining key challenges to increasing clean energy investment and deployment. This report digs into the financial and regulatory mechanisms available to support policy frameworks like that outlined in SDSN USA’s Zero Carbon Action Plan (ZCAP), released in October 2020.

European Commission launches proposals to reach 55% emissions reduction by 2030

By Sam Van Hoof • 30 Jul, 2021 •
The ‘Fit for 55' package includes a ban on combustion engines from 2035, a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and a Social Climate Fund among other provisions.

SDSN Canada 2021 Members Meeting Recap

By Giovanni Bruna • 29 Jul, 2021 •

SDSN Canada reconvened the network membership on June 16th, 2021 for the annual Members Meeting.

This year's meeting featured conversations on the current state of the SDGs in Canada, emerging opportunities for post-secondary institutions, networking breakout sessions, and a featured joint presentation by the Brookings Institution and Rockefeller Foundation on mobilizing campuses and communities for the SDGs using the 17 Rooms initiative. A lightning round of member initiatives was also included to highlight a portion of the SDG work happening across the network.

Recap the discussion by reading the meeting notes   or listening to the audio recordings for each session.

Meeting Highlights:

  • The SDSN Global annual Sustainable Development Report 2021  was released June 2021, tracking progress on the SDGs by country (Canada ranked 21st in the world). The report outlines the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the SDGs and describes how the SDGs can frame the recovery.
  • The Government of Canada has released Canada’s National Strategy for the SDGs, Moving Forward Together. The strategy outlines a set of 30 actions towards the SDGs, including localizing the SDGs, supporting partnerships with Indigenous initiatives, and advancing research into the gaps in Canada's efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
  • The 17 Rooms initiative  is a tool for advancing SDG collaboration, community-centric conversations, and bottom-up action. There are three key principles of consideration:
    • Every SDG gets a seat at the table (a dedicated room).
    • Identify what the next step is, and not the perfect step. What are things you can do together over the next 12 to 18 months that you can implement action on the SDGs?
    • It is about conversations, not presentations. The goal is to learn from each other and create a community of practice.
    • Join the 17 Rooms-X Community of Practice to access the beta toolkit.
  • A ‘lightning round’ of presentations by members spotlighting SDG work from Colleges and Institutes Canada, the Interdisciplinary Research Center in the Operationalization of Sustainable Development (CIRODD), Vancouver Island University, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Waterloo.

The meeting was also a chance to invite the membership into initiatives designed to be more intentional about the network’s collective presence and impact. In this vein, the network thinks that the 17 Rooms process can be a critical resource for campus conversations on the SDGs. It also relaunched the Member Challenge , is starting the ‘SDG Teaching Community’ for faculty across the network, and is convening a small working group of interested members to talk about an enhanced governance structure for the network.

Public Consultation on SPA Report

By Lauren Barredo • 29 Jul, 2021 •
We encourage stakeholders to provide meaningful input to aid the development of a better and more complete report. We invite feedback from individuals and organizations, from all sectors.

Environmental and Agricultural Impacts of Dietary Shifts at Global and National Scales

By FABLE • 28 Jul, 2021 •
The FABLE Consortium is releasing two policy briefs over the coming months intended to advise national governments on sustainable land-use and diets. The first brief, entitled “Environmental and agricultural impacts of dietary shifts at global and national scales'' is now available.

Media Coverage of the Sustainable Development Report 2021

By SDG Index • 23 Jul, 2021 •
The Sustainable Development Report 2021 has been covered by the BBC, the Guardian, Washington Post, and more than 100 other media outlets.

The Multidimensional Vulnerability Index and Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

By Isabella Massa • 21 Jul, 2021 •
SDSN together with the United Nations Resident Coordinators in SIDS and the Permanent Mission of Antigua and Barbuda hosted on 12 July 2021 a High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) side event to discuss the issue of measuring multidimensional vulnerability, and its relevance for international financing mechanisms.

SDGs Today Launches My School Today!

By SDGs Today • 20 Jul, 2021 •
SDGs Today recently launched their My School Today! call to action, meant to support students and local communities to geo-reference their schools and education facilities as part of an effort to promote timely information on school locations in Africa

SDSN at the 2021 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF)

By SDSN Secretariat • 20 Jul, 2021 •
SDSN and our networks are hosting a number of events alongside the UN's High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). We are thrilled to invite you to join us at the following events, which SDSN is hosting or are organized by our partners.
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