Capacity Development

A project was launched in July 2020 by the UNSD, with funds from the Italian Government, to support the delivery of Data4Now activities in Colombia and Senegal. The project is expected to result in the national statistical systems of the two project countries, as well as others in the respective regions with similar priorities, having a strengthened ability to deliver the more timely and disaggregated data needed by policy and decision makers to design effective development strategies and policy programmes to achieve the 2030 Agenda. Guided by the priorities identified by the countries themselves, the project will build capacity to regularly produce nowcasts and small-area estimates on key topics such as poverty, food security, education and climate change. In addition, the project will build capacity in the participating countries to produce modern data visualizations and communication products that to enable key users to obtain actionable insights from the data deliverables. The project will run until December 2021. This webpage will be updated with country-specific information as the project progresses.

Key elements of the project approach include:

• A preference for data innovations that combine both traditional and non-traditional data sources, methods and technologies
• An emphasis on synergies with ongoing data initiatives and statistical programmes, and close coordination with the UN country team
• A focus on delivering 'production-ready' solutions rather than experimental research outputs.
• Maximized use of online- and remote delivery modes, reflecting both the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the desire to support other countries in the regions with similar challenges.

The main project activities include:

• Refining data production objectives, specifying, in close consultation with key users of the project outputs, the target variables to be estimated, as well as their required frequency, timeliness and levels of disaggregation.

• Securing high-level support and government buy-in and engaging with key producers and users of data across the National Statistical System.

• Establishing an IT architecture for the project, including setting up a geospatial data and metadata clearinghouse, with the objective of providing the national project team an environment to manage and access input datasets from censuses, sample surveys, administrative records, earth observation, mobile records, and other non-traditional sources.
• Assessing the quality and suitability of data inputs, including assessing the consistency of concepts and definitions, classifications, time granularity, definition of administrative boundaries, etc. and determining whether adjustments are needed prior to data integration.
• Developing a portfolio of recommended estimation methods, workflows and algorithms for the production of the estimation objectives of the project. The emphasis will be on methods and workflows that have already been tested in similar contexts and which have the potential to be implemented and maintained autonomously by the national teams.

• Developing in-country skills and capabilities through conducting training workshops, providing technical assistance through both missions and virtual collaboration, and developing learning materials in order to ensure that national teams are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to use the recommended methodologies and workflows beyond the project timeframe, and to adapt them as necessary.
• Analysis and visualization of the main estimation outputs. The project will support the production of maps, charts and interactive data stories to communicate estimation results to policy makers and other user groups, enabling them to draw comparisons, identify trends or patterns, and generate new questions and ideas about relationships in the data.
• Communication and dissemination of project results to national stakeholders and international partners through the main channels of the National Statistical office in each target country.

These project activities will build upon the existing achievements, infrastructure and outputs of the National Statistical Office, as well as on the relevant training activities that have already been carried out by the Data4Now partners and other stakeholder in the country.