[The Cape Town Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data](https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/hlg/Cape-Town-Global-Action-Plan/) highlights the need for better data interoperability in the context of innovation and modernisation efforts of national statistical systems. Responding to this call, the Collaborative on SDG Data Interoperability was jointly convened by the UN Statistics Division and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data after the first UN World Data Forum.

At the Data for Development Festival in Bristol in March 2018, the Collaborative agreed to produce guidance on data interoperability for development practitioners. This resulted in the launching in October 2018, at the second UN World Data Forum, of the first version of a document entitled "[Data interoperability: A practitioner's guide to joining up data in the development sector](http://localhost/UNWDF-Static/undataforum/webinars/)". The guide highlights how a systematic approach to handling data interoperability issues can support both the achievement and monitoring of the SDGs.

The guide was then presented at the 50th Session of the Statistical Commission in March 2019, where the Commission recognized the importance for countries to have access to interoperability tools and requested to continue developing the guide.

The [Collaborative on SDG Data Interoperability](http://www.data4sdgs.org/initiatives/interoperability-data-collaborative) is now focused on the next phase of its work, focusing on building and maintaining the Guide by adding new modules and practical examples as well as ancillary materials to help raise awareness of its existence and usability. It is hoped that new synergies will form between data producers, publishers, users, and those providing capacity building and training. In this way, the guidance set out within the Guide can be incorporated into existing training materials and modules, and a consistent approach to the system-wide improvement of data interoperability can start to become a reality in the development sector.

This webinar is an opportunity to learn first-hand from experts involved in the production of the guide, and from country practitioners about the tasks ahead towards improving SDG data interoperability.