#COVID19 has shown the terrible problem of a lack of data for decision making. In #Kano in #Nigeria gravediggers say they& #39;ve not been this busy for 60 years. But no one knows for sure how many have died or whether it is #coronavirus
But the problem of scarce data is far older, & more widespread, than #COVID19. Almost half of Africans live in a country where there has been no census since 2009. In the Democratic Republic of Congo the last one was in 1984.
The @GlobalGoalsUN cover a broad sweep of objectives, from education and health to the environment. But in #Africa there are too few statistics to track progress on 60% of the indicators. Even where data are provided, about half are estimates, not solid counts
Lack of data creates big problems. How do you make policy if you don& #39;t know the population, where the poorest are, or what progress is on everything from #education & #health to #environment & #jobs?

"“Where do we build clinics, where do we build roads?” asks @gyude_moore
Even data that is collected is hard to use & often not widely shared. That leads to mix ups. A few years ago #Malawi ministry of #agriculture estimated there were 3.4m farm households, whereas the National Statistical Office reckoned there were 2.5m.
In Africa lots of groups are stepping up
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Rightwards arrow" aria-label="Emoji: Rightwards arrow"> @Africa_evidence is vigorously pushing evidence in policymaking
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Rightwards arrow" aria-label="Emoji: Rightwards arrow"> @BudgITng turns dry Nigerian budgets into clear graphics & tracks whether promised schools & roads are built
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="➡️" title="Rightwards arrow" aria-label="Emoji: Rightwards arrow">Academic studies from #Africa rose ~40% frm 2012 to 2016
Governments & donors could both do much more. Only 0.33% of all official overseas aid is allocated to statistics says @ContactPARIS21. And even that is rarely coordinated. Much more is needed to build wider statistical capacity not just fund ad hocs surveys
Finally the @Mo_IbrahimFdn has much more on the scale of the problem & the progress being made
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👉" title="Right pointing backhand index" aria-label="Emoji: Right pointing backhand index"> https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/iiag/gr-2019-key-findings

The">https://mo.ibrahim.foundation/iiag/gr-2... next @wb_research World Development Report will be on #data. If you care about this tell them here
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👉" title="Right pointing backhand index" aria-label="Emoji: Right pointing backhand index"> https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/we-would-hear-you-launching-online-consultations-world-development-report-2021-data-better">https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/... (END)
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