Maintaining data in a proper way is important for all, whether it is for family, society, or country. Budget is a glaring example as it is observed in family life or in a country. Anyway, the World Development Report 2021 of the World Bank published recently may be mentioned. The Report urges for strengthened national data systems to tackle poverty and transform the lives of the poor people in the world. The Report has highlighted how data can better advance development objectives, and analyses the types of governance arrangements necessary to support data generation and use that is ethical, equitable, safe, and secure.
The World Bank Group President David Malpass said the “perspective of poor people has largely been absent from the global debate on data governance” and urgently needs to be heard. According to him, a lack of institutions, financial resources, and decision-making autonomy in low-income countries “hold back … the effective implementation and effectiveness of data systems and governance systems. The World Development Report (WDR) team consulted policymakers, international organizations, civil society organizations, private sector companies, development partners, academics, research institutions, as well as the offices of the World Bank’s Executive Directors and Bank colleagues. The team also conducted a series of bilateral consultations from April through June 2020 with the national statistical offices of Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the West Bank and Gaza.
The Report has presented examples of how better data and data systems can improve lives and enhance governments’ abilities to prioritize and target resources more efficiently. As an example, in Haiti, a case has been mentioned. The mango farmers are using technology to track their products through to final sale, which eliminated intermediaries and increased their share of the profit. The private sector is also using data to power platform-based businesses that generate international trade in services and boost economic growth.
According to the Report, COVID-19 has highlighted opportunities and challenges associated with data use, and stress the urgency of equitable access to data and improving data governance. Shifts to virtual work have illustrated the digital divide between those with and without access to technology, underscoring challenges related to inequitable access to mobile phones and the internet for the poor and low-income countries. World Bank Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart emphasized innovative uses of data “offer new opportunities” to understand COVID-19’s spread, assess policies to mitigate the pandemic, and “target government resources to the people most in need.”
Also, the Report has warned the data accumulation can also lead to a concentration of economic and political power, raising concerns that “data may be misused in ways that harm citizens.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, countries have repurposed mobile phone records to monitor the virus’s spread, a practice that could lead to a risk of misuse or privacy concerns. The Report has mentioned the need to strengthen cybersecurity and protect personal data. It finds governance arrangements to address data concerns “remain in their infancy, particularly in low-income countries.” One important finding from the Report is that “a global survey of 80 countries found only 40 percent of countries has best practice data regulations in place. Sub-Saharan Africa has low digital connectivity, and ‘modern infrastructure for exchanging, storing and processing data is negligible’ in low-income countries”. In the context of India, the Report has mentioned the “I paid a bribe” online initiative launched in 2011 by the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy in India as one of the largest crowdsourced anti-corruption platforms in the world.
(Source: http://sdg.iisd.org/news/world-development-report-urges-strengthened-systems-to-tackle-data-inequalities)
Dr. Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad
1 May 2021
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