This chapter discusses the implications of a decline in funding to data and statistics in the face of future crises and threats that are becoming more urgent. The chapter highlights the necessity for the global community to invest in data and statistics as well as to co-ordinate better to cover data funding gaps.
The PARIS21 Partner Report on Support to Statistics 2022
A Wake-Up Call to Finance Better Data
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2. Co-ordinate and advocate to attract more and better funding
Abstract
2.1. Preparing for future challenges and seizing new opportunities
Even before the pandemic, the lack of funding had prevented some countries from monitoring the SDGs and thereby fulfilling the promise to leave no one behind. In a post-pandemic world, national statistical systems will need secured funding to recover from the disruptions experienced during the COVID-19 crisis and to respond to data demands in new areas.
At the halfway point of the 2030 Agenda, the pandemic dealt a severe setback to development data. And yet, discussions around climate change, food security and public health are being translated into policies and action, both of which require timely, high-quality data. The contrast between the upward trend in ODA for gender equality and the decline in funding for gender data shows that there is no automatic correlation between increased funding flows and increased funding for data. Indeed, while early data indicate that total official development assistance (ODA) was expected to increase by 4.4% in 2021 (OECD DAC, 2022[1]), there has been no indication that this increase will extend to funding for data and statistics and help underfinanced and overburdened national statistical systems provide the data required. Over the past few years, countries around the world have committed to various long-term initiatives and goals. While some commitments, such as the Agricultural Market Information System1, the UN’s Complex Risk Analytics Fund2, and the World Bank’s Global Data Facility3 are directly linked with data and statistics, most of these other initiatives do not delineate plans to support data and statistics.
While early data indicate that total ODA was expected to increase by 4.4% in 2021, there has been no indication that this increase will extend to funding for data and statistics and help underfinanced and overburdened national statistical systems provide the data required.
Partners need to learn from lessons of the first half of the SDG era to address two key challenges
First, the statistical community needs to establish its crucial role in addressing issues that are increasingly at the centre of political discourse such as climate change, public health, gender equality and food security. To do so, both global advocacy and country-level support are needed:
At the global level, the community needs to allocate more resources to advocate for data in global discussions and highlight the importance of data in these areas. The difficulties in channelling donors’ increased commitment to and funding for gender equality to gender data show how data can be overlooked even at the relatively early stages of discussion of an emerging development topic. Increased efforts at global advocacy is needed to signal to donors the importance of development data for each emerging development topic.
At the country level, partners should support NSOs and national statistical systems to mainstream data activities across sectors through better data planning and data governance. The recent effort by PARIS21 to support gender data in countries shows the difficulties, and also the value, of mainstreaming data activities through strategic planning and substantial capacity development (PARIS21, 2022[2]).
Second, in a complex landscape of funding data and statistics, a more robust co-ordination mechanism should be established to co-ordinate funding for cross-cutting issues. As data gaps for these issues usually require systemic approaches instead of funding for specific surveys, donors also face the challenge of embedding investment in data and statistics in broader development initiatives in co-ordination with other existing efforts. The community needs an advanced tool to understand and measure the funding flows for capacity development for data and statistical systems beyond the traditional scope.
Box 2.1. How the Clearinghouse for Financing Development Data can help to address the two challenges in funding for data
The Clearinghouse for Financing Development Data, developed by the Bern Network on Financing Data for Development, can contribute to the new co-ordination mechanism required. The platform is built to help countries, donors and development agencies to identify funding opportunities, bring projects to scale, advocate for support to data and statistics and connect to new partners. It provides information and services to match the supply and demand of funding for data and statistics to foster transparency, accountability and alignment and to facilitate co-ordination among donors and partner countries. The platform can be used by decision makers to visualise the complex landscape of funding to data in a specific country, while co-ordinating with donors that account for over 85% of total ODA for data and statistics. Countries with limited capacities can also use the platform to showcase their specific demand for support and progress they made.
References
[1] OECD DAC (2022), ODA Levels in 2021: Preliminary Data - Detailed Summary Note, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/ODA-2021-summary.pdf (accessed on September 2022).
[2] PARIS21 (2022), Supporting Gender Statistics, https://paris21.org/supporting-gender-statistics (accessed on 2022).