44 countries to present their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals at HLPF 2017

“Member States and leaders from civil society, business, UN System, specialized agencies, academia and other stakeholders will convene in New York from 10 to 19 July 2017 for the annual High-level Political Forum (HLPF) to review progress made towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”

UN

National strategy seeks to improve collection of statistical data

“Implemented by the Department of Statistics (DoS) in partnership with the PARIS21 organisation, the NSDS is a comprehensive framework that seeks to assist stakeholders in undertaking impactful statistical advocacy, address statistical challenges, mobilise the use of resources and integrate statistics within national policy and planning processes, according to organisers.”

The Jordan Times (Jordan)

Are South Asian countries ready to meet the targets of SDGs by 2030?

“Given the wide coverage of SDGs and the weak performances of the South Asian countries under the MDG period, whether these countries will be able to meet the targets of SDGs by 2030 is a big question.  How should we read the SDGs as far as the priorities of the South Asian countries are concerned? In my view, SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) are at the heart of priorities mainly because of the fact that South Asian countries have national priorities aligned with these SDGs, and more importantly, these SDGs have strong linkages with other SDGs.”

The Daily Star (Bangladesh)

Private sector urged to invest in data development

“The government has challenged the private sector and development partners to invest more in sharing of data to drive sustainable development. Experts say minimal research due to unavailability of data has made the Eastern Africa region to lag behind in terms of development urging regional governments to build data capacity to drive entrepreneurship and innovation.”

KBC (Kenya)

New country classifications by income level: 2017-2018

“The World Bank assigns the world's economies into four income groups — high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low. We base this assignment on GNI per capita calculated using the Atlas method. (…)Each year on July 1st, we update the classifications. They change for two reasons:

1. In each country, factors such as income growth, inflation, exchange rates, and population change, influence GNI per capita.

2. To keep the dollar thresholds which separate the classifications fixed in real terms, we adjust them for inflation.”

World Bank Data Blog

African Governments Lead the Way on Data Revolution

“Bold commitments to use data and technology to improve lives and livelihoods were made today, at a High-Level convening of African leaders, in Nairobi, Kenya. The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, the Governments of Kenya and Sierra Leone, and Safaricom hosted ‘Data for Development in Africa’ 29-30 June, in collaboration with the African Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the Governments of Ghana, Senegal, and Tanzania. African countries made commitments in the fields of: business, agriculture, civil registration, health, migration, and data capacity.”

prweb

8 ways African countries are using data to change lives

“What data is and how data could and should be used to change the world is a debate that’s been going since the beginning of data collection. (…)Here, we’ve decided to explore 8 real life examples of why #datamatters, and how it is being used across Africa to change lives:é

ONE

Republicans say data operation helped Trump win Wisconsin, will be strong in 2018 races

“The data program was especially helpful in October, when the party noticed that Trump had lost ground in Wisconsin compared to the previous month — and specifically targeted voters who had drifted away in an effort to bring them back, Parnitzke said. That wouldn't have been possible without a "voter scores" data operation that has been built, expanded and refined over the course of each election since it was launched after Democratic President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012.”

The Cap Times (US)

Introducing MOVEMENT: A new tool to explore the data on displaced people

“More than 65 million people have been forced to flee their homes — some making perilous journeys across borders and oceans — all to escape conflict, persecution, or natural disasters. It’s a global crisis, and that’s why we focus our attention on these individuals today, World Refugee Day. We want to shine a light on one of the biggest barriers to addressing humanitarian needs — a crisis of data.”

ONE
Project: https://www.one.org/international/movement/

Data are or Data is?

The Guardian

High Level Political Forum

10 – 19 July, New York, USA

2nd Africa Open Data Conference

17 – 21 July, Accra, Ghana