The African Development Bank (AfDB), as the premier developmental organization in the continent, supports its 54 regional member countries to reduce levels of poverty and boost economic and social progress. Reliable and timely data are vital not only for formulating the AfDB’s own strategies, and for monitoring the outcomes of its programs and projects, but also for all those who wish to ensure the continent’s future positive growth trajectory. This includes key policymakers in African countries, central banks and non-governmental organizations, subregional and regional organizations, UN agencies, multinational organizations, as well as external donors and investors.
Roundtable on the data revolution: What it means for the scientific Development in Africa
04/10/2014
London | April 10, 2014—The roundtable was organised by Planet Earth Institute (PEI), an international NGO and charity working for the scientific independence of Africa. The Bank was represented on the panel and shared its experience on the Africa Information Highway to promote access to development data on Africa for evidence based policy making.
The UN High Level Panel report last year endorsed the data revolution as a key pillar of the Post 2015 agenda, but at the same time pointed to the poor availability, quality and accessibility of current data. The roundtable enabled stakeholders to discuss and debate what does this data revolution mean for the African scientific agenda, and if there is there enough agreement on core definitions; how can the scientific community overcome the challenges in collecting and sharing data in Africa; and what lessons can the scientific community draw on from the broader ‘big data’ debate and other data-driven programmes.
For additional information consult: http://planetearthinstitute.org.uk/
