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.
PARIS21 Selects the AIH as One of the Most Innovative Initiatives for the Post-2015 Data Revolution
June 2014
The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) recently selected the Bank’s African Information Highway (AIH) as one of the most innovative initiatives to inform the post-2015 Data Revolution. PARIS21 set up the “Informing a Data Revolution” Project to promote and highlight initiatives, such as the AIH, which champion new approaches and new technology solutions to strengthen statistical capacity in developing countries and increase global inter-connectedness. The aim is to help bridge the considerable data gap that presently exists between supply and demand in these countries. To be considered for selection, an initiative must harness modernizing technology systems, using standards such as Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX), which make “the right data available to the right people at the right time in the right format.” The AIH met the selection criteria through its use of SDMX for data submission and exchange and its innovative functionality tools and interactive approach. These provide open access to timely, reliable, credible and harmonized data, and will particularly benefit key decision makers and researchers. All the data can be accessed in the format most suitable to the user, who can also develop their own dashboards which can then be shared via social media linkages. The final winners of the PARIS21 Project will be announced in the next few months.
