EXPLORER: A DYNAMIC STATISTICAL DATA VISUALIZATION TOOL

TO SUPPORT ITALIAN DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Italian Ministry of Economic Development

Statistics eXplorer User MeetingNorrköping, 25-26 May 2011

Carlo Amati, Simona De LucaDepartment of Development and Economic Cohesion (DPS)

Italy and development policy

The reasons for eXplorer

Two instances: DPS and CPT eXplorer

An example story

Lessons learnt

OUTLINE

South (8 regions) • Population (2010): 21 millions• Per capita GDP (2005-2009): 17,000 €• Youth unemployment rate (2010): 39%• Child care coverage (2008): 5%• Recycled urban waste (2008): 15%

Centre-North (13 regions) • Population (2010): 39 millions• Per capita GDP (2005-2009): 30,000 € • Youth unemployment rate (2010): 22%• Child care coverage (2008): 17%• Recycled urban waste (2008): 38%

ITALY: SOME FIGURES

Average GDP per capita in the South is 57% of that in the Centre-North

DEVELOPMENT POLICY

DEVELOPMENT POLICY

Development policy is aimed at reducing gaps among territories using additional resources (in addition to ordinary ones): European structural funds (cofinanced by Member States) Additional national resources

EC Member States must respect the “additionality rule”: Contributions from the structural funds shall not replace public or

equivalent structural expenditure by a Member State

Italy has a longstanding gap between Southern and Northern regions in infrastructures and public services provision.

Relies heavily on massive and timely datasets of territorial information

Some projects funded by development policy

in Italy

Completion of Palermo-Messina motorway (820 M€)

Light railway system – Sassari (120 M€)

Grottaglie airport (118 M€)

Sewage treatment plant – Termoli (8M€)

Organic waste treatment plant – Urbino (2M€)

The reasons for eXplorer

1. Data availability

2. Data openness for a public debate

3. Visualization tools

AN OUTCOME-BASED (DEVELOPMENT) POLICYREQUIRES:

eXplorer helps to meet requirements 2 and 3

MANY STEPS FOR DATA AVAILABILITY • Formal agreements DPS-ISTAT to finance territorial data

production (co-funded by development policy itself). • Regional data (TL2) on many different sectors:

• Regional Indicators Database to evaluate development policy

• Sub-regional data (TL3, and other territorial entities): • Statistical Atlas of Municipalities (Atlante Statistico dei Comuni)

more than 8,000 statistical units • data at Optimal Territorial Areas (ATO) level for water service

approx. 50 statistical units• data at Health service districts (ASL) level more than 100

statistical units

• Special agreements with other data producers

• “Regional Public Accounts” project: DPS coordinates a territorial network of regional entities that produce data on public financial flows

WHY EXPLORER?

eXplorer facilitates analysis and debate on data and policy

Interactive exploration of multiple indicators

Time animation Stories: users can

contribute with their own narratives and analyses

Integration with user data

An increased awareness among citizens can generate more pressure towards the achievement of policy results

EXPLORING OUR EXPLORER PATH

Launch of DPS eXplorer

Stronger partnership with

NComVA

DPS starts collaboration with NCVA within the framework of OECD Global Project on “Measuring the progress of societies”

eXplorer presented at OECD meeting on “innovative tools to trasform statistics into knowledge”: towards OECD eXplorer

Spring 2008 Spring 2009 Spring 2010 Spring 2011

Two instances of eXplorer

Targets set at minimum standard (to be reached in 2013)

Targets equal for all Regions

Sub-regional performance assessment

The governance role of DPS

3 Billion euros

8 Regions involved (South)

4 Themes

Education Child and elderly care Water service Urban waste

11 Indicators

MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES FOR PUBLIC SERVICES PROVISION

“Obiettivi di Servizio” (OdS): target outcomes for Southern regions

The performance of local administrations on the themes linked to the OdS incentive mechanism can be compared and analyzed

TL2 and TL3 data available at: www.dps.tesoro.it/DPSeXplorer

Indicator: Percentage of

recycled urban waste

Average 2002-2008 (southern regions):

less than 10%

Target 2013(southern regions):

40%

REGIONAL PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Since 1996 to now

30 sectors

Central and local

Financial flows (revenues and expenditures) of the wider public sector at the regional level

A highly disaggregated and finalized information base can support policy and decision-making

High level of detail

Revenues and expenditures can be explored together with context indicators

Enhanced access to online data, from transparency to: • openness• geovisual exploration

TL2 data available at: www.dps.tesoro.it/cpt-eng

Edition 2011 of 21 Regional Monographs accompanied by Statistics Publisher’s vislets

A story about waste management in Italy

Different regional patterns, not always toward targets

LIVE DEMO

LESSONS LEARNT

Different skills for storytelling and storyreading

Non-technical users need guidance (vislets may help)

A call for stories may not be enough if not supported by “push mode”

THANK YOU

dps.explorer@tesoro.it

carlo.amati@tesoro.it

simona.deluca@tesoro.it