Opportunities and Challenges in Open Data and Crowd-Sourced Data for Monitoring the SDGs

1

Philippine Institute for Development Studies Surian sa mga Pag-aaral Pangkaunlaran ng Pilipinas

www.pids.gov.ph

Jose Ramon “Toots” G. Albert, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow

Agenda

◦Monitoring SDGs in the Digital Age ◦Data Ecosystem for Sustainable Development Open Data Smart Cities Crowd-Sourced Data

◦Issues and Final Words

2

1. Monitoring SDGs in the Digital Age

3

• The (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with its 169 targets set out a broad range of related aims for both developed and developing countries. o Production of 232 SDG indicators require efficient national

statistical systems (NSSs).

o Statistics production is not enough: citizens need data to track extent by which countries attain goals and targets under the Agenda 2030 framework

◦Information and communications technology (ICT) has dramatically changed our ways

of doing things :

4

1.1. Digital Dividends in the Digital Age

ICT hardware, as well as the internet and social media have allowed us gather, transmit, store, use, share, exchange, re-use more and more data

Awash in a flood of data today !!! : “drowning in numbers”

1.2. Dramatic Surge in Use of ICT Tools

5

Internet Use in PH

Source: We Are Social

50 million

active fb

accounts in

PH

Penetration rate : 58% as of 2017 (27% year on year growth)

Average Connection speed: 4.2 mbs (3rd lowest globally following Niger @ 3.0 and India 4.1)

Average Time: 8.59 hrs daily (via laptop/desktop: 5.23; mobile: 3.36)

6th largest

number of

active fb users

Mobile Use in PH

As of 2017, 75% of Filipinos use mobile phones

126 mobile connections per 100 people

96% are on pre-paid mobile connections

1.3. Govt Plans for ICT Development

6

E-Government Master Plan (eGMP)

A blueprint for a harmonized government information system for achieving a networked and collaborative environment for improved delivery of public services

National Government Portal (NGP) gov.ph A one-stop shop of online

services for citizen, business and inter-government interaction.

Launched on 23 June 2017

Example of online services:

1.3. Govt Plans for ICT Development

7

Authoritative Registries and Government Common Platform (AR&GCP)

Aims to reduce the pain and confusion endured by citizens when transacting with government in the process of securing essential services to meet their particular need, and the pain endured by government agencies needing to share and exchange data and information;

2. OGD & FOI: Enabling Citizen Participation

8

At the policy level, universal access to data has been defined by countries that have committed to Open Government Data (OGD) and/or Freedom of Information (FOI). o Portals on Open Government Data provide citizens with better access

to official data, to support work on (fiscal) transparency and accountability, as well as to encourage citizen participation in governance

o By encouraging the use, reuse and free distribution of govt data, govts promote business creation and innovative, citizen-centric services.

2. OGD & FOI: Enabling Citizen Participation

9

PH’s https://www.gov.ph/data

Open Data PH aims to make

government data

2.1. How Open is Open???

10

Commitments to FOI and OGD (such as engagement in the global Open Government Partnership) does not, by itself, guarantee openness. o Government agencies have silos of data, some of which are

purposely not made publicly available for access and use.

o OGD is often first piloted in select government institutions at the national level, or at some local government units as not all institutions are prepared to share data publicly. In PH, 490 datasets in PH OGD from 19 govt agencies

(86.7% of published files are in open formats)

o OGD vs data privacy In PH, 2012 Data Privacy Act

2.2. Who Uses OGD and What For???

11

CSOs and ordinary citizens: varying capacities and use o Most have only limited use of government data, whether OGD or

official statistics (given basic capacities in data analysis).

o Others access and re-use OGD in rather innovative ways. For instance, some CSOs in Indonesia have developed apps which make use of OGD in extractive industries (oil, gas and mineral resources), and in elections and democracy.

Researchers from universities and think tanks o Research institutes, in particular, make use of specific government

data in their policy research, or engage in their own primary data collection for their specific policy research interests.

2.3. Will OGD tell whole story???

12

SDG5.5 5.5 : ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life

o Number of positions held by women in PH Congress have increased over the years but is still below parity (at 27% in 2015).

o In the Senates since 2001, there have been between 3 and 6 female senators out of the 24.

o From 2001 to the present, only one female has ever served in a leadership position within the Senate (as President Pro-Tempore). There has never been a female Senate President or Speaker of the House.

2.3. Will OGD tell whole story???

13

SDG5.5 5.5 (con’td)

o The share of women in local elective offices, including governor, vice governor, mayor, vice mayor, and other local positions, is even lower.

In 2013 only 11% of candidates that won the local elections were female, a sharp decline from 20% in 2010, 18% in 2007, and 17% in 2004.

o According to data from the Philippine Commission on Elections, in all elections between 1998 and 2016, only 14% to 19% of national and local candidates are female.

2.3. Will OGD tell whole story???

14

SDG5.5 5.5 (con’td) o About the same proportions

win these electoral contests, thus the percentage of women currently holding national and local elected office is at 21%.

o Thus: “It is not that the voting public is not inclined to vote for women, but not enough women run for office” and the question is “why?”, another is “what to do?”

2004 2007 2010 2013 2016

Candidates in national and

local elections 15 16 17 18 19

Elected in national and

local 17 17 19 20 21

Candidates for Barangay

Captain - 17 16 19 -

Elected Local Leaders

Governor 18 23 19 12 23

Vice Governor 10 18 14 10 18

Mayor 15 17 21 10 -

Vice Mayor 14 15 17 9 -

Representative 15 20 22 16 -

Councilor 18 18 20 - -

Barangay Captain - 16 16 18 -

*Sources: COMELEC Report on gender distribution in elections (reported figures); Authors’ calculations on

data sourced from AIM Policy Center Study on Political Dynasties

Percentage of female candidates and elected officials in PH elections, 2004-2016

3. Sustainable Cities

15

Rapid urbanization persists partly beause of high labor demand in urban areas. o Acc to UN ESCAP, share of urban population in Asia and Pacific

has risen at average annual rate of 2.7% from 2005 to 2016

o Faster economic growth and increased labor mobility in urban areas posing challenges for making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable

o Local chief executives in cities recognizing the need to transform their cities into smart cities Examples of Smart City Programs initiated by LGUs in PH: Davao city govt (with IBM

PH); Bacoor City govt (with PLDT-SMART)

3.1. Improving Local Services with Tech

16

Jakarta Smart City program: uses citizens’ feedback through digital technology to improve local service delivery

o Website http://smartcity.jakarta.go.id/ uses Google Maps engine and data from smartphone traffic app Waze. Website also integrated with crowd-sourcing smartphone app Qlue for residents and another smartphone app CROP Jakarta (Cepat Respon Opini Publik) for civil servants and officials

3.1. Improving Local Services with Tech

17

Jakarta Smart City (cont’d) o Qlue enables app users to report flood, crime, fire,

waste, and infrastructure problems such as potholes. City officials respond to the crowd-sourced data through the CROP Jakarta smartphone app.

o Civil servants and officials nearest to the reported incidents will be detected through their smartphones and are expected to respond to these reports. If they do not respond, they are held accountable, and even fired from their jobs.

3.2. Crowdsourcing to improve women’s safety Data on violence

against women needed

• Safecity app (used in India) lets women share their stories of harassment and abuse in public spaces in cities. – Elsa D’Silva, its founder says

that women can use it to report “what happened, where it happened and when it happened”.

India’s http://safecity.in/

4. Several Unresolved Questions/Issues

19

How to transform data from these alternative data sources (Smart Cities, Crowd Sourced Data) into meaningful statistics for monitoring the SDGs? How to ensure data quality in an age of Post-Truth? Are NSOs and statisticians part of this conversation???

How to tell stories with these data (and statistics) and to effect better development outcomes with these stories?

5. Final Words

20

Data for development landscape has gone beyond the traditional data sources used by NSSs into the realms of open data, crowd-sourced data, and big data, and this setting has provided opportunities and challenges for partnerships in the data ecosystem.

NSOs and NSSs need not be the only story-teller about how we fare in the SDGs, but they can provide leadership.

Crucial to have strategic and catalytic plans not only for improved production but for improved use of data for sustainable development.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies Surian sa mga Pag-aaral Pangkaunlaran ng Pilipinas

Service through policy research

21

WEBSITE: www.pids.gov.ph FACEBOOK: facebook.com/PIDS.PH TWITTER: twitter.com/PIDS_PH EMAIL: j.albert@mail.pids.gov.ph

[Salamat po]