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Views from the Center

CGD experts offer ideas and analysis to improve international development policy. Also check out our Global Health blog and US Development Policy blog.

 

January 19, 2017

To Leave No One Behind, Data Disaggregation Needs to Catch Up

The inaugural UN World Data Forum, which wrapped up yesterday, saw the launch of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data—a framework for governments, international organizations, and others to generate quality and timely data to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Plan includes a number of actions around data disaggregation. We’re glad to see them, because the current level of disaggregation for SDG indicators is deeply inadequate.

Jared Kalow and Megan O'Donnell
September 12, 2016

One Year into the SDGs, Six Ideas To Leverage The Private Sector

“Private sector” appears 18 times in the outcome document from last year’s UN financing for development conference in Addis Ababa—exactly the same number of times as “international cooperation.” As we approach the first anniversary of the world signing up to the SDGs, where are the ideas that bring private sector ingenuity and capital to delivering them? In the coming weeks, we’re going to tell you about six.

Theodore Talbot and Owen Barder
June 10, 2016

What SDGs Can We Track Now?

Note 9/19/2017: Good data is essential to measuring progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. With the UN General Assembly currently underway in New York, let’s take a moment to review the status of the SDG indicators.

Casey Dunning and Jared Kalow
April 1, 2016

SDG Update: UN to Adopt More Indicators, Embrace Corporate Sponsor

After seeming to settle on 230 indicators to measure the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the United Nations has abruptly decided to adopt additional indicators for Agenda 2030. During its latest session, the Interagency Expert Group on the SDGs (IAEG-SDGs) determined that each of the 169 targets should be measured in relation to each of the 17 goals. In this way, the SDG agenda will have maximum integration, interdependency, and inclusion through the incorporation of 2,873 indicators.

Casey Dunning
March 15, 2016

230 Indicators Approved for SDG Agenda

The United Nations Statistical Commission’s Interagency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) agreed on 230 individual indicators to monitor the 17 goals and 169 targets of the SDGs. We now have a complete picture of the SDG agenda for the next 15 years, right? Not quite.

Casey Dunning
January 4, 2016

Identification and Gender Equality: A Two-Way Street

The importance of ID for empowering women and girls is spot-on, but so far discussions about identification and gender haven’t given equal attention to the other side of the equation. And new data shows that when it comes to identification and gender equality, we encounter a two-way street. Identification isn’t just critical for achieving gender equality; addressing underlying gender discrimination is essential to making sure that all people have identification and the benefits that come along with it.

Mayra Buvinic and Megan O'Donnell

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