Why African Stats Are Often Wrong
As African leaders meet in Washington this week, one issue is not on the agenda: the poor quality of basic economic and social data in the region.
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As African leaders meet in Washington this week, one issue is not on the agenda: the poor quality of basic economic and social data in the region.
Our recent report, Delivering on the Data Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, calls for donors and countries to better align their funding and activities around national statistics priorities to improve the accuracy, timeliness, and availability of data.
Since the term “data revolution” was brandished in the High-Level Panel report on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, there has been a flurry of activity to define, develop, and drive an agenda to transform the way development statistics are collected, used, and shared the world over. And this makes sense — assessing the new development agenda, regardless of its details, will need accurate data.
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