AODN NOVEMBER 2021 MONTHLY RESOURCE LIST.
Welcome to the Africa Open Data Network Monthly resource list for NOVEMBER 2021. Every month we put together content including a reading list, avenues for capacity building, and events from different stakeholders across the globe on the use of data for equal and sustainable development.
Reading List
Blog: COVID-19 and Violence Against Women: What The Data Tells Us
Before COVID-19, a different pandemic was already threatening the lives and well-being of people around the world: violence against women, impacting at least 1 in 3 women and girls.
From the early days of the COVID lockdowns, women’s organizations noted a significant increase in reported cases of violence against women. But comprehensive data collection on the issue was difficult, because of the sensitivity, stigma, and shame around the subject as well as constraints imposed by the pandemic. Now, a new report from UN Women, which brings together survey data collected in 13 countries across all regions (Kenya, Thailand, Ukraine, Cameroon, Albania, Bangladesh, Colombia, Paraguay, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Morocco, Jordan, and Kyrgyzstan), confirms the severity of the problem. Read more.
Policy Brief: Solutions For Building Resilient Gender Data Systems.
Overcoming disparities and improving women’s health, economic opportunities, and human capital are particularly important for charting a path out of the current crisis. As the international community continues to assess, address, and attempt to recover from the pandemic, we cannot neglect the unique needs of women and girls. Nor can we allow these same gaps and shortfalls to persist, stymieing our response to future crises.
Closing these gaps and responding to new demands with limited budgets requires new methods and technologies. Throughout 2021, Data2X and Open Data Watch will examine the existing literature and consult stakeholders on promising solutions for building stronger gender data systems. Read the brief.
Blog Post: Specific Policy Targeting Women Hampering Agriculture
The lack of a policy specifically targeting women in Agriculture has been identified as a major concern for food security and nutrition in Africa. This was the position of the participants at the recently held celebration of the commemoration of the International Day of the Rural Women under the theme: “Strengthening Rural Women’s Contribution to Sustainable Food Systems through The Continental Free Trade Area’’ organized by the African Union. Read more.
GDB Update: Work of OCP and the GDB Collaboration
The Global Data Barometer (GDB) boasts of incredible partnerships with organizations harnessing data for the public good. One such partnership is the collaboration between the GDB and the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) in the development of the public procurement module.
Camila Salazar, Lead Data Analyst at OCP, shares more about the work and projects are undertaken by this organization. OCP works to open up and transform public procurement to ensure money is spent well on the goods, public works, and public services that citizens deserve. Read more
Blog post: Using Storytelling to Motivate Citizen Engagement
This story was recounted in a focus group in May, one of 12 that R4D conducted with Enough is Enough Nigeria, as part of Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption (LTRC) — a joint initiative of R4D and The Brookings Institution that support the efforts of good governance and anti-corruption champions in the extractive sector through research, brokering knowledge and testing new approaches to overcome existing challenges and implementation gaps in the fight against corruption. The goal of this focus group, in particular, was to learn about how storytelling can be used to educate citizens and motivate actions that demand public accountability and better delivery of social services that would improve the quality of life of citizens. Read More.
Publication: Increasing Resilience Via The Use Of Personal Data: Lessons From COVID-19 Dashboards On Data Governance For The Public Good
Contemporary data tools such as online dashboards have been instrumental in monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. These real-time interactive platforms allow citizens to understand the local, regional, and global spread of COVID-19 in a consolidated and intuitive manner. Despite this, little research has been conducted on how citizens respond to the data on the dashboards in terms of the pandemic and data governance issues such as privacy. In this paper, we seek to answer the research question: how can governments use data tools, such as dashboards, to balance the trade-offs between safeguarding public health and protecting data privacy during a public health crisis. Download here.
Research Paper: From Research to Policy Making with 50X2030 in Ethiopia
To achieve its objective of “increased and sustained evidence-based decision-making”, the agricultural and rural data produced under 50×2030 must be analyzed and used for policy formulation, strategic planning, program design, and investments by decision-makers across the agricultural and rural sectors. To that end, the Data Use component of the 50×2030 Initiative, managed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, recently offered competitive grants to local researchers in five 50×2030 partner countries. Qualifying projects are those that demonstrate the use of survey data to generate a practical research output that can be applied by decision-makers to improve development outcomes. One proposal from Ethiopia epitomizes the data to research the policy-making value chain that 50×2030 supports partner countries in the building. Read more
Publication: Beyond COVID-19: A feminist plan for sustainability and social justice
As the world learns to live with COVID-19, to emerge from the current crisis, and to “build back better”, UN Women’s new “Feminist plan” provides a visionary but practical roadmap for putting gender equality, social justice, and sustainability at the center of the recovery and transformation. Download here
Report: The Impact of COVID-19 on African Civil Society Organizations: Ongoing Uncertainty and a Glimmer of Optimism.
Significant losses of funding have limited the ability of African civil society organizations (CSOs) to meet the needs of their communities at a time when COVID-19 has pushed demand for their services to unprecedented levels. This is one of the key findings of the most recent report released by EPIC-Africa and @AfricanNGOs entitled: “The Impact of COVID-19 on African Civil Society Organizations: Ongoing Uncertainty and a Glimmer of Optimism”. The report is based on a survey of 1,039 CSOs in 46 African countries in June and July of 2021. It follows our 2020 report, which surveyed African CSOs in the early days of the pandemic. Download the report here.
Webinars /Events
Digitizing Smallholder Agriculture in Africa:30th, November
Validate AI Conference: 2nd -3rd Dec 2021
OGP Global summit: 15th-17th Dec 2021
In Case You Missed It
Data chat: A Close Up On The African UN Data For Development Platform
In collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, we at the Local Development Research Institute organized a webinar on the African UN Data for Development platform to explore the thinking and aspirations behind the development of the Platform and the role it will play in enhancing effective development cooperation in providing data for development in Africa. You can find a recording of the webinar here.
2021 OGP Academy: The Case for Open Government November 15th
The 2021 OGP Academy engaged academics and experts, shared new research developments in different areas of open government, captured open government impacts inside and outside of OGP, and devised new future research collaborations. Find recordings of the 2021 OGP Academy sessions in this YouTube playlist.
Available Training/tools
Curriculum on Governance for the SDGs
