Data Disaggregation by Geography: Some Principles to Consider

1. Data Disaggregation by Geography: Some Principles to Consider CEA Sub-regional workshop on Data disaggregation Meron African Centre for Statistics Lilongwe, Malawi, 28 September 2017

2. Why We Need Geography: Unleashing the Power of ‘Where’ • Everything that happens, happens somewhere over space and time. • 80% of all human decisions involve a “Where?” question • You cannot count what you cannot locate • Location affects nearly everything we do in life • A right decision making requires the gathering and reviewing of up-to-date, cold &hard facts. • For the facts to be interpreted, understood, and linked to our goals and to our decisions, this needs to bring together data linked with the one thing they have in common : Location (Where)

3. African Policy Drivers: Global Need for Complex Spatially-Enabled Information • Economic, social, and environmental challenges facing governments require innovation and collaboration • Data/Information is key enabler for development policy • Achieving sustainable development require reliable information at global, regional and local level. 2020 Round of Censuses UN Principles & Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Rev.3, “… to ensure complete integration of statistical and geospatial information…” (para. 349, UNSD, 2015) Agenda 2063 The Africa We Want National Development Plan

4. Typical Policy Frameworks and Related Spatially-Enabled Information • Geospatial Information is Needed • All the information products exemplified would not be complete without the location. They need to be localized: • Where are the features located? • Who will benefit from an activity or event ? Or at risk? Where are they? • Where are the markets for the products? The input factors? • Where are the infrastructure elements, utilities, etc? • What areas are suitable (or unsuitable) for specific activities ? • How do we move (people, products, services) from source to destination? • They all need to answer “where” questions from a regional perspective

5. Africa’s Geospatial Information Nexus Issues • Data Availability • Finding the appropriate information at the required time and at the relevant scale of aggregation. • Data Accessibility • Even where information is available, it may not be easily accessible, either because of the lack of technology for effective access or because of associated costs • Data “Transformability” • There is a general lack of infrastructure capacities for the collection and assessment of data, for their transformation into useful information and for their dissemination. • There is also need for improved coordination among environmental, demographic, social and developmental data information, applications and services.

6. What Geospatial Information Technology Can Do

7. Where Geography Meets Statistics Leveraging the enabling capabilities of geospatial information technologies in statistical data collection, processing, analysis and dissemination While ensuring that spatial information infrastructure are harmonized with national statistical development strategies. Policy and Strategies Environment Statistics Geo-enabling NSDS Global Statistical Geospatial Framework Data Collection Data Mining Data Visualisation Data Sharing Geospatial Social Statistics Economic Statistics Geovisualization Spatial Analysis Census Cartography Geovisualization Spatial Analysis

8. Geography and Statistics: Global and Regional Provisions • UN Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing • Censuses, Rev.2, recommends the use of geospatial technologies for improving traditional methods of census mapping (adopted by UNSC in 2007). • 2020 Round : Adoption of GIS should be a major strategic decision • In 2015, 67% of African NSOs make a use of a GIS for census activities.

9. Need for Disaggregation : Censuses Operations • Census is the most accurate source of statistical data/information. Census is conducted almost every ten years in Africa • Censuses: population and housing censuses, demographic and health census, agricultural census, industrial census, etc. • Producing quality information: population dynamics /demographic characteristics; and related socio-economic data – (employment, Gender, health, education, etc.); thematic data – agriculture • Use of geospatial technologies in censuses operations by African countries

10. Benefits of Geospatial technology for disaggregating data in Censuses • Post-enumeration: • GIS, Census Database, Web maps, Atlases • Visualize, analyze, present and disseminate census results: • Used during analysis as a unit for aggregation / disaggregation • Report generation by different levels of administrative units (Admin 1(State/region), Provinces, District, …EA.) • Web maps used for dissemination of census results • Resulted in gains in timeliness, accuracy and effectiveness of the census operation • Permitted data disaggregating (by geography) to the lowest administrative unit

11. Need for Disaggregation : SDGs Targets and Indicators that Geospatial can contribute to (directly or indirectly). 2/3 of the SDGs indicators need spatially-enabled data.

12. Benefits of Geospatial technology for disaggregating data for the SDGs [Leaving no one behind] • To monitor the SDGs we need accurate, up-to-date and reliable information • One single date entry for country does not reflect the reality. • The proposed SDGs, indicated the importance of geospatial information technology to get disaggregated data to reflect the subnational spatial differences. 100% of forest cover 0% of forest cover

13. Challenges in Data Disaggregation by Geography • Lack of addressing systems: most countries in Africa lacked the address register system, most streets have no names/street addressing system • Lack of suitable base maps in scale and currency • Lack of coordination: there is no linkages between the statistical systems and the geospatial systems and infrastructure • Duplication of Effort: the statistical offices create their own data on administrative boundaries and topographic maps

14. Avenues for Future Prospect:A Global Statistical Geospatial Framework • Integration of Statistical and Geospatial Information : Overarching Principles • Mainstreaming the enabling capabilities of geospatial technology into National Statistics Offices activities (all the way through training, data and processes) • Linking NSDs and NSDI: National statistical, planning and cartographic authorities have effective collaboration between them in the development of respective data infrastructure and systems.

15. Conclusion • Use of technology is changing the way in which data from national statistics offices are collected, processed, and disseminated for census purposes: improved quality, timeliness, coverage, etc. • Adoption and sound application of new technologies such as GIS, GPS and high resolution satellite imagery in census mapping, and use of mobile devices for data collection improve the coverage and quality • Efficient address system is important in the collection of data/statistics, conducting censuses and surveys • The correlation between geospatial information and statistics are strong and globally acknowledged • Need to link national statistical development strategies with national spatial data infrastructure (the national geospatial policies and strategies). • Need to promote further Geospatially enabled censuses in Africa

16. Way Forward • Countries to create efficient addressing system, and a geo-referenced dwelling frame • Collaboration between NSO and NMA: Building, updating and sharing common administrative boundaries (SALB Project). • Update the maps and geospatial database regularly; it is costly to conduct for one time use/census • Develop capacity in building national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI), the basis for geospatial data sharing. • Linking NSDI and NSDS • Strengthen collaboration between the mapping agencies (NMA) and national statistical institutions (NSO)

17. Quote from Pali Lehohla: • “ As a major step forward, following on far sighted innovations of Latin American statistics systems, and in particular those of Brazil and Mexico, the African Statistics Systems should leapfrog and embrace location-based data ecosystems as a necessary and essential element of far reaching innovation for sustaining their statistics systems”…

18. CEA Thank you! UNECA.ORG