SDG Data Hubs powered by GIS are now available in more than 19 countries

In the previous post, I spoke of one significant development I saw from Esri UC 2022 on Climate Action. In this post, I will conclude my event coverage and focus on 'The SDG Data Alliance,' showcased at the UC Expo.

Introducing the SDG Data Alliance

The SDG Data Alliance is working towards empowering governments, businesses, and people to respond to and manage shared global challenges. Their technology, expertise and financial support help countries worldwide measure their progress in achieving global equity and make the data accessible in an easy way.

The stakeholders of this Alliance include the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Statistics Division, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, PVBLIC Foundation, Chia Network, and Esri – with advisory support from the United Nations Office for Partnerships. Below are the main activities of the Alliance.

In the following focus sections of this post, I will focus on GIS Driven SDG Data Hubs that are now available for countries across Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

SDG Data Hubs and Why do they matter?

The requirements of the 2030 Agenda imply that the SDG indicators should be disaggregated, where possible, by income, sex, age, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location, or other characteristics, following the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics.

The Hubs makes data of the global SDG Indicators database readily available as geospatial data web services, suitable for producing maps and other data visualization and analyses, and easy to download in multiple formats. The list of 19 focus countries currently participating is listed below.

The SDG Data Alliance stakeholder workshop was held at Esri UC 2022. The Alliance presented the beta versions of 15 SDG data hubs to the stakeholders.

A quick assessment of the SDG Data Hubs

I have done a quick assessment of a few data hubs and observed that these hubs provide authoritative, open, and easily accessible data on various SDG indicators disaggregated by geographic location. 

Here is a quick example from the SDG Haiti Hub (see animation below), where the data was accessible for 'SDG Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Here in this data, we can look at the authoritative datasets related - Proportion of the population using essential drinking water and sanitation services by location.

I believe that in the future, these hubs may be able to add more options to assess the data by income, sex, age, ethnicity, migratory status, and disability. However, this may require a significant effort from official data agencies from each of these countries.

Why does this work matter?

One must note that the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) are responsible for collecting the official statistical data for the countries and enabling such dashboards. Further, various Civil Society Organizations are also involved in monitoring the country-level progress. However, the knowledge and know-how of the statistical agencies and the NGOs to enable open data, especially geospatial data, is a great challenge.

The Data Alliance is also working to address the knowledge gaps. They are offering learning resources to support governments, data hub developers, and civil society members to produce, engage with and understand the data available to help meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

If you find these hubs valuable and want to help advance the SDG by joining the SDG Data Alliance, you can reach them via email at info@sdg.org.

Note to the Readers

Are you enjoyed reading my posts? I would be glad if you could comment and share this valuable content. 

Also, if you have encountered any global, regional, or local efforts where geospatial technologies are impacting our societies, please feel free to contact me and share this work with me. I will be glad to cover this in my future posts.