ADAPT: PUTTING DATA TO WORK FOR TANZANIA

A National Bureau of Statistics Effort, Enabled by the Tanzania Dat Lab and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data
Tanzania

Background

In September 2015 the United Nations General Assembly approved long-term, broad development targets to be attained by all member countries by 2030, known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are seventeen goals and a total of 231 indicators that are used to identify how far along each country has progressed in reaching the SDGs. The need to identify the current status of each of these goals and tracking ongoing progress has created significant demand for data in developing countries around the globe.

Problem

As a country, Tanzania needs a functional data inventory to set a baseline for SDG data and track progress on achievement of SDGs and targets of the second Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP-II) in order to plan and prioritize resources to achieve national and global goals. In August 2016, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) supported the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in hosting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Data Roadmap National Workshop to determine data needs and commitments to meet SDG data requirements. As a result, it was determined that in order for Tanzania to plan SDG monitoring, it first needs a logical framework and data inventory.

The task requires many partners from business, academia, civil society, and entrepreneurs to work with the government of Tanzania to meet their commitments for the SDGs, for Tanzania’s own Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP-II) and to plan and prioritize its resources.

Solution

The dLab and GPSDD teams and NBS have been working with the Advance Data Planning Tool (ADAPT) developed by the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) to coordinate with data producers and manage the data demands of the SDGs within the context of national development plans, such as the FYDP-II.

ADAPT allows for the identification of gaps in data availability, reporting, financing and geography. The ADAPT project in Tanzania is building on the data infrastructure projects in Tanzania, such as the Tanzania Open Data Initiative (TODI), Tanzania’s participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and the proposed SDG National Reporting Platform.

The process will make data in Tanzania more ready for use by developing a logical framework and a shared understanding of what data is available and what is not.

Process

The steps of the ADAPT process each require a committed group, with statistical and sectoral knowledge, working over several days.

To associate data to the logical framework, metadata must be identified and entered for the SDG indicators (231) and FYDP-II indicators. This metadata is a significant data set in itself.

Results will be presented to a multi-stakeholder workshop in June 2017, raising awareness for the Data Roadmap and building support for continued development of data to track development.

Outcomes and Impacts

The ADAPT process will strengthen the Tanzanian statistical and data ecosystem. Key outcomes include:

• Advancing Tanzania’s progress and commitment to track SDG progress
• Clearer need and rationale for use of data from multiple sources to track SDG progress
• Further the commitment to open data as data sets are catalogued and additional data is identified and generated to fulfill public indicators for the SDGs and FYDP-II
• Clear and useful visualization, such as an SDG Dashboard, of Tanzania’s baseline indicators and progress against targets can be developed

ADAPT is a critical step in establishing a sound data roadmap for Tanzania. From this work, the National Bureau of Statistics and other organizations will be able to plan improvements in data sets and fill data gaps. Using improved data, the Planning Commission of the Ministry of Finance can establish long-term development priorities and allocate resources to make progress on SDG targets.

Key Collaborators