Tag: Data exchange

Data, when responsibility unlocked, offers huge promise to tackle some of the most pressing issues within global development. However, the process of unlocking data is a dance between policy and technology. With complex considerations and nuances coming from both sides, it’s essential to have a clear — and collective — understanding of the key language and the ideas underlying it. In this expert comment, we help unpack some of these common terms, providing insights and real-world examples into the world of data.

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the importance of citizen portals cannot be overstated. These platforms serve as essential gateways for people to access government services, fostering transparency, trust, and efficiency in governance. Nowhere is the need for such portals more critical than in Africa, where digital inclusion is a driving force behind socio-economic development. 

Data touches everyone, everywhere, making good data policy an inherently a cross-cutting and complex endeavor. Participatory processes for crafting and implementing data policy are one essential step in overcoming governance challenges and fostering an inclusive digital ecosystem.

Data can be a key driver in promoting climate action, but it must be properly and safely harnessed. In our March Digital Donors Exchange (DDX) session, we focused on the role that data can play in helping governments and frontline communities foster climate mitigation, adaptation, and response measures.

Over the past decade, millions of people in Africa have gained access to the internet, with the number of internet users surging by 115% between 2016 and 2021. As more individuals, organisations, and governments across the continent embrace digital platforms and services, the need for secure and efficient data exchange becomes paramount. With its UGHub platform, Uganda offers valuable insights for countries across Africa as they seek to implement new digital and data exchange systems.

As of the end of 2023, some 14 million Ukrainians had fled their homes since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022—5.1 million internally and 6.2 million throughout Europe. This represents the largest human displacement crisis in the world today. While there is no silver lining to a crisis of this scale and depth, this paper attempts to understand one factor that is contributing to Ukraine’s resilience in a time of war and supporting enormous numbers of displaced individuals in their efforts to resume normal life: citizens’ ability to easily access their identity certificates, education credentials, health care records, and financial support through the government’s online citizen portal.