Member Sub-Groups

Introduction

In March 2021, TReNDS’ launched a number of member sub-groups related to key challenges within the data ecosystem for members to discuss, debate, and work towards developing solutions. The groups have been guided by two core principles: (1) Using the members’ connections and pathways of influence to extend TReNDS’ reach; and (2) Ensuring that products developed have a clear end-user in mind, with a particular emphasis on country-level application. Current sub-group topics and planned efforts are as follows:

  1. Working Group on CITIES and Data Stewardship

With increased data demands and a rapidly shifting data landscape, new challenges related to data governance and stewardship have emerged, particularly at the sub-national, municipal, and local levels. To address these issues, this group is working to improve and connect data stewardship efforts at the national and municipal levels, building on TReNDS’ previous research at the request of the United Nations Statistics Division on Chief Data Officers (CDOs). Current work includes: (i) Leading a United Nations Statistics Commission (UNSC)-endorsed workstream on Data Stewardship and the City Data Agenda; (ii) Helping to connect the UNSC work with the C40 Cities Initiative to improve knowledge sharing and advance stewardship at the national and city levels; and (iii) Producing a report for UNSC endorsement that will examine how the innovations and experiences of data stewards at the local and sub-national levels can inform their national counterparts, with a focus on the enabling environment, capabilities of the data steward, and nurturing modalities to facilitate knowledge-exchange across various government levels. The Secretariat has conducted interviews with city-level CDOs (in Sydney, Jakarta, and Durban), and with a sub-national consortium (African Open Data Consortium). It has also benefited by a study of the links between national statistics offices and select cities in Mexico. A framework for these assessments structured the interviews, and additional interviews are forthcoming. Early findings suggest there is no ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to data governance at the city-level, that data silos are prevalent, and developing support across a range of stakeholders takes time.

2. Working Group on Testing the Assumptions of the Data Revolution

The UN Secretary-General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development (IEAG) “A World That Counts: Mobilizing the Data Revolution For Sustainable Development” report helped to launch many initiatives and entities to support countries to mobilize new technologies and data to accelerate development progress. The report came out of a moment when there was a widely-held belief that technology could change government for the better (i.e. more efficient service delivery), and the dissemination of information would become widespread to empower individuals to more efficiently track government performance. Instead, we have witnessed the spread of fake news, a growing distrust of government, surveillance capitalism, and ultimately, declining trust in data. It appears that “democratizing” information did not live up to its promise, and much of the optimism that data would be a “force for good” has dissipated. In light of these misassumptions, this group is revisiting these and other issues to suggest course corrections in the UN’s Decade of Action with implications for TReNDS and other global partnerships / think-tanks. In consultation with key stakeholders (including many of the original report authors), the group is working to produce a paper that will reflect on the misassumptions of the data revolution and where major shifts in our thinking are needed.

3.Working Group on North-South Knowledge Exchange

The global landscape of development cooperation has changed drastically in recent years, and the era of one-way, North-South cooperation, although persistent, has become outdated. South-South Cooperation (SSC) is critical to fueling the technological innovation needed to advance the data for development agenda and progress towards the SDGs. This group is working to improve SSC modalities in three ways. First, through a session at the Fall 2021 SciDataCon conference that introduced TReNDS to the community and discussed our objective to crowd in more voices from the Global South, as well as highlighted members’ direct experience in South-South and Triangular Cooperation processes to distill lessons learned and spark a broader conversation with participants on how to stimulate more fruitful data collaborations. Second, the group is producing a policy brief/issues note on SSC that will include Southern voices in the development of global standards for disaster relief statistics through the IAEG/DRS (Group on Disaster-Related Statistics) process. Third, with support from group members, TReNDS is identifying new partnerships with Southern-based researchers and think-tanks for in-country work and projects.