DOHA: The two-day Arab Forum on Building Statistical Capacity for a Data Revolution was attended by more than 100 representatives from international, regional and national statistical organizations in Doha. The forum concluded on Tuesday with a Doha declaration.
Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a fundamental change and transformation of the national statistical systems in countries to produce the quantity and quality of the data that is needed to monitor the progress of the SDGs as well as to reach out to those that are left behind as increasing demand for data requires a revolution, the declaration emphasized.
The Doha Declaration invited the Ministry of Planning and Statistics of Qatar to set in motion, in collaboration with relevant international and regional agencies, a process that will lead to a data revolution roadmap for the Arab region, with a specific focus on countries that are currently struggling.
The forum discussed challenges for Data Revolution supporting the implementation of the SDGs. The Forum was organised jointly by Qatar Ministry of Planning and Statistics and PARIS21 (Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century) and GCC-Stat.
The declaration emphasized the great potential of data revolution in the region which is the opening up of new data sources, coming for example from Call Detail Records, GIS data and data coming from social media. Areas of application include public health, transportation, migration flows, to name a few.
A country-led data revolution roadmap requires a tailor-made approach for each of the Arab countries under the current unstable situation and varied incomes. A key issue to be addressed in all countries is to develop an institutional and governance framework that opens access to private data while holding high standards of privacy and confidentiality.
The forum participants called upon regional and international organisations to establish a partnership in support of Data Revolution in Arab National Statistical Systems.
