If an organization with an existing culture of learning and adaptation gets lucky, and an innovative funding opportunity appears, the result can be a perfect storm for changing everything. The Results Data Initiative was that perfect storm for DG. RDI confirmed that simply building technology and supplying data is not enough to ensure data is actually used. It also allowed us to test our assumptions and develop new solutions, methodologies & approaches to more effectively implement our work.

From our experience understanding data use, the primary obstacle to measuring and organizational learning from feminist outcomes is that development actors do not always capture gender data systematically. What can be done to change that?

 Development Gateway’s mission is to support the use of data, technology, and evidence to create more effective and responsive institutions. We envision a world where institutions listen and respond to the needs of their constituents; are accountable; and are efficient in targeting and delivering services that improve lives.

Imagine a young woman in her mid-20s in Nairobi, Kenya, named Rehema. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, she is surveilled. When she turns off her morning alarm, an app logs how many hours she slept. As Rehema jumps onboard a bus to go to work, her phone tracks her location.

Bloomberg’s Data for Good Exchange (D4GX): Data Science for SDGs brought together data scientists, corporations, academics, practitioners, and civil society to discuss issues and explore opportunities related to data science and social good. Given DG’s recent work on the Administrative Data Driven Decisions (AD3) program and understanding national data ecosystems, we opened our D4GX workshop asking, “Show of hands – who thought today’s workshop would cover how to use data science and administrative data to report on SDG indicators?”

At DG, we pride ourselves in being a learning organization – focusing on continuous improvement and knowledge-building. We support this goal through a number of mechanisms, including holding post-mortem meetings at the end of every project. A post-mortem is a common method for project teams to review different perspectives on what went well, challenges faced, and what lessons could improve future projects.

Today, Development Gateway (DG) is pleased to announce the publication of the Managing for Feminist Results: Measuring Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy white paper, that outlines the challenges and opportunities that development agencies may face when adopting new and/or feminist policies.

With the World Bank/ IMF Spring Meetings underway, many of us are keen to explore more and better resources for achieving the data revolution for sustainable development. As we and others have argued before, a key part of this revolution must involve greater harmonization of data collection and use efforts between country governments and development partners.

The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Development Gateway (DG) are pleased to release a new report entitled “Decision-Making and Data Use Landscaping: Better Data, Better Decisions - May 2017 to October 2018.” This work examines the role that data plays in supporting key decisions taken by DFID at the strategy, portfolio (sector or country), and programme level. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through DG’s Results Data Initiative, the report synthesises in-depth interviews with approximately 60 DFID staff across four country offices, all sector teams, and senior management. 

Moving into 2019, we are pleased to be expanding RDI alongside our growing set of partners and funders. The program’s third phase focuses on agency-level engagement, and we will be scaling our partnerships with these development agencies to use results data to inform critical policy and programmatic decisions.