Unlocking better availability, accessibility and use of data with local governments
To set a course for improved data use for sustainable development, a rural district in western Tanzania is working with Data Zetu to develop the country’s first subnational data roadmap.
This blog post was published as part of the Data Zetu project. Data Zetu is now an initiative of the Tanzania dLab, a local NGO that promotes innovation and data literacy through a premier center of excellence. For more information about the dLab, visit www.dlab.or.tz. For more information about the Data Zetu project, visit www.irex.org.
Putting subnational data use on the map
We talk a lot about the value of data as an organisational and developmental resource. If you’re researching or working in the development industry in Tanzania, you will agree with me that availability and accessibility of disaggregated data and statistics is still a challenge. This challenge can be life-threatening when that hyperlocal information could be used in the fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS in areas that have high prevalence rates, like Mbeya region in western Tanzania.
Our experience implementing the Data Zetu project in Temeke Municipal Council, Mbeya City and Kyela District Councils — districts identified as priority areas by PEPFAR for HIV/AIDS interventions — has unveiled that much more work needs to be done to maximise the opportunity that disaggregated and granular statistics offer for improving data use at the lowest levels of administration (wards, villages and mitaa — which is the Kiswahili equivalent of a village in urban settings).
We need to do more to support subnational governments using data — particularly since so much of the data that will help Tanzania measure its progress towards sustainable development originates from executives and extension workers at these levels.
To help understand these challenges, and to help local governments navigate them, Data Zetu’s team has been engaging with various development actors in the subnational data ecosystem in Kyela District Council in southwestern Tanzania, with whom we’ve been working to develop a subnational data roadmap. Here are the top three insights we’ve learned that could help to unlock better availability, accessibility and use of data at the subnational level.
Insight 1: Data governance — a key to improved availability and accessibility of data — needs to be better valued and implemented at the local level.
There are many definitions of data governance, but one that appeals to me the most for its simplicity is from Dataversity. It describes data governance as “a collection of practices and processes which help to ensure the formal management of data assets within an organization… It also deals with security and privacy, integrity, usability, integration, compliance, availability, roles and responsibilities, and overall management of the internal and external data flows within an organization”.
One area where poor data governance practices show glaring consequences concerns the flow of data, both between government departments and with external stakeholders. Most local government authorities in Tanzania now have websites, and many of them publish information — sometimes including data and statistics. But the manner in which they are made available online suggests that staff at the departments who steward that data don’t have clear and documented guidelines about what to include in publicly accessible repositories, in what formats, when and how frequently to publish/update, and what metadata to include to support effective use by external actors.
Staff in local government authorities’ departments could benefit from having clear and documented guidelines about what to include in publicly accessible data repositories, in what formats, when and how frequently to publish/update, and what metadata to include to support effective use by external actors.
As a consequence, not only is what is available too limited and often times poorly organized, but it’s also difficult to use without additional assistance from the authorities, such as to clarify details about the data like when it was last updated, or what time period it refers. This gap also contributes to long delays in processing of official requests for data that is not yet available in public domains, and uncertainties about what data may be available and accessible for external users.
Insight 2: Local government officials need — and are demanding — stronger skills and confidence working with data (data literacy).
There is a widespread gap in skills in data collection and ethics around it, as well as data management, curation and analysis, among those who are the data stewards both at the council level and in the wards, villages and mitaa below them. The result is low quality data, poorly managed and fragmented, and often difficult to use. As one of the stakeholders in Kyela put it in one of our conversations during consultations for the development of the data roadmap,
“Skills are very important, but most of those who are tasked to collect the data — the ward and village/mitaa executives, other extension workers and even village and vitongoji leaders — usually don’t have the necessary training, skills or level of awareness to appreciate the value of the data they are instructed or asked to collect.”
Building these skills and competencies among the government officials is therefore very important. Data Zetu and its partners have done this to some extent, and evidence shows that those who received training and gained data skills also gained a lot of confidence in handling data. Nonetheless, a lot more needs to be done — particularly since so much of the data that will help Tanzania measure its progress towards sustainable development originates from villages and mitaa and is collected by executives and extension workers at these levels.
So much of the data that will help Tanzania measure its progress towards sustainable development originates from villages and mitaa and is collected by executives and extension workers at these levels.
Insight 3: Subnational governments are being left behind in discussions about funding for data.
Subnational governments face a lot of challenges in mustering resources to invest in data, and conversations about how to fill this gap are not yet high profile. There are two pieces of this gap:
The first gap is an operational one due to limited resources local governments have. Due to this, investing in data is not among the top most priorities. In turn funds for data related activities are always limited and cannot adequately cover data collection costs, particularly for community-based data which is collected from households, and to invest in tools and skills for staff.
The second issue arises from weaknesses in strategies to improve cooperation and collaboration with various development actors in the data ecosystem. It shows itself in a scatter of fragmented efforts, often short lived, with either very little to show and share in return in terms of data assets, or in data assets that cannot be meaningfully joined up to provide coherent stories about local communities. With the breadth of actors in the subnational ecosystem, there is ample opportunity for building synergies and achieving more with less.
Change is possible, but…
It’s possible to achieve a turnaround here and to maximise on opportunities from better availability and quality of disaggregated data in developing countries like Tanzania. In our own engagements through Data Zetu with local government leaders, we have seen that stakeholders in subnational governments are ready and keen to strengthen their capabilities in data production, management, and use to better inform decision making.
However, this will require more attention on financing for data at the subnational level, and better coordinated investment and cooperation among development actors than has been demonstrated to date. What is clear is that, when we take the important step of partnering with subnational communities to use data for local impact, many of the hard working staff at those local governments will be ready and waiting to work with us.
