Inclusive Citizenship and the Data Imperative in Arab Countries - Arab Human Development Report
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Arab Human Development Report RESEARCH PAPER Inclusive Citizenship and the Data Imperative in Arab Countries Paola Pagliani
Copyright @ 2020 By the United Nations Development Programme Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) 1 UN Plaza, New York, New York, 10017, USA Please visit: http://www.arabstates.undp.org or www.arab-hdr.org Copyright © UNDP 2020. All rights reserved. Layout by Communications Development Incorporated, Washington, DC. Design and front cover by Nicolas Rapp.
Arab Human Development Report
Research Paper
Inclusive Citizenship and the Data
Imperative in Arab Countries
Paola Pagliani
Published for the
United Nations
Development Programme
Regional Bureau
for Arab States
Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.Acknowledgments
The present research paper was prepared to provide the context and thinking that motivated
the commission of the Citizenship 360° survey by the Arab Human Development Report. It
was authored by Paola Pagliani, with the valuable contribution of Adel Abdellatif and Ellen
Hsu, and edited by Andrea Davis.
The findings, interpretations and conclusions do not necessarily represent the views of the
United Nations Development Programme or United Nations Member States.
iv | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESContents
Acknowledgments iv
Preface 1
Shortcomings in data for responsive policymaking 2
Shortcomings in monitoring the SDGs 8
Shortcomings in monitoring inequality 11
Old and new tools to address data deprivations 13
New technologies: who generates and who owns the data 16
Citizen-generated data 18
References 22
Annex: Availability of SDG Tier I indicators 24
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | vPreface
The 2019 Arab Human Development Report regularity, consistency, and rigor. More re-
(AHDR) research paper Leaving No One cently, the COVID-19 pandemic has served
Behind: Towards Inclusive Citizenship in as a stark reminder that up-to-date, granular
Arab Countries analyses the challenge to and dynamic data is crucial in times of crises,
achieve inclusive citizenship through the lens as governments in the Arab region have been
of five forces of exclusion: discrimination, caught unprepared to quickly understand
socio-economic exclusion, spatial exclusion, and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 by
unaccountable governance, and shocks and leveraging digital tools, including data tools.
fragility. The limitations in applying this Decisionmakers require better data and ana-
framework to Arab countries came into lytical tools to inform their policy choices in
focus because of the significant data scarcity the management of the crisis, including the
that the region suffers from, which prohibits ability to optimize the use of various rapid
us from quantifying the extent of exclusion, assessments.
and often from identifying which groups Finally, in addition to strengthening
or individuals are most excluded from the production of traditional statistics, Arab
development process. Beyond national av- countries need to start tapping into the
erages, few Arab countries collect disaggre- potential of new, big and lean data made
gated data that could account for those not available by digital transformation. From
benefitting equally from advances in human AI-powered forecasting models to satellite
development, data that is needed to uphold imagery, a plethora of innovative data uses
the central pledge of the 2030 Agenda for are emerging that could empower stakehold-
Sustainable Development to “leave no one ers and citizens alike to advocate for more
behind”. The present paper was thus motivat- inclusive and equitable policies. Given this,
ed by the desire to shed light on the chronic the AHDR sought to experiment with new
data deprivation that Arab countries face and technologies to gain further insights into the
the imperative for them to fill persisting data five forces of exclusion framework mentioned
gaps that have long been overlooked. above, by commissioning a survey adminis-
If Arab countries are to realize the tered through mobile application in 12 Arab
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) countries. The analysis of the data collected
by 2030, it is critical to know where their through the survey, together with further
progress stands. Yet availability of SDG indi- details on the methodology, are included in
cators in the region is far from being compre- a separate paper entitled Citizenship 360° in
hensive, with data not only missing but also the Arab Region: Perceptions on Sustainable
outdated, unable to offer an accurate picture Development across Countries, Income, and
of the development trajectory that Arab Gender. We hope that the present paper will
countries have taken since the 2011 uprisings. be a valuable addition to the chorus of voices
Meanwhile, we have witnessed an increasing calling for an urgent data revolution in the
number of countries in the region falling into Arab region, which must go hand in hand
protracted conflicts, making it even more with accelerated digital transformation ben-
difficult to gather and manage data with efitting all segments of the population.
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 1Shortcomings in data for
responsive policymaking
The Arab region has long faced a challenge The World Bank assessment of statistical
of data deprivation, with systematic gaps in capacity scores countries against 25 criteria,
data and evidence to measure socio-economic using publicly available information and coun-
trends, thus compromising the effectiveness try inputs. It covers three areas (see Figure 1):3
of policies and social services in responding • Methodology: adherence to internation-
to people’s needs. Statistical capacity is as- ally recognized standards for collecting
sociated with important governance func- data;
tions, including service quality, the reach of • Sources: frequency and reliability of data
the civil administration, and the ability to collection; and
address issues from health monitoring to en- • Periodicity and timeliness: availability
vironmental challenges. Statistics contribute and dissemination of socio-economic indi-
to government effectiveness in terms of reg- cators to internal and external consumers.
ulatory power, quality of public services and According to the World Bank Statistical
civil service,1 and efficiency of the tax collec- Capacity Index, the Middle East and North
tion system. Statistical openness is a factor in Africa region is among the low performers,
government transparency and accountability, surpassing only Sub-Saharan Africa, with
which can impact political stability.2 all sub-indices below world averages, and
Understanding and measuring progress large gaps in data collection methods.4 On a
(or reversals) require the sustained produc- scale from 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest), Arab
tion of robust and granular data, which still countries for which the index is available are
eludes the capacity of many governments, performing worse in terms of sources (43 on
hindering policy responses. When priori- average in 2018) and methodology (53 on
ties, legitimate demands and grievances are average in 2018) than they are in periodic-
difficult to detect, policy responses become ity and timelines (73 on average in 2018).
inadequate and ineffective. Development Methodology deficiencies prevent the use
strategies and plans are prepared in the dark, of data for international comparisons, and
and policymaking is uninformed by the light cast doubts on the reliability of statistics for
that robust data could cast on assumptions policymaking or for informing public debate.
that may or may not hold true. This predic- It is a positive sign that in most Arab coun-
ament disproportionately affects those at tries, statistical methodogy performance has
the margins, those most in need of targeted improved since 2009 (in the case of Sudan,
interventions, whose needs are often not in all three areas). Neverthless, there have
captured in national statistics, and those been reversals in at least 50 percent of the
who lack other avenues to voice their needs. countries in both sources and periodicity,
It is not by chance that the 2030 Agenda signaling that data has not been updated
associates leaving no one behind with a data or disseminated. While those reversals can
revolution: in the absence of disaggregated be expected in war-torn countries such as
data and targeted analysis, marginalized Libya, Syria, and Yemen, where data collec-
groups become invisible. tion is challenging and rarely a priority, it is
1. As per the World Bank government effectiveness definition (https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/government-effectiveness
-estimate-0).
2. Anderson and Whitford (2017).
3. For additional details see http://datatopics.worldbank.org/statisticalcapacity/SCIdashboard.aspx.
4. World Bank (2011).
2 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESFIGURE 1
ASSESSMENT OF STATISTICAL CAPACITY (0-100) 2019 DATA 2009 DATA
METHODOLOGY PERIODICITY/ TIMELINESS SOURCE DATA
ALGERIA 50 50 77 73 30 70
COMOROS 20 20 73 80 50 20
DJIBOUTI 50 30 87 80 40 100
EGYPT 80 70 87 93 90 60
IRAQ 20 10 63 63 20 30
JORDAN 90 70 87 83 70 40
LEBANON 40 40 53 83 40 60
LIBYA 20 30 63 47 0 50
MAURITANIA 30 50 93 87 40 50
MOROCCO 60 100 80 87 60 40
PALESTINE 80 10 80 60 70 40
SOMALIA 10 0 50 53 20 70
SUDAN 50 30 93 67 70 10
SYRIA 10 50 60 73 10 50
TUNISIA 70 80 83 80 60 50
YEMEN 40 30 77 87 0 60
SOURCE: WORLD BANK (2019), STATISTICAL CAPACITY INDICATOR DASHBOARD (DATABASE)
concerning that they have happened also in TABLE 1
Egypt and Morocco.
IMF Data Dissemination Standards
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
has set standards for the dissemination of
Standards Countries in the Arab region based on
economic and financial data to contribute to standard subscription
sound macroeconomic policies and the effi-
Out of standards Somalia
cient functioning of financial markets. The
standards are ranked in three incremental e-GDDS (General Data Dissemination Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Iraq,
Standards): publishing essential data for Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman,
tiers. As Table 1 shows, most countries in the the analysis of macroeconomic conditions. Qatar, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab
Arab region fall into the first tier of general Emirates, and Yemen
data dissemination standards; six countries SDDS (Special Data Dissemination Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the State of
subscribe to the second tier of special data Standards): a country meets the test of Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia
dissemination standards; no country has “good statistical citizenship” in four areas:
coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of
subscribed to the third tier; and Somalia falls data; public access to those data; data
outside the standards altogether. integrity; and data quality
The criticality of updated and reliable SDDS Plus: aimed at economies with
statistics has been captured in the SDGs systemically important financial sectors,
through two dedicated targets on support in addition to the SDDS, it emphasizes
stronger data dissemination practices to
to (SDG 17.8) and availability of (SDG
enhance data transparency and strengthen
17.9) statistical tools in developing coun- the international financial system
tries. Figure 2a shows that only 10 Arab
Source: IMF Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board https://dsbb.imf.org/.
countries have an official statistical plan ap-
proved by competent statistical authorities,
and only four countries in the region have government or donors is limited to a few
all necessary statistical instruments. Crisis countries (Figure 2b); only five countries
countries are mostly deprived of basic stas- have sufficient funds to cover approved
tistical instruments. Moreover, steady fund- statistical plans. Djibouti, Iraq, and Libya
ing of national statistical plans by either the have both government and donor resources
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 3FIGURE 2a FIGURE 2b
PERFORMANCE AGAINST SDG INDICATORS ON STATISTICS AVAILABILITY AND FUNDING
SDG 17.18.3 AND 17.19.2: AVAILABILITY OF SDG 17.18.3:
NATIONAL STATISTICAL PLANS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS FUNDING OF STATISTICAL PLANS
NATIONAL CONDUCTED A BIRTH DEATH
STATISTICAL POPULATION REGISTRATION REGISTRATION
PLAN UNDER AND HOUSING DATA THAT ARE DATA THAT ARE FUNDED FUNDED
IMPLEMENTA- CENSUS IN THE AT LEAST 90% AT LEAST 75% FULLY BY BY OTHER
TION LAST 10 YEARS COMPLETE COMPLETE FUNDED GOVERNMENT DONORS FUNDING
ALGERIA
EGYPT
OMAN
TUNISIA
JORDAN
PALESTINE
BAHRAIN
KUWAIT
QATAR
SAUDI ARABIA
UAE
COMOROS
MAURITANIA
MOROCCO
SUDAN
LEBANON
DJIBOUTI
IRAQ
LIBYA
SOMALIA
SYRIA
YEMEN
SOURCES: 17.18.3: PARTNERSHIP IN STATISTICS FOR DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY (PARIS21) ; 17.19.2: DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL STATISTICS BRANCH, UNSD, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS, UN
allocated to statistics, but no clear plan in the SDGs, through SDG Target 16.10 on
against which to spend the funds. Libya public access to information.
reports the highest dollar value of resources The Open Data Inventory provides annual
spent on statistics (an average of 20 million assessments of the coverage and openness of
USD per year between 2006 and 20165), official statistics in 178 countries. The invento-
yet has among the lowest coverage of SDG ry is aligned with the principles of using, re-us-
indicators (as per Figure 5b below). ing, and distribution put forth by the Open
But data availability and quality alone are Knowledge Foundation “Open Definition”
not enough to yield policies that are more (see Box 1) and the Open Data Charter, a
responsive to people’s needs. The principles collaboration between governments and or-
of the data revolution set forth in the 2030 ganizations working to open up data.7
Agenda also emphasize data timeliness, under The score can be broken down into two
the motto, “data delayed is data denied”; sub-scores measuring the following elements:
usability, prioritizing user-centred design in • Coverage, as there is no open data without
data architecture; and governance, based on data: data available at various adminis-
transparent, independent, and accountable trative levels; data available in last ten or
national statistical offices and systems.6 The five years; and indicators’ coverage and
importance of data openness is also captured disaggregation.
5. Source: UNDESA SDG indicator database https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/database/.
6. Independent Expert Advisory Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development (2014).
7. For additional details consult https://opendatacharter.net/.
4 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESBOX 1
a common feature in most regions, which
reflects a prioritization of economic policies
What is open? – Open Definition and related research and analysis, partly in
response to due diligence requirements on
‘Open knowledge’ is any content, informa- sovereign bonds for indebted countries.
tion or data that people are free to use, re- Although the open data inventory is a
use and redistribute — without any legal, recent initiative, changes in data openness
technological or social restriction. have already been recently registered in Arab
countries. Considerable improvements, in
Source: https://okfn.org/opendata/.
openness more than in coverage, have been
achieved in countries such as Morocco,
• Openness: terms of use, data download Oman, Palestine, and the United Arab
options, machine readability, metadata Emirates. Yet some countries have experi-
availability, and non-proprietary conditions. enced reversals, for example in terms of data
Increasing coverage requires expanding or coverage in Iraq and Lebanon and openness
improving data collection, while increasing in Egypt (Figure 4). As the assessment was
openness requires making more of the existing started only in 2016, it does not reflect that
data available to the public. Both criteria are as- in 2015, Tunisia was the frontrunner, and
sessed in 21 social, economic and environmen- remains the only country in the region to
tal categories that are relevant to measuring align national statistical law to the spirit of
progress against Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.8 data openness and statistical independence.9
Figures 3a, b, and c summarize the assess- Tunisia is also the only Arab country in
ment of data openness in the Arab region. Africa to have signed and ratified the African
Figure 3a shows that openness varies across Charter on Statistics, which calls for scientif-
the Arab region. In most countries, coverage ic independence, impartiality, responsibility,
is the main data deficiency, but in Algeria, and transparency.10
Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Qatar, and Saudi It must be noted that these assessments
Arabia, substantive gains could be achieved of statistical capacities do not fully cover
by publishing available datasets. Comparing the capacities needed to face the challenges
Arab upper middle-income countries with of the new data ecosystem: challenges such
similar countries in other regions (Figure as coordination, to manage the complexity
3c) reveals that only African countries have of monitoring progress under the multiple
lower openness and coverage scores. Figure dimensions of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
3b shows that economic indicators are more Development; and partnership engagement,
accessible in terms of both openness and to benefit from new technologies.11
coverage than social or environmental data,
8. The categories are: energy use, pollution, resource use, land use, crime and justice statistics, population and vital
statistics, education facilities, education outcomes, health facilities, health outcomes, reproductive health, gender
statistics, labour statistics, built environment, poverty and income statistics, balance of payment, money and bank-
ing, government finance, international trade, national accounts, and price indices. For additional information, consult
the Open Data Inventory 2018/19 Methodology Report, available at http://odin.opendatawatch.com
9. Decree of the Minister of Development and Investment and International Cooperation, September 30, 2015, on the
adoption of the National Charter of public statistics http://www.ins.tn/ar/node/285.
10. https://au.int/en/treaties/african-charter-statistics.
11. PARIS 21 (2019).
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 5FIGURE 3a
ACCESS TO DATA IN ARAB COUNTRIES SCORED FROM 0 TO 100 POINTS (BEST) OVERALL COVERAGE OPENNESS
0 20 40 60 80 POINTS
OMAN 46 83
MOROCCO 49 65
PALESTINE 52 60
TUNISIA 46 57
UAE 40 61
KUWAIT 49 52
JORDAN 43 51
BAHRAIN 42 43
QATAR 36 48
EGYPT 30 49
MAURITANIA 37 39
SAUDI ARABIA 32 39
LEBANON 30 38
ALGERIA 30 34
DJIBOUTI 26 31
IRAQ 25 26
SYRIA 25 26
SUDAN 24 24
LIBYA 12 19
SOMALIA 5 8
0 20 40 60 80 POINTS
SOURCE: OPEN DATA WATCH/OPEN DATA INVENTORY, 2018
FIGURE 3b FIGURE 3c
OVERALL OPENNESS OF STATISTICS BY SECTOR REGIONAL SCORES AMONG UPPER-
MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES
ECONOMIC SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
STATISTICS STATISTICS STATISTICS COVERAGE
OPENNESS
OMAN 83 72 44
MOROCCO 68 58 47
PALESTINE 68 48 53
TUNISIA 63 34 60
U.A.E. 70 42 41
KUWAIT 61 44 46
JORDAN 56 39 46
BAHRAIN 61 41 27
QATAR 43 41 40
EGYPT 43 32 43
ARAB COUNTRIES 49 34 32
MAURITANIA 48 34 33
SAUDI ARABIA 50 30 28
LEBANON 50 36 18
EAST AND WESTERN
ALGERIA 48 28 22 SOUTHERN ASIA,
LATIN
DJIBOUTI 43 27 16 AMERICA EUROPE N. AFRICA AFRICA ASIA
SYRIA 33 17 28 48 51 53 52 48 47
42 41
IRAQ 30 27 20 33 38
SUDAN 23 23 26
LIBYA 25 11 11
SOMALIA 22 0 0 50 53
42 47
36
SOURCE: OPEN DATA WATCH/OPEN DATA INVENTORY, 2018
Note that in Figure 3c “Western Asia and North Africa” includes Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. OVERALL SCORE
SOURCE: OPEN DATA WATCH/OPEN DATA INVENTORY, 2018
6 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESFIGURE 4
CHANGE IN DATA OPENNESS IN ARAB COUNTRIES 2016-2018, IN POINTS
50
MOROCCO
40
OMAN
30
UAE
CHANGE IN OPENNESS
20 PALESTINE
LEBANON SAUDI KUWAIT
LIBYA ARABIA
10 SUDAN*
ALGERIA
DJIBOUTI TUNISIA SYRIA*
QATAR
JORDAN MAURITANIA
SOMALIA*
0
IRAQ
EGYPT
-10
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
CHANGE IN COVERAGE
* 1ST AVAILABLE ASSESSMENT IN 2017 SOURCE: OPEN DATA WATCH/OPEN DATA INVENTORY, 2018
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 7Shortcomings in monitoring the
SDGs
Soon after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, under-reported in the region cover some crit-
it became evident that monitoring the SDGs, ical development deficits that the region has
with their numerous and complex indica- been suffering from, such as unemployment
tors, would be a challenge, particularly for and youth unemployment (Indicators 8.5.2,
developing countries with limited statistical 8.6.1, and 9.2.2), investment in research
capacities (see Box 2). In the Arab region, and development (9.5.1 and 9.5.2), financial
only 41 percent of the 117 country-level Tier soundness (10.5.1), and the amounts and
I indicators—those with an internationally sources of public expenditures (16.6.1, 17.1.1,
established methodology—are systematically and 17.1.2).
available and updated across at least 20 coun- The ability to monitor the SDGs varies
tries in the region; 11 percent of the Tier I slightly across the region (see Figure 5b).
indicators have not been updated since 2015, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia are the
and 18 percent have not been calculated since only Arab countries capable of monitoring at
2000 (see Annex). least 80% of the SDG Tier I indicators. Data
Not all SDGs are equally endowed with a collection is often interrupted in conflict-af-
critical mass of indicators. For example, Goal fected countries. For example, in Syria and
3, on health, has 25 available Tier I indica- Yemen, about 20% of Tier I indicators, espe-
tors, while Goal 13, on climate action, has cially those in critical human development
none. Nevertheless, a closer look at indicator areas such as poverty, health, education, and
gaps in the Arab region in Figure 5a reveals economic development (Goals 1, 2, 3, 4 and
significant shortcomings in availability of 8), have not been updated recently. Because
basic socio-economic indicators to measure statistics do not reflect current circumstances
poverty and food security (Goals 1 and 2), in these countries affected by protracted cri-
as well as gender parity (Goal 5). Across sis, they are not fit to inform policies that can
other goals, indicators that are systematically mitigate the effects of the crisis.
BOX 2
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Indicators*
The SDG indicators framework was devel- and standards, and data are regularly pro-
oped by a UN Inter-Agency and Expert Group duced by at least 50 per cent of countries.
and adopted by the General Assembly on (49% of the indicators)
July 2017 (A/RES/71/313). The framework pro-
Tier II: the indicator is conceptually clear,
poses to measure achievements against 17
with an internationally established meth-
goals with 244 indicators, of which nine are
odology and standards, but data are not
repeated under different goals, for a total
regularly produced. (42%)
of 232 individual indicators. Indicators are
classified into three tiers based on method- Tier III: No internationally established
ological development and data availability: methodology or standards yet available,
but methodology/standards are being (or
Tier I: the indicator is conceptually clear, with
will be) developed or tested. (9%)
an internationally established methodology
* A full list of SDG indicators, their classification and related methodologies, can be found at https://unstats.un.org/sdgs.
8 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESFIGURE 5a FIGURE 5b
MEASURABILITY OF SDGS IN ARAB COUNTRIES AVAILABILITY OF SDG INDICATORS BY
BASED ON AVAILABLE TIER I INDICATORS COUNTRY BASED ON TIER I INDICATORS
SDG INDICATORS AVAILABLE IN THE 22 COUNTRIES MEMBERS OF THE LEAGUE OF AVAILABLE AND AVAILABLE, NO N/A
ARAB STATES UPDATED SINCE 2015 UPDATE SINCE 2015
EGYPT
JORDAN
AVAILABLE AND UPDATED SINCE 2015
500 indicators MOROCCO
AVAILABLE BUT NO UPDATE SINCE 2015
TUNISIA
NOT AVAILABLE
ALGERIA
LEBANON
400
MAURITANIA
IRAQ
KUWAIT
UAE
300
OMAN
QATAR
SAUDI ARABIA
200 COMOROS
DJIBOUTI
YEMEN
LIBYA
100 SUDAN
SYRIA
PALESTINE
SOMALIA
0 BAHRAIN
SDG: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 0% 20 40 60 80 100%
SOURCE: UN STATISTICS DIVISION GLOBAL SDG INDICATORS DATABASE HTTPS://UNSTATS.UN.ORG/SDGS/INDICATORS/DATABASE/
Agenda 2030 underscores the importance are available in more than 50 percent of Arab
of going beyond national averages to ensure countries.
that development leaves no one behind. Despite a sustained rate of urbanisation
Towards that end, disaggregated data is re- and recorded issues related to spatial inequal-
quired to understand which groups or people ities,12 no country has updated statistics to
are at risk of being left behind. The SDG compare levels of rural and urban poverty.
framework has identified a set of indicators, Recording of disability statistics is in its in-
including at least seven Tier I indicators, fancy in the region.13 In terms of SDG targets
where monitoring requires some level of in this area, only Egypt and Palestine report
disaggregation by sex, age, urban or rural against indicator 8.5.2, on unemployment
residence, socio-economic status, belonging rate by persons with disabilities. Egypt,
to a minority or migrant group, or disability. Algeria, Qatar, and Morocco are the most
Figure 6a shows that in the Arab region, the advanced countries in the region when it
capacity to produce and publish disaggre- comes to producing disaggregated statistics,
gated data is very limited, with 43 percent while in countries affected by protracted
of the required disaggregated indicators not conflicts such as Libya, Syria, and Yemen,
available, 25 percent of the available ones there is virtually no usable disaggregated in-
outdated, and only 32 percent updated since dicator available, making it very challenging
2015. Only sex-disaggregated employment to understand the impact of war on the most
and HIV data disaggregated by sex and age vulnerable (see Figure 6b).
12. Abdellatif, Pagliani and Hsu (2019).
13. ESCWA (2018).
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 9FIGURE 6a
AVAILABILITY OF SDG TIER I DISAGGREGATED WORKING POVERTY POVERTY
POOR BY SEX BY AGE
INDICATORS IN THE ARAB REGION 2 2 2
NUMBER OF COUNTRIES WITH INDICATORS AVAILABLE AND UPDATED SINCE 2015
9 11 9 11 9 11
AVAILABLE BUT NOT UPDATED SINCE 2015
NOT AVAILABLE
PRE- EDUCATION EDUCATION
URBAN/RURAL HIV HIV SCHOOL PARITY PARITY:
POVERTY LINE BY SEX BY AGE BY SEX BY SEX URBAN/RURAL
4
7
12 10 9 13 9 13 11 11 8 9
7
4 6
EDUCATION EDUCATION
PARITY: PARITY: UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT UNEMPLOYMENT HOMICIDE
SOCIO-ECONOMIC MINORITIES BY SEX BY AGE BY DISABILITY BY SEX
5 2 4 2 6
9 10 15 8 12 7 11 20 12
2
4
4
SOURCE: UN STATISTICS DIVISION GLOBAL SDG INDICATORS DATABASE HTTPS://UNSTATS.UN.ORG/SDGS/INDICATORS/DATABASE/
FIGURE 6b Monitoring the SDGs is a shared chal-
lenge, not only for developing countries with
AVAILABILITY OF SDG TIER I DISAGGREGATED BY COUNTRY limited statistical capacities, but also in the
AVAILABLE, UPDATED SINCE 2015 AVAILABLE, NO UPDATE SINCE 2015 N/A building of a comprehensive data ecosystem
EGYPT
for the entirety of Agenda 2030, in which
ALGERIA most countries should become capable of re-
QATAR porting against Tier II and Tier III indicators
MOROCCO as well. However, SDG monitoring should
PALESTINE
not be aimed primarily at international re-
TUNISIA
KUWAIT
porting. Instead, data collection and publica-
UAE tion should align with national priorities, in
LEBANON order to generate strong institutional support
OMAN and lead to the right allocation of capacities,
SAUDI ARABIA resources and coordination mechanisms to
JORDAN
inform policymaking and public debate.14
BAHRAIN
DJIBOUTI
MAURITANIA
COMOROS
IRAQ
SUDAN
SOMALIA
SYRIA
YEMEN
LIBYA
0% 20 40 60 80 100%
SOURCE: UN STATISTICS DIVISION GLOBAL SDG INDICATORS DATABASE HTTPS://UNSTATS.UN.ORG/SDGS/INDICATORS/DATABASE/
14. Center for Open Data Enterprise (2018).
10 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESShortcomings in monitoring
inequality
Inequality, polarization and unequal access TABLE 2
to opportunities have been identified as
Available Household Surveys
triggers in the process of erosion of the social
contract.15 Beyond the lack of disaggregated
Country Latest Household Survey Year
data to monitor the SDGs, granular knowl-
edge about those multifaceted phenomena is Oman Household Expenditure and Income Survey 2019
scarce in Arab countries.16 Most inequality United Arab Emirates Household Expenditure and Income Survey 2019
measures are based on household surveys, Saudi Arabia Household Expenditure and Income Survey 2018
which have been conducted by only half of
Jordan Household Expenditure and Income Survey 2017–2018
the 22 Arab countries in the last five years,
with inconsistent quality and methodologies Djibouti* Household Survey on Social Indicators 2017
that preclude systematic regional compari- Palestine Living Standards Measurement Survey 2017
sons (see Table 2). As mentioned in the sec- Libya Household surveys to assess family needs 2016
tion on data openness, access to existing data
Egypt. Household Income, Expenditure, and Consumption 2015
remains limited, or the data is not available Survey
in a format that permits robust insights on
Tunisia Household Survey on Income, Consumption and 2015
inequality and deprivation. Standards of Living
The available conventional measures of
Bahrain Household Expenditure and Income Survey 2014–2015
economic well-being show average levels of
economic inequality, with Gini coefficients Mauritania Household Survey on Standards of Living 2014
of .30–.45 in Arab countries. Attempts to Morocco Household Survey on Consumptions and 2013/2014
combine household surveys with income tax Expenditures
data reveal much higher income inequality, Comoros Household Survey on Consumptions and Expenditures 2013
but such analysis is only in its preliminary Kuwait Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2013
stages, and the necessary data is not available
Somalia Household Survey on Income and Consumption 2013
in enough countries to allow for regional (Somaliland only)*
analysis.17
Qatar Living Conditions Index Survey, and Household 2012–2013
According to multi-dimensional meas-
Expenditure and Income Survey
ures of inequalities, such as the Inequality-
adjusted Human Development Index, Arab Iraq* Household Socio-Economic Survey 2012
countries experience some of the greatest Lebanon Household Budget Survey 2012
losses worldwide in human development due Algeria Household Survey on Income, Consumption and 2011
to inequality, second only to Sub-Saharan Standards of Living
Africa (see Figure 7a). The sub-components Sudan* National Baseline Household Survey 2009
of the index reveal that, while in education
Syria Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2008–2009
and life expectancy the region has seen a slow
but continuous reduction of inequalities since Yemen* Household Budget Survey 2005–2006
2010, income inequality has sharply increased Source: national statistical authorities, unless otherwise indicated.
after 2014, although there has been some re- *Source: World Bank.
versal in more recent years (Figure 7b).
15. Arampatzi and others (2018).
16. Bibi and Nabli (2010).
17. Alvaredo, Assouad and Piketty (2018).
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 11FIGURE 7a FIGURE 7b
INEQUALITY ADJUSTED HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
OVERALL LOSS IN HDI DUE TO INEQUALITY INEQUALITY BY HDI DIMENSION
WORLD AVERAGE OVERALL LOSS IN HDI DUE TO INEQUALITY
40% 40%
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
33%
SOUTH ASIA INEQUALITY IN EDUCATION
30 30
ARAB STATES 25%
25%
INEQUALITY IN INCOME
20 20
15%
EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
INEQUALITY IN LIFE EXPECTANCY
10 10
EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
LATIN AMERICA
AND THE CARIBBEAN
0 0
2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
SOURCE: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT OFFICE HDR.UNDP.ORG/EN/DATA
From a data-need perspective, to un- the absence of systematically collected
derstand and document the impact of robust data, this element is crucial to
intersecting inequalities on social and other understanding both the dissatisfaction
forms of exclusion, the region largely lacks expressed during the Arab uprisings and
practical micro-level studies to shed light on perceptions of institutional performance
those interconnections. Notwithstanding and accountability.18
18. Abdellatif, Pagliani and Hsu (2019).
12 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESOld and new tools to address
data deprivations
The Cape Town Global Action Plan for BOX 3
Sustainable Development Data, agreed by
the UN Statistical Commission in March Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data –
2017, is the current roadmap for expanding Strategic Areas and Objectives
statistical capacity and gearing it to the needs
of Agenda 2030. The Action Plan is based 1: Coordination and strategic 3.3 System of National Accounts
on the principles of completeness of scope, leadership and the System of Environmental
1.1 strengthen national statistics Economic Accounts
accountability, and cooperation (see Box 3). 1.2 coordination with regional 3.4 geospatial data
Addressing gaps in data coverage requires and international organisations 3.5 data on all groups of
modernizing national statistical systems to 2: Innovation and modernization population
improve the quality and usability of admin- 2.1 governance and institutional 3.6 data on domains currently
istrative data and surveys. Among the most frameworks not well developed
common obstacles preventing the production 2.2 statistical standards 4: Dissemination and use
2.3 new technologies and data 4.1 strategies for dissemination
of more granular data are the sample size of
sources and use
most surveys, which does not allow representa- 3: Strengthening of basic 5: Multi-stakeholder partnerships
tiveness of marginalized and excluded groups; statistics 5.1 partnerships with governments,
the absence of income accounts at regional, lo- 3.1 household business and academia, civil society, private
cal and household levels; and the lack of statis- other surveys, integrated survey sector and other stakeholders
tical harmonization of the definitions of rural systems, census, civil registration 6: Mobilize resources and coordi-
and vital statistics nate efforts
and urban areas or informal settlements.19
3.2 national statistical registers 6.1 Ensure resources are availa-
Moreover, advanced approaches to statis- and administrative records ble, both domestic and from in-
tics call for the integration of different data ternational cooperation
sources, promoting data interoperability and
fostering collaboration among diverse data Source: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/hlg/cape-town-global-action-plan/.
producers. 20 National statistical offices are
best placed to provide interoperability, by official statistics for policymaking. For exam-
coordinating and harmonizing data from ple, Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics
different sources so that they can be used and and Geography estimated that it has data to
exchanged within the same statistical system. cover approximately 40 to 50 percent of the
They can achieve more by integrating often SDG indicators, and is planning to fill the
underutilized administrative data systems gap via non-traditional data sources such as
(e.g., from electoral bodies, public adminis- Twitter, data from local research institutes, and
tration and judiciary institutions, etc.) and satellite imagery.22 Similarly, well-functioning
exploring unofficial data sources to comple- civil registries and vital statistics can facilitate
ment more traditional ones (e.g., experimental data collection on health outcomes, crime and
and big data from civil society, academia, and justice, reproductive health, and more.23
the private sector).21 The interoperability of Increasing data openness by releasing avail-
different data sets enhances the usability of able datasets to the public facilitates the use of
19. PARIS 21 (2019).
20. Decision of the UN Statistical Commission, 50th session (2019), Data and indicators for the 2030 Agenda for Sustain-
able Development, available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/decisions-ref/?code=50/102.
21. PARIS 21 (2020).
22. DI Development Initiative (2017).
23. ODIN (2018 – 19).
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 13data to foster public debate and policymaking, location and spread of electric lighting.28 The
which in turn further increases the demand for support to developing countries in exploiting
data. Arab countries such as Morocco, Oman, the capabilities afforded by a wide range of data,
Palestine, and Tunisia have leapt forward by including earth observation and geospatial in-
publishing more data in machine-readable and formation, is clearly stated in Article 76 of the
non-propriety format through existing data 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.29
portals, and by adopting open data licences Satellite data can complement traditional
and terms of use. Oman, for example, has made data sources by providing spatially and tem-
great progress simply by removing restrictive porally denser information, improving data
conditions that forbid any type of use of official frequency and richness. As of this writing,
statistics without receiving prior permission.24 high-quality satellite imagery is either not avail-
New technologies and alternative data sourc- able to the public or comes with a considerable
es can provide cost-effective and timely solu- price tag, while also requiring sophisticated
tions. Technology can help enhance statistical processing and analytical skills. Nonetheless,
capacity by facilitating information-sharing it is more cost-effective than traditional survey
and managing and improving the accuracy of approaches, and allows for more data consist-
field observations, verifications, and sampling ency across countries and regions.
procedures.25 Pioneer applications of high-resolution
Satellite imagery, remote sensing, and car- satellite imagery paired with survey data in
tography can be used to improve population Sri Lanka generated accurate predictions of
coverage and provide accurate geographic local-level poverty and welfare. Poverty surveys
boundaries for field surveys and censuses. 26 are costly and usually subject to multi-year lags;
Earth observations already provide reliable the ability to actualize information on poverty
information on the state of the atmosphere, prevalence and dynamics can be a valuable tool
ecosystems, and natural resources, contribut- to understand the spatial nature of poverty and
ing to the capacity to address challenges such inform policymaking.30 Such results cannot as
as climate change, water availability, food se- yet be generalized and automatically applied
curity, and safe and secure transport. Satellite to different areas. But if robust accuracy tests
data is currently used to monitor some of the are developed to avoid misleading policies, the
SDG indicators related to forest management rapid evolution of this type of data and tools
(SDG 15.2.1), the mountain green cover (SDG can significantly advance the measurement of
15.4.2), and water ecosystems (SDG 6.6.1). various dimensions of human development.31
Other SDGs can benefit from enhanced The use of new technologies to complement
monitoring options as well. For example, Goal official statistics is still limited by factors such
11 on sustainable cities calls for addressing chal- as standardization, validation vis-à-vis strin-
lenges of access to services and infrastructure gent statistical standards, and access to proprie-
for an increasingly urbanized population. Earth tary data and technologies. Further challenges
observations are a promising tool, together with include the accuracy of mapping results in di-
automated methods of data processing and verse conditions and the high computing and
image analysis, for providing up-to-date infor- storage needs associated with processing vast
mation on urban settlements.27 Similarly, Goal 7 amounts of satellite data.32
on affordable and clean energy can be visualized Developing countries are particularly disad-
using night-time satellite imagery to assess the vantaged in using these tools if they lack the
24. Ibid.
25. Anderson and Whitford (2017).
26. OECD (2018).
27. Earth Observations in Support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development v1.1 (JAXA, GEO, 2017).
28. Anderson and others (2017).
29. UN Resolution 70/1, adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015.
30. Engstrom, Hersh and Newhouse (2017).
31. Head, Manguin, Tran and Blumenstock (2017).
32. GEO (2017).
14 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESexpertise and infrastructure required to retool FIGURE 8
national systems and processes as needed.33
Cairo slum analysis
These challenges are well known, but so are the
limitations of current statistical systems. The
extensive use of geospatial and mobile signal
data for commercial purposes, and the growing
uptake among humanitarian and development
actors, as well as their timeliness and decreas-
ing marginal costs compared to traditional
surveys and statistical methodologies, reveal
the potential of these tools to contribute to the
data revolution needed to monitor and thus
achieve the SDGs.34
During the preparation of this analysis, we
have tested the application of these technolo-
gies to identifying development challenges in
slums in Cairo. Satellite imagery analysis pro-
vided information about the expansion of the Areas shaded in yellow correspond to identified slums while blue and purple dots
represent health and education facilities, respectively.
Cairo urban area during the past 18 years and Source: UNDP analysis and OpenStreetMap.
facilitated the visual identification of informal
settlement locations. Overlaying the images statistical gaps, the openness of data from both
with data from OpenStreetMap35 on health public and private sources is fundamental for
and education facilities helped in identifying their uptake in measuring the SDGs.38
underserved areas. Tracking mobile signals can To leverage existing and future opportuni-
help create near-real time population density ties, national statistical systems need to boost
maps, and understand where residents of infor- their capacities in information-sharing and ex-
mal settlements tend to work or access services pand both data capture and data availability to
during the day.36 external stakeholders.39 Partnerships with pri-
The pace of technological change is having vate companies, universities, civil society, and
an impact on people’s ability to generate, other third-party actors can contribute to data
access and use statistical information. Digital availability and affordable technical solutions.
information continuously generated by GPS Fostering these partnerships requires overcom-
devices, mobile phones, satellites, and social ing current organisational and methodological
media require new tools, methods, and a regu- challenges, and setting clear rules to deal with
latory framework for capturing, managing and data privacy,40 ownership and use.41
processing them efficiently.37 While national New skills, organisational practices, and
statistical authorities are the main entities in modern data processing techniques must be
charge of generating official data, with the rap- put in place if national statistical systems
id spread of new technologies, statistical data in in Arab countries are to benefit from new
most domains is co-produced by governments technologies and the massive increase in data
and non-state actors. As not all countries have availability to enhance both decision-making
the capacity to adopt new technologies to fill and accountability.42
33. GEO (2017).
34. Engstrom, Hersh and Newhouse (2017).
35. See openstreetmap.org.
36. Muggenburg, Sen and Lewandowski (2019).
37. Anderson and others (2017).
38. GEO (2017).
39. Anderson D. M. & Whitford A. (2018).
40. One of the most advanced regulation in this sphere is the European Union General Data Protection Regulation. See https://
gdpr-info.eu/.
41. (SDSN TReNDS) (2018).
42. PARIS 21 (2019).
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 15New technologies: who generates
and who owns the data
The rapid growth of the “Internet of Things” expand data reserves and invest in artificial
– a system of interrelated computing de- intelligence to make data more valuable. In
vices provided with unique identifiers and this context, economies of scale tend to create
the ability to transfer data over a network data dominators. Reaping the benefits of the
without requiring human-to-human or data economy requires taking part in it, but
human-to-computer interaction – has led having data controlled by a small set of actors
to an exponential increase in data. Globally, reduces individuals’ control over how their
more data was generated in 2017 than in all data is shared and used.46
previous years combined.43 The new types of Beyond the private sector, big data, satellite
data enabled by internet-related technologies imagery, and other new technologies such
belong to three categories:44 as biometrics have been increasingly used by
• Government data generated through en- humanitarian agencies, because they are seen
gagement with public institutions, such as as more efficient in reaching populations in
tax details, licences, etc.; emergency settings and can yield more accu-
• Regulated data generated in sectors where rate insights on their needs. But these supposed
there is a clear regulator, such as mobile solutions have attracted criticism for their ten-
phone records, medical records, banking dency to exclude those most affected by a crisis,
and insurance data, etc.; and who often lack access to the required technol-
• Private data generated by the interaction ogy. Additional concerns about the safety of
between an individual and a private service affected populations are related to the need for
provider, such as browsing history, social humanitarian agencies to partner with private
media data, airline history, etc. sector companies owning the technology and
This rise of personal data poses both op- ultimately the associated data, which are occa-
portunities and challenges for individuals sionally used for non-aid-related purposes, such
and communities. Individuals are generating as monitoring and surveillance.47
the supply of personal data that fuel the data From a community perspective, access to
economy, but the creation of data depends this type of data can equip policymakers and
on platforms provided by technology com- service providers with valuable information
panies. Current dynamics of data economies on economic trends, population preferences,
tend to skew power away from individuals, and needs.48 Recent attempts to balance the
who generate the data, and towards plat- power dynamics associated with new tech-
form companies. For example, social media nologies have focused on individuals’ rights
companies provide free services in exchange to their data, technology that improves iden-
for extracting personal data to be sold to tity protection and data management, and
advertisers. This business model increases tools that help individuals to benefit more
tech companies’ authority and ownership from their data use.
over data collection.45 Platforms thrive on The current approach to data governance is
collecting and analysing data, so they aim to fragmented; no country so far has established
43. CISCO (2019).
44. McGowan and others (2018).
45. Vaidhyanathan (2018).
46. McGowan and others (2018).
47. Madianou (2019).
48. McGowan and others (2018).
16 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESFIGURE 9a
SHARE OF COUNTRIES THAT HAVE ADOPTED CYBERLEGISLATION LEGISLATION DRAFT LEGISLATION
CONSUMER PROTECTION CYBERCRIME DATA PROTECTION PRIVACY E-TRANSACTIONS
88%
80% 81% 82%
73%
68%
60 58%
40 41% 41%
20
0
ARAB WORLD ARAB WORLD ARAB WORLD ARAB WORLD
COUNTRIES COUNTRIES COUNTRIES COUNTRIES
SOURCE: THE UNCTAD GLOBAL CYBERLAW TRACKER
a single comprehensive vision of how to gov- FIGURE 9b
ern individuals’ data. Figure 9a shows that
Arab countries on average lag in all four areas EXTENT OF CYBER LEGISLATION IN FOUR AREAS
of cyber legislation, but more significantly in LEGISLATION DRAFT LEGISLATION NO LEGISLATION NO DATA
terms of consumer protection, where only
27 percent of countries in the region have
ONLINE CONSUMER
enacted legislation, compared to 52 percent E-TRANSACTIONS CYBERCRIME DATA PROTECTION PROTECTION
LAWS LEGISLATION AND PRIVACY LEGISLATION
worldwide, and data protection and privacy,
with legislation available in only 32 percent MOROCCO
QATAR
of the Arab countries, compared to 58 per-
TUNISIA
cent worldwide. While 59 percent of Arab KUWAIT
countries have cybercrime legislation, this is BAHRAIN
still a significant gap compared to 72 percent SYRIA
OMAN
of countries worldwide. In e-transaction leg- U.A.E.
islation, the distance is smaller, with 79 per- ALGERIA
cent of countries worldwide covering it, as EGYPT
JORDAN
compared to 73 percent in the Arab region.
YEMEN
Tunisia, Qatar, and Morocco are the only SAUDI ARABIA
countries in the region with approved legis- SUDAN
lation in all four areas, followed by Kuwait IRAQ
DJIBOUTI
(with three enacted and one draft legislation). MAURITANIA
Bahrain, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, LEBANON
and Oman all lack at least one piece of COMOROS
LIBYA
legislation. Conflict countries like Libya,
SOMALIA
Somalia, and Palestine have no legislation in PALESTINE
this field, while Lebanon, a middle-income SOURCE: THE UNCTAD GLOBAL CYBERLAW TRACKER
country, has so far produced only two draft
pieces of legislation, leaving data governance mandatory national digital ID combined
completely unregulated (Figure 9b). with a government interoperability platform
Data governance has the potential to lev- contributed to notable progress in service
erage the public good element of individuals’ provision in areas as diverse as taxes and
generated data. For example, in Estonia, the health care.49
49. Kattel and Mergel (2018).
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES | 17Citizen-generated data
In the above examples, citizens passively OpenStreetMap. This type of data can also
produce data when using tracked devices or empower citizens to shape or challenge
accessing public or private services. For ex- official narratives. For example, in several
ample, big data applications track and analyse countries, national and local institutions
transactions and interactions as a by-product have benefited from the application of citi-
of people’s interaction with digital media. zen-generated data such as social audits and
More opportunities are emerging from the community scorecards to monitor the im-
active and conscious engagement of citizens pact of policies and service delivery, educate
in data production, beyond mandatory reg- citizens about available services, and create
istration and the by-product of their online feedback loops to improve the quality and
activity. Citizen-generated data has been reach of services. Monitoring how problems
defined as data that people or their organisa- are seen from the perspective of service pro-
tions produce to directly monitor, demand, or viders and users, or policymakers and citizens
drive change on issues that affect them.50 It is affected by the policies, can open new ways
actively given by citizens, providing direct to identify solutions, gather context around
representation of their perspectives and al- problems otherwise unnoticed, and translate
ternative or complementary information to people’s lived realities into indicators.52 For
datasets collected by governments or interna- example, in Malawi, community scorecards
tional institutions. have enhanced the use of and satisfaction
Citizen-generated data can contribute to with health services, and improved relation-
a better understanding of sustainable de- ships between service providers and users.53
velopment issues in multiple ways, ranging A critical challenge related to these
from contributing spatially significant data approaches is the harmonization of data
for remote locations in the absence of geo- quality with traditional statistical standards
graphic disaggregation of critical statistics, to ensure complementarity. Comparison
to periodic cheaper and faster data collection with professionally collected data, expert
to monitor circumstances affected by rapid peer reviews, and filtering of outliers are all
change. These approaches are already contrib- techniques that help address this challenge to
uting to the monitoring of the Sustainable harvest the biggest potential of citizen-gener-
Development Goals. For example, the “Red ated data: embedding the needs and views of
List Index” (SDG 15.5.1) captures the risk of the community in the production of data.54
extinction for birds, mammals, amphibians, While citizen-generated data may not always
and corals, using data generated by a network conform to established statistical practices,
of scientists and more than 5,000 trained their added value lies in offering new per-
volunteers.51 spectives based on local insights, checking
Beyond filling existing data gaps, citi- plans and policies against experience, foster-
zen-generated data can expand, complement, ing civic involvement, and helping to identify
or cross-verify official measurements, as in and address people-centred problems that
the already mentioned example on health official statistics may not capture. In gauging
and education facilities in Cairo, which the viability of this type of data in informing
used citizens’ self-reported data through policies and analysis, rather than looking for
50. See https://www.civicus.org/thedatashift/.
51. Fritz and others (2019).
52. Lämmerhirt and others (2018).
53. Gullo and others (2017).
54. Fritz and others (2019).
18 | INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP AND THE DATA IMPERATIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIESstrict adherence to traditional notions of data FIGURE 10
quality, it is critical to determine whether the
data is relevant and usable enough.55 FIVE-FACTOR FRAMEWORK
OF EXCLUSION
Citizenship 360° in Arab
Countries
The Arab Human Development Report ini-
tiative opted to apply new technologies and
use citizen-generated data to collect percep-
tions through the Citizenship 360° survey.
While the survey does not aspire to fill gaps
in official statistics, its results reveal valuable
insights into people’s priorities and concerns
beyond what can be derived from national
accounts.
Perception surveys are often considered
unreliable tools to offer concrete inputs into
policymaking, mostly due to the assumptions SOURCE: UNDP 2018. “WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND? A UNDP
DISCUSSION PAPER AND FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION.”
that ordinary citizens lack critical informa-
tion and technical knowledge to provide
meaningful contributions. But perceptions on the five forces of exclusion identified as
and official statistics can assess complemen- the critical bottlenecks to re-establishing a
tary aspects of these areas. Analysing gaps viable social contract: unaccountable gov-
between perceptions and objective indicators ernance, socio-economic exclusion, discrim-
can improve understanding of how and why ination, spatial exclusion, and shocks and
people are dissatisfied and the underlying fragilities (see Figure 10). An overview of the
drivers of feelings of injustice and inequali- survey results is presented in a separate paper
ty.56 Applied research has demonstrated that titled Citizenship 360° in the Arab Region:
public officials are often insufficiently in- Perceptions on Sustainable Development
formed about citizens’ preferences, which is a across Countries, Income, and Gender while a
constraint on democratic accountability and deeper dive into each of the five areas of ex-
on institutional responsiveness. The same re- clusion covered by the survey is also available
search has also revealed that when provided at http://www.arab-hdr.org/citizenship360.
with accurate information about citizens’ The Citizenship 360° survey built on the
preferences, policymakers are keen to use it scientific questionnaire elaborated in the
to inform their decision-making, particularly framework of the United Nations My World
when preferences are expressed by societal initiative to help monitor the Sustainable
groups whose voices are less often heard, such Development Goals.58 The questions reflect-
as women.57 ed all 17 goals and were clustered around the
This research made a deliberate attempt to five areas of exclusion. The survey was admin-
hear the voices of Arab citizens on what af- istered through a mobile application which
fects their capability to enjoy a complete and recruited respondents through social media
fulfilling citizenship. Rather than asking di- campaigns. Respondents who completed
rect questions on the meaning of citizenship, the entire questionnaire were remunerated
it aimed to understand people’s perceptions via modest mobile payments through local
55. Lämmerhirt, Gray, Venturini, and Meunier (2018).
56. Rodríguez Takeuchi and Hine with Chávez C. (2015).
57. Liaqat A. (2019).
58. See about.myworld2030.org/myworld-scientific.
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