Week in Review

Hello,
Another busy week has allowed us to produce another very exciting week in review. This week highlights include the release of a new index, women and water, Nowcasting (economic term for ‘now’ and ‘forecasting’) and education in Latin America.

Measuring the Web’s Global Impact
On Wednesday, the World Wide Web Foundation launched the inaugural Web Index, a composite index designed to measure the social, economic and political impact of the Internet. The index combines over 80 indicators that measure access, affordability, institutional and policy environment and social and economic utility. And the top 5 ranks are:
1. Sweden
2. U.S.
3. UK
4. Canada
5. Finland

Women spend 40 billion hours collecting water (IPS 01.09.2012)
The 2012 report on the Millennium Development Goals found that 71 percent of the burden of collecting water for households falls on women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, women in sub-Saharan Africa spend an average of about 200 million hours per day collecting water.
See more and contribute to the Wikigender article on Women and Water Resource Management in Africa

Quote:
“The hope is that as you take the economic pulse in real time, you will be able to respond to anomalies more quickly.” - Hal Varian, Google Chief Economist

This quote comes from Hal Varian, speaking about the search data and the potential of Nowcasting at The Economist's Ideas Economy: Information 2012 event in San Francisco, California.

Number Crunch:
There are 117 million boys, girls and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean, 6.5 million of whom do not attend school.
Source: UNICEF/UNESCO 2012

That’s all from me this week, hope you can tune in again same time next week for another edition of the Week in Review.

Yours in Progress,
Philippa Lysaght

Running away from disability…?

Globally an estimated 95 million children aged 0-14 years have a disability - 0.7%,  13 million of whom have a severe disability, according to the World Report on Disabilities 2011.

The athletes at the London, 2012 Paralympics provide positive examples for children living with a disability which is defined as ‘an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions’ in the report. These athletes also remind us of what can be achieved when the right support is given to those who need it.

Disability is something that almost everyone will experience at some point in their life, either temporarily or permanently. It is complex and refers to not only the impairment experienced by the individual but the negative aspects of interaction between individuals with health conditions, such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, depression, and personal and environmental factors such as negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social supports.

These negative aspects affect children in different ways, most commonly in their access to education. Data shows that education gaps exist in both low and high income countries between disabled and non disabled children. These gaps range from 10% in India to 60% in Indonesia in terms of the difference between the percentage of disabled children and the percentage of non-disabled children attending primary school.

Additionally children with intellectual or sensory impairments commonly fare worse than those with physical impairments, despite the knowledge that the inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools not only promotes universal primary completion but it is cost-effective and helps to reduce discrimination.

They are invisible

The World Report on Disability states that after reviewing 28 countries participating in the Education for All Fast Track Initiative Partnership, 18 countries either omitted any reference to disability or inclusion or, put forward minimal detail regarding strategies for the education of disabled children.

This invisibility in addition to a lack of finance, social protection and support services for children and their families are common throughout the world and have resulted in children with disabilities being less likely to start school than those without disabilities, and having lower rates of retention and advancement in schools.

They are invincible!

Paralympic athletes such as the Australian swimmer Ahmed Kelly who is currently competing in the 2012 Paralympic Games, in fact provide good examples for children and adults worldwide – both disabled or not – of what the words courage, determination and skill really mean. Born in Iraq with double arm and leg deficiencies, Ahmed was adopted by an Australian woman and after playing Australian Rules Football for a number of years (without prosthetic arms) he decided to devote himself to swimming which has now taken him to the highest possible level of competition.

Individuals like Ahmed do appear to be invincible and their achievements should be made increasingly visible to further help address discrimination and common misconceptions about people living with disability.

Hannah Chadwick

Wikichild Coordinator

Further reading:

See also and contribute to the Wikigender article on “Women and Disability”.

ProgBlog: “Cyborg and Supercrip: Paralympics and Technological Progress”

Week in review

Hello all,

After another busy week we are happy to share with you another edition of the week in review. This week highlights include the tech boom in Africa, World Water Week, MDGs and education goals.

On Technology

Upwardly Mobile (The Economist 25.08.2012)

Kenya is becoming known as the ‘Silicon Savannah’ with a booming technology industry. In 2002 Kenya’s exports of technology-related services were a piffling $16m. By 2010 that had exploded to $360m.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on Progress in Kenya

On Water and Food Security

World Water Week: is nexus thinking finally taking off? (The Guardian 30.08.2012)

The 2012 World Water Week just ended today in Stockholm with the theme "Water and Food Security". This blog argues that the nexus of water, food and energy is one way of looking at the issue locally, but at the same time we need to consider the connections with local interests and concerns. From the discussions during this year’s World Water Week, it is clear that we need to continue to build advocacy among civil society.

See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on Freshwater.

On the MDGs
Who should set the world’s goals (CNN 27.08.2012)
In the lead up to the 2015 Millennium Development Goal deadline, it is easy to become preoccupied with analysing the success of the goals and whether or not they have been met. This article raises a new and interesting question: looking ahead to the next set of goals, who should be setting the targets?
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Sustainable Development Goals

Number crunch

In 2009, 47% of children were enrolled in pre-primary programs in South Asia, almost double the 2000 estimate of 25%. Source: UNICEF/UNESCO 2012

That’s all from me this week- hope you can join us again the same time next week.

Yours in Progress,
Philippa Lysaght

The role of data in keeping governments accountable

With the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals drawing nearer, there is much discussion around what needs to be done to achieve these goals, as well as what will happen post 2015.

It must be acknowledged that the Goals have provided a clear framework for the monitoring and evaluation of progress in key areas of development. This has resulted in a wealth of data that allows for country comparisons, which helps to give insight into where resources are the most needed. The importance of data was also recently highlighted on the topic of gender equality.

On the issue of children, the 2012 MDG report states that:

• The world has achieved parity in primary education between girls and boys
• Significant progress has been made towards achieving universal primary education
• Child survival progress is gaining ‘momentum’

Nonetheless,

•         Decreases in maternal mortality are far from the 2015 target
•         Hunger remains a global challenge and it is one that severely affects children

Data, as stated by Hilary Rodham Clinton, “not only measures progress, it inspires it. (…) what gets measured gets done”. Measurement is integral to the development of effective policy and the assurance of outcomes. It is there to guide and evaluate progress on agreed priority areas as well as to hold decision makers and leaders accountable.

This week’s Wikichild Spotlight report, ‘Governance and the Rights of Children’ by UNICEF IRC discusses the role of monitoring and evaluation processes and the importance of good governance to ensuring the fulfilment of children’s rights, specifically those set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As the paper states, “guaranteeing and monitoring the requirements of human rights instruments is difficult and measurement of children’s rights more so”.

Why? Because the four principal challenges put forward by the report are: 1) implementation issues; 2) multifarious organisational conditions; 3)coordination of the complexities of protecting children’s rights and 4) conducting independent evaluations and assessments of the performance of governments.

To solve these issues, a coordinated response, looking beyond procedures and legal compliance to what is actually being done and the delivery of services is stated to be essential. In addition to this, monitoring and evaluation to identify impacts is fundamental.

David McNair of Save the Children stated earlier this year, “Aid alone is not enough, but transparency and accountability are essential”. Gaining clarity around what has been done and what needs to be done through the use of measurement tools lends itself to this statement. The report openly states that it is not an easy task, however one that is crucial for the lives of children and although it is unclear what form the post 2015 agenda will take in regards to children, the tracking of progress is important to make sure it continues and that governments remain key drivers of change.


Hannah Chadwick

Wikichild Coordinator 

Week in review

Hello,

A warm welcome to this week’s edition of the Week in Review. Highlights this week include inequality, data on women, governance and urbanisation in India and some interesting numbers of natural disasters.

On data
Women Can’t Count if They Aren’t Counted
Speaking at a conference late last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that global development is suffering from a lack of poor data on women; “human development lies in giving women a great job,” because “when the will of 3.5 billion women changes, so does everything else.”

On governance and population
How does India Govern it’s Cities? (LSE 22.08.2012)
If urban India were a country, it would be the fifth largest in the world in terms of population size.
Despite this huge urban population, 72 percent of Indians live in villages.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on progress in India

On equality
How Americans View Wealth and Inequality (BBC 24.08.2012)
Interesting article on a study undertaken in the U.S. that analyses the perceptions of wealth and inequality. The survey found that when respondents took a step back from their own state of being and looked at society in abstract terms, almost all called for a much more equal society.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Occupy Movement

Number crunch:
Since 1992, 1.3 million people have been killed & 4.4 billion have been affected by disasters caused by natural hazards.
Source: Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change and adaptation

That’s all from me this week. Hope to see you again same time next week. You can stay up-to-date with all news and events in the progress community by following Wikiprogress on Twitter and liking it on Facebook.

Yours in Progress,

Philippa Lysaght

Reducing the gender data gap is a multiplying factor of societal progress

“If we’re serious about narrowing the gender gap and helping more girls and women, then we must get serious about gathering and analyzing the data that tells the tale”.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Remarks on Evidence and Impact: Closing the Gender Data Gap, 19 July 2012

  

The contribution that women make to societal progress is widely acknowledged, whether it is producing food, negotiating peace agreements or ensuring that children are immunised. UNDP’s Human Development Report shows that gender inequality can reduce a country’s progress in health, education and standard of living by up to 85 percent. We also know that women are still discriminated against in many areas and that much more needs to be done to achieve gender equality, especially with the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals approaching fast.

But what about the gender data gap?

Despite the wealth of data that we have today thanks to modern technology advances, there are huge data gaps for basic gender-related indicators, especially in developing countries: basic indicators such as maternal mortality remain under-reported, often because many women in poor countries do not come into contact with official surveys or do not have access to basic health facilities; other areas where data is patchy or of poor quality includes: at what age women have their first child, how many hours of paid and unpaid work women perform, if women own the land they farm, how many women are internet users, how many women are involved in decision-making in their local governments, to name a few. In other cases, there is data but not enough data coverage or it isn’t collected regularly: for example, for the share of women in non-agricultural wage work in Africa, there is only data for 9 out of 47 countries. Why is it important to know such data in detail? Because incomplete, poor quality or missing data can lead to erroneous interpretations of the data and therefore give us at best an incomplete, or even worse, an incorrect picture of development challenges.

As such, I believe that reducing the gender data gap is a prerequisite to achieve gender equality and meet the development goals. Without such data, how can policy makers make the right decisions? Improved data availability, accuracy, detail and coverage would make a huge difference in accelerating development and societal progress, as it would better inform and shape policy goals. By investing in collecting and analysing data on women and gender equality, we would significantly increase the benefits for society, as we become more aware of where more efforts and resources are needed.

“Data not only measures progress, it inspires it. (…) what gets measured gets done”.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Remarks on Evidence and Impact: Closing the Gender Data Gap, 19 July 2012

According to the World Bank, the lack of good and comparable data is due, in part, to ineffective data capturing methodologies and a lack of official statistical systems in developing countries, so more capacity building is needed at that level. Also, more political will is needed to gather gender statistics, as it is not always a priority in some countries, even if statistical systems are in place. And finally, there is also the problem that good gender data may exist but it is not being used or analysed. This summer, in July, the U.S. government announced a new initiative called Data 2X, which will contribute to strengthen the international capacity to produce and analyse data, including gender data, and the World Bank launched the Gender Data Portal, a clearinghouse of all the gender-related statistics and analysis carried by the bank. Both initiatives were launched at the “Evidence and Impact: Closing the Gender Data Gap” conference hosted by the U.S. Department of State and Gallup. 


The Data 2X initiative will work towards ensuring that data producers and users train in gender-sensitive techniques and gather key data organisations such as the UN, the World Bank, the OECD, PARIS21 and Gallup to develop a roadmap on how to fill the priority gaps in gender-sensitive data.

The new Gender Data Portal, which will be continuously updated as new data comes, allows users to create maps, figures and charts using country-level data, and also highlights huge gender data gaps – for example there is no data on wage gaps in developing countries, because of the lack of comparable data across these countries, and there is little data measuring women’s voice and agency beyond women’s representation in national parliaments.

             

At the conference, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim also insisted on the need to direct the data back towards developing countries:

“By making country data accessible, we can help empower men and women in the real world to become agents of change. This is important, because it’s only with sufficient country demand for better gender equality that we will ultimately succeed.”

Jim Yong Kim, Remarks on “Evidence and Impact: Closing the Gender Data Gap", 19 July 2012

Let’s hope that this new data push will soon lead to visible positive changes for our societies. We need to make sure women are counted to fully capture their contributions to a country’s economy or to global stability, and so that we know where aid should be allocated to accelerate progress towards development goals. This goes without saying that efforts should also start at local level and women and girls should play a central role in the process of identifying gender-sensitive indicators.

Estelle Loiseau
Gender Team, OECD Development Centre