As digital tools proliferate, automated analysis and decision-making algorithms spread, and cyberspace becomes more geopoliticized and contested, Development Gateway: An IREX Venture (DG) has strengthened its belief that data and digital solutions are key in creating more effective, responsive, inclusive, and trusted public-serving institutions. In an effort to further enrich our current data governance services, we’re pleased to announce that DG acquired DataReady in 2024. Founded in 2018, DataReady was a social enterprise with a mission to help the sustainable development and humanitarian sectors navigate the complexities of data governance.

At DG, we define data governance as the processes that establish the rules and norms related to data collection, management, and use. We believe that data governance processes within decision-making bodies should be inclusive, participatory, transparent, accountable, and led by multiple stakeholders.

Fundamental to DataReady’s ethos was that data governance is primarily about the processes through which rules and norms are set; these rules and norms, in turn, shape data collection, management, and use. Based on this understanding, DataReady’s approach was to engage with the institutional and individual-level dimensions of the digital and data revolutions, ensuring that human rights-based approaches and ethical standards are baked into innovation and policy. This approach aligns well with DG’s standard of prioritizing local ownership and governance of data and creating “fit for context,” sector-specific approaches to data governance frameworks that enable their long-term use.

Both DG and DataReady also share a commitment to strengthening institutions, empowering individuals, supporting youth, and designing and implementing digital and data programs that improve people’s lives. Continuing to build out DG’s data governance advisory capacity through adapting the innovative DataReady approach is an exciting step toward both implementing and advocating for a better, fairer future for digital development across the globe. 

Check out the full video in which DG’s CEO Josh Powell and DataReady founder Tom Orrell discuss the ways in which this new consolidation will further strengthen DG’s data governance service offerings and capacity to embed strong digital and data governance practice at the core of every DG project and engagement.  

Eighteen months ago, we launched the aLIVE program in Ethiopia. After a year and a half of hard work, we’ve made strides towards meeting the program’s ultimate goal of supporting Ethiopia in achieving food security and building a more robust, independent economy. We’re doing this by supporting Ethiopia in improving the accessibility and reliability of its livestock data. Along the way, we’ve learned three valuable lessons that have improved our ability to support our partners in Ethiopia in advancing their livestock data systems while also building capacity in order to optimize management, operations, and use of their data systems after the aLIVE program ends.

Lessons learned

1. Create trust and sustainability through co-design: Through aLIVE, we’ve continued to learn that prioritizing co-design deepens the impact of the program’s work, strengthens partnerships while expanding trust, and makes the work more sustainable in the long run.
   
   Throughout DG’s work, co-design has been prioritized to foster trust and collaboration between DG and those living and working in the communities impacted by our programs. With aLIVE, we’ve maintained our approach to co-design by ensuring that collaboration is embedded at every level. In addition to a series of workshops and discussions with partners to develop the Data Standard (a guide to standardize data collected on cattle, sheep, goats, and camels), we also used a co-design process to develop the Livestock Information System (LIS) dashboard, which is a platform that will provide decision-makers with access to interoperable data from Ethiopia’s pre-existing livestock data systems, and to identify data indicators that are aligned with stakeholders’ needs and once in place, will help the user find the information they need.
   
   We’ve seen positive outcomes from our co-design approach, as evidenced by leadership and major national level livestock actors actively giving feedback and providing concrete goals for how the work done in aLIVE will change the way Ethiopia’s livestock stakeholders will use tools developed through the aLIVE program. Stakeholders have been actively involved throughout the program indicating that they are deeply invested, feel a sense of ownership, and—because of this—that the work done in aLIVE will likely continue beyond DG’s direct involvement.  

   

2. Advance collaborative work by embedding staff and establishing governance structures: In aLIVE, we’ve also strengthened our partnership with Ethiopia’s MoA and other stakeholders by embedding staff with multiple teams at the MoA. This approach of embedding staff has also improved DG’s understanding and awareness of the livestock-sub sector, which has allowed us to have better interaction with stakeholders.
   
   While embedding staff isn’t uncommon, we ensured that our embedded staff were able to be full-time with the team(s) on which they were embedded. This allows these staff members to better share DG-developed resources while being fully committed to the program’s work from our partner’s side. Embedded team members were on such teams as programming, software engineering, and data analysis.
   
   While embedded staff members were able to advance aLIVE’s work from within our partners’ teams, we also established two governance structures in the form of a Governing Committee (GC) and the Technical Implementation Committee (TIC) in order to facilitate buy-in from stakeholders at different levels and with different expertise. The GC is the final decision-making body and provides overall governance, strategic direction, and support for the sustainability of aLIVE’s work. Its members include the State Minister, national minister leadership from the MoA, the Ministry of Trade, and representatives from other organizations within the MoA (such as owners of the other data systems managed by the MoA). The TIC includes experts who provide technical guidance, support, and expert advice for the aLIVE project team.
   
   Through both committees, stakeholders have a constructive space to highlight gaps, opportunities, and resource needs that the broader government leadership can take under advisement. Therefore, communication between implementers and decision-makers is more direct and timely. Additionally, the governance structures have created more visibility around aLIVE’s work at a high-level within Ethiopia’s government, which has allowed DG to connect with related development projects, which supports alignment and knowledge sharing throughout the government and across programs.

   

3. Increase sustainability by ensuring program recommendations and approaches align with partners’ needs and resources: Because a key component in aLIVE’s work is streamlining and expanding livestock data as well as increasing access across data systems, we explored which type of infrastructure is best for our partners: cloud infrastructure or on-site servers. After detailed deliberations, the MoA opted to continue with the on-site servers which were recently installed, recognizing that investment had gone into developing these state-of-the-art server facilities. After all, the on-site servers suited the needs, wants, and technical capacity of the MoA. In making this decision, we were able to support self-management, operations, and sustainability by understanding the local context, the government’s digital infrastructure aspirations, and the government’s technical capacity.
   
   As part of this effort to advance sustainability and support our partners in Ethiopia, we trained relevant MoA staff on the new data management information systems built through aLIVE. This training was intended to expand the MoA staff’s capacity and was tailored to their backgrounds and needs. We also developed an on-demand training after participants expressed an eagerness to continue learning about new technologies beyond this initial training.  

   

Looking forward

As we mark a year and a half of the aLIVE program, we also approach the halfway mark of the program itself, which is set to end in 2024. In reflecting on the lessons we’ve learned so far, we’re excited to see continued progress and learning in the next half of aLIVE.

Going forward, we’ll move into implementing the Data Standard; we will also continue to implement a mobile app which will simplify the process of recording livestock data in both offline and online modes. The app will eventually be handed over to the team at the MoA and those managing the Ethiopian – Livestock Identification and Traceability System (ET-LITS). Finally, the aLIVE team is planning a study tour to New Zealand in late 2024 in order to identify best practices from the country’s livestock data system that can be implemented in Ethiopia.

If you’re interested in receiving more detailed updates on the program’s activities, sign up for our quarterly newsletter.

Through DG’s Visualizing Insights on Fertilizer for African Agriculture (VIFAA) program, we recently published a case study titled “Fostering Sustainable Agriculture through Data-Driven Collaboration and Partnership: Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria.” It dives deep into how the VIFAA program has impacted the fertilizer data and markets in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria. In this blog, we explore the overall impact that the VIFAA program is making, review why the program is needed, and offer some key highlights from the case study.        

Fertilizer Data in Context: Why the VIFAA Program is Needed 

Significantly contributing to low agricultural productivity, African fertilizer consumption has historically lagged behind other regions. As of January 2023, Africa consumes only about 10% of the global average for fertilizer use. Limited access to affordable fertilizers, inadequate infrastructure, and challenges related to financing and knowledge dissemination are some of the factors that contribute to this disparity. However, a concerted effort by governments, non-governmental organizations, and international agencies is gradually changing this situation by promoting sustainable agricultural practices and increasing fertilizer use, which overall will improve agricultural productivity and increase food security.

These efforts to boost fertilizer usage often include providing subsidies, improving distribution channels, and raising awareness among farmers about the benefits of fertilizers. Despite these initiatives, the sector has long struggled with fragmented data, leaving decision-makers without a solid foundation for evidence-based approaches.  

Over the past few years, stakeholders have adopted a more strategic and data-driven approach, fostering a better understanding of farmer needs and key data sets such as imports, exports, and crop-specific formulations. This shift has also encouraged organic trust-building between private enterprises and the governments in which they operate.

Robust partnerships have been instrumental in this transformation. The International Fertilizer Development Center’s Data Initiative, AfricaFertilizer, Development Gateway: An IREX Venture, and Wallace & Associates, supported by funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have collaborated to enhance the availability of validated fertilizer data across eight African countries through a shared initiative: the VIFAA program. The VIFAA program simplifies existing, validated metadata into more accessible visual formats. VIFAA provides policymakers and the private sector tools to improve decision-making through interactive, country-specific dashboards and web-based solutions.

The VIFAA program has benefited the target countries and established foundational data for the African Union Commission’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. Covering Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Senegal, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique, VIFAA has revolutionized the fertilizer data landscape. Policymakers can now instantly access fertilizer balance sheets, price movements, stock positions, and traded volumes. Private companies can stay agile in volatile markets, ensuring a consistent supply of fertilizers for farmers.

Highlights from the Case Study

Under the VIFAA program, three countries—Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria—have particularly stood out, registering significant impacts across the board. This case study, “Fostering Sustainable Agriculture through Data-Driven Collaboration and Partnership: Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Nigeria,” delves into the transformative effects of the VIFAA program in these three nations, providing a comprehensive understanding of its impact and highlighting the pivotal role of data and strategic partnerships in driving agricultural development in Africa.

Some key positive outcomes, which are explored in more detail in the case study, include how:

1. Developing a country-specific dashboard for Ethiopia addressed some of the country’s concerns related to ensuring stakeholders have clear information on the global fertilizer market dynamics and that this information is trustworthy and trusted;
2. Establishing Fertilizer Technical Working Groups in Mozambique created a primary point of validation on any statistics and the impact this has; and
3. Creating the Nigeria Fertilizer Dashboard facilitated private sector actors to crowdfund in order to support the creation of additional nuanced datasets that VIFAA has been able to provide during the past two years.

Read the case study to discover even more about VIFAA’s successes in these countries and to learn more about how initiatives like VIFAA pave the way for a more productive and sustainable agricultural future on the continent. 

Since Development Gateway: An IREX Venture’s (DG’s) founding, we have prioritized working closely with multiple stakeholders—including everyone from local technical experts to government ministries and global partners—when developing digital solutions and gathering data. Through our Tobacco Control Data Initiative (TCDI) program and its sister program Data on Youth and Tobacco in Africa (DaYTA), we have learned that creating governance structures, such as advisory boards or steering committees, is one approach to ensuring that digital solutions appropriately meet stakeholders’ needs and foster future engagement from them. In this blog, we explore three insights on how governance structures can advance buy-in with individual stakeholders while connecting them to one another.  

Why Governance Structures?

Governance structures—which are best practice to have when conducting primary research—have been essential to DG’s tobacco control work, because many of our stakeholders have indicated their desire to be included throughout program implementation and not just at the end. Several have echoed the common refrain: “You can’t do something for us without us.” We’ve also found that governance structures help coordinate collaboration across our stakeholders, especially since we have a group of stakeholders with very different backgrounds, expertise, and areas of interest in our tobacco control work. These stakeholders also all have different perspectives and varied ways in which they engage with our work. Therefore, DG has formed various governance structures in both our TCDI program and DaYTA program. 

The Role of Governance Structures in TCDI and DaYTA

DG formed two advisory boards in the first phase of TCDI: one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and one in Zambia. These advisory boards ensure that stakeholders are updated when the program meets key milestones, including when data, needs assessments, and research protocol are validated; the boards also supported the launch of illicit trade studies in the DRC and in Zambia.

DG’s successful implementation of these governance structures in TCDI paved the way for the formation of the following governance bodies to support DaYTA:

• A new Advisory Board in the DRC (building off the one from TCDI),
• The Survey Implementation Group and the Youth Advisory Group in Nigeria, and
• The Research Advisory Committee in Kenya. 

All of these structures have a similar composition and a shared mandate; each one consists of a small group of technical experts who provide technical direction and advice on the research implementation on youth tobacco use in Kenya, Nigeria, and the DRC.

DG also formed a steering committee in the DRC. Its purview is more strategic and less technical relative to the advisory board; it is led by a high-level public official from DRC’s Ministry of Health and includes stakeholders from civil society organizations, government, academia, and partners in tobacco control (like the World Health Organization) who are working to align the research with government policy.

Additionally, to ensure coordination across countries, we also convened a meeting of the full DaYTA consortium with representatives from all three countries—in-person to start, then a mix of virtual and in-person at key program milestones.

These governance structures have proved successful in giving stakeholders a clearly defined space in which to engage—both in a country-specific and cross-country manner. As we’ve implemented and improved our approach to these governance structures across TCDI and DaYTA, we’ve gathered three insights on how these structures can be beneficial for stakeholders and project implementers alike.   

IREX and Development Gateway: An IREX Venture (DG) are pleased to announce their collaborative work on the USAID-funded Early Grade Education Activity (ASAS) program. The ASAS program, which launched in August 2023 and will run through July 2028, empowers stakeholders within Jordan’s Ministry of Education (MoE) and throughout the country to deliver inclusive and holistic early-grade (EG) education. The project is designed to improve numeracy and literacy skills for Jordanian students from kindergarten to grade three. 

Throughout the program’s implementation, IREX, which is spearheading the project, will improve early grade preservice education and in-service professional development for teachers, while DG will provide technical expertise and in-country field assistance to improve several education data systems. The program will facilitate improved access to timely, relevant, and high-quality data to inform strategic and meaningful education policies, practices, and reforms. This data is critical for EG education planning and will be used to evaluate core areas like school performance, student learning, teacher distribution, resource allocation, and training initiatives. It will also allow decision-makers to plan effective and practical interventions that will support student learning and development across Jordan, especially for underserved areas. Overall, the program will strengthen Jordan’s EG education data ecosystem and improve outcomes for public school students and teachers across the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Other partners supporting the ASAS program include School-to-School International, Queen Rania Teacher Academy, the International Rescue Committee, and the Change Agent for Arab Development and Education Reform.

Increasing educational data system effectiveness

The ASAS program is necessary for enhancing how education sector data is used and improving interoperability between data and digital tools. Having accurate and easier-to-use data empowers stakeholders to advance data-driven practices that meet the needs of students, parents, and teachers. 

Stakeholders working in technical and coordination capacities within the MoE encounter frequent challenges relating to data access, quality, and scalability. Currently, the MoE uses three major education data systems to collect data on learning outcomes: school attendance, classroom assessments, and e-training for teachers and administrators. Making these three essential education data systems compatible with each other will address persistent problems related to data governance, sharing, management, and analysis. Addressing these issues will ultimately improve stakeholder coordination, prevent duplication in effort and other redundancies, and facilitate data-supported decision-making across the whole of the education sector.

ASAS moving forward

In the initial stage of the ASAS program, DG worked closely with stakeholders in Amman, Jordan to conduct a data landscape assessment of the existing education data to establish a comprehensive roadmap of stakeholder needs and priorities. 

Following this assessment, the ASAS program will:

• Launch a new early grades undergraduate program at three public universities that is aligned with international standards and in-service teacher training;
• Institutionalize EG data quality assurance processes and assessments;
• Review and rationalize diagnostic assessment tools to cover holistic childhood development;
• Analyze the cost-effectiveness of teacher professional development; and
• Strengthen data systems utilized by the MoE and learning capabilities. 

Development Gateway: An IREX Venture’s (DG’s) “At a Glance” series explores the highlights in DG’s white papers and other publications. In this installment of the series, we explore the white paper titled “Evidence-Informed Policymaking: Education Data-Driven Decision Mapping in Kenya and Senegal,” which was produced from a study exploring the education data systems in Kenya and Senegal. The study—which was done by DG in collaboration with our strategic partner IREX and supported by the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation—was conducted to ultimately inform further research and reform by gathering stories and perspectives from stakeholders to shed light on the complexities of education data supply, access, and utilization.

This work is essential because effective decision-making in education hinges on relevant, comparable, and accessible data that is managed through efficient information systems. These systems enable policymakers to discern effective strategies, optimize resources, monitor goal achievement, and foster trust. Therefore, well managed education data systems are key components for optimized education systems.  

In the study, DG and IREX underscore the necessity of a harmonized approach to education data management. By prioritizing data governance, incentivizing data use, and ensuring interoperability of existing systems, Kenya and Senegal can enhance their education data ecosystems. These steps are crucial for fostering informed decision-making, optimizing resources, and ultimately improving educational outcomes. The insights gained from this study provide a valuable roadmap for future reforms and investments in education data systems. 

Dive deeper into these insights and learn more about education data systems in Kenya and Senegal in the white paper.

Over the past year, Development Gateway: An IREX Venture (DG) has worked with the United Nations Convention against Desertification (UNCCD), the Great Green Wall (GGW) Accelerator, the Pan African Agency for the Great Green Wall  (PAGGW) and the 11 GGW state parties to build the Great Green Wall Observatory. 

The Great Green Wall Observatory is the first-ever attempt at a multi-stakeholder, multipurpose digital platform to monitor the progress of the GGW Initiative, which seeks to combat climate change in Africa’s Sahara and Sahel regions. By providing access to finance and project management data, the Great Green Wall Observatory allows individuals to have oversight over the GGW Initiative projects being implemented in their communities.   

By providing financial and project management information for the 11 GGW states, the Great Green Wall Observatory increases collaboration, accountability, and transparency on the activities and projects of the  GGW Initiative and informs  local and regional engagement between financial and technical stakeholders and frontline GGW communities. As an openly accessible data platform, the Great Green Wall Observatory opens up the possibilities for improved outcomes, coordination, and measurement of the  impact of the existing and future GGW initiatives and paves the way for other climate action projects to grow and expand, as existing ones succeed.

Creating the Great Green Wall Observatory: A Collaborative Approach 

When DG creates a digital solution, key prerequisites for the establishment and sustainability of data and information system are established. In building the Great Green Wall Observatory, we focused on the following metrics: 

• Standardized data indicators and definitions availed through the GGW Harmonized Results Indicator Framework;
• Institutional mandate provided by the PAGGW and the respective National Agencies for the GGW;
• A system and data governance framework, provided by the Multi-stakeholder Data Task Force of the GGW; and
• Adequate technical and human capacity (e.g., people who are present and engaged in the project).

For data indicators, DG integrated data on financing and monitoring and evaluation indicators that the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank published into the Observatory. This data was drawn from the Harmonized Results Management Framework that the PAGGW adopted in 2012 to provide guidance on the design and measurement of progress for the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel. The existence of the data standards and definitions is a key component of the Observatory. 

A data governance framework had already been established through the GGW Data Task Force, which provided DG with a route for validating components of and co-creating the Observatory.

Finally, the GGW Initiative has a host of deeply engaged and invested partners who are eager to see the Initiative succeed. Some of partners with whom DG had the pleasure of collaborating included: UNCCD, World Food Programme (WFP),  Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), IFAD, CIFOR-ICRAF, Sahara and Sahel Observatory(OSS), World Resources Institute, SOS Sahel, European Investment Bank(EIB), GIZ, World Bank, French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development(IRD), and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

The development of the Observatory also greatly benefitted from the open-source data that the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank published through the World Bank Policy on Access to Information and the AFDB IATI Data Portal. This data has allowed the Observatory to be a more robust platform which can generate more precise information than it would have been able to without this data.

Through this project, DG has seen the importance of open and accessible data for global climate action. We encourage partners, colleagues, and stakeholders to commit to the provision of open climate action data as they are able, in order to allow greater collaboration, innovation, and success for climate action efforts. In order for us to truly combat climate change, we need open data and we need each other.

Next Steps

As we celebrate this milestone for the Great Green Wall Observatory, we look forward to continued collaboration and partnerships on capacity building across the board for continuous improvement, learning, and knowledge sharing. To support this capacity building, the first training in a series was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from May 27 and 31, 2024. Capacity building will be essential to help the teams maintain quality control and ensure continued data use from all GGW stakeholders—both of which are key ingredients for the sustainability of the platform.

DG will also offer continued technical support to the PAGGW team as they build country-specific data use cases on GGW data. Gathering these use cases will also allow the GGW leadership to make inclusive decisions that incentivize the participation from women and youth in GGW’s restoration and landscape management efforts.