Dr Marion Steff shares the role of civil society in data collection.

1. The Role of Civil Society
in Data Collection
Dr Marion Steff,
9th March 2016
UNICEF

2. 2030 Agenda & data collection
• Global indicators will be complemented by
indicators at the regional and national levels
• Developed by Member States
• To support national ownership
• Based on national official data sources

3. Disability indicators in the SDGs
“Data disaggregation by disability where relevant”
11 explicit references to persons with disabilities
– poverty eradication (2)
– education (2)
– employment (2)
– reducing inequalities, sustainable and inclusive cities (3)
– peaceful and inclusive societies (2)

4. Data collection by CS:
not a new thing!
• Information collection & dissemination
• Technical development of policy
• Assessment and monitoring of service delivery and
policy implementation
• Advocacy based on evidence including from above
activities

5. Global Trachoma Mapping
Project (1/2)
• Led by Sightsavers. Funded by DFID & USAID
• Multi-partner data collection initiative, including
30 Ministries of Health, WHO, academics
organisations & over 20 NGOs
• Largest infectious disease survey ever
undertaken. 3 years to complete

6. Global Trachoma Mapping
Project (2/2)
• 2.6 million people examined in 29 countries
(drawn from a population of 224m)
• More than 550 teams; used of smartphones
• Other useful data captured (age, sex, WASH
conditions, etc)
• Data enabled MoH to plan intervention (SAFE
strategy)
• Increased profile of the disease  more donations

7. Data disaggregation
by disability pilot (1/2)
• Two projects to understand if people with
disabilities are accessing our services
• Partners India: Local community development
organisation & eye hospital
• Partners Tanzania: Ministry of Health & League
for the Blind
• Washington Group Short Set of Questions
• + Qualitative data (Interviews & focus groups)

8. Data disaggregation
by disability pilot (2/2)
• Findings: Collecting data on disability creates
demand for more inclusive services (both at the
community and service providers levels).
• Sustainability: Data collected is linked to
national management information systems
(Tanzania) and compared with available sources.
Will be shared with NSO and governments.

9. The Role of Civil Society then? (1/3)
Advocacy
• To raise awareness
about the 2030 Agenda
• To support citizens in
participating in
accountability processes
• To share learning

10. The Role of Civil Society then? (2/3)
Practice / innovation
• To identify, train and sensitise stakeholders
to ensure buy-in
• To look beyond numbers, in order to take
into account hard-to-quantify factors such as
the inclusion of marginalised groups in
programme implementation

11. The Role of Civil Society then? (3/3)
Partnership / Collaboration
• To promote sustainability by working in
collaboration with NSO
• To empower and train marginalised groups so
they can own the data collected and improve
planning and decision-making

12. THANK YOU!
Contact details:
msteff@sightsavers.org
www.sightsavers.org
Twitter: @mllemarionamtl