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E-book Data Governance and Policy in Africa

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Sound economic policy presupposes availability of timely, comprehensive, credible, and multi-purpose data that many African countries have lacked for a long period. It is not long ago when major policy reforms were implemented based on findings drawn from faulty data. A recent project B. Ndemo Kenya’s Ambassador, Belgium and the EU Mission, Brussels, Belgiume-mail: bndemo@bitangendemo.meN. Ndung’u National Treasury and Economic Planning, Nairobi, Kenyae-mail: njuguna.ndungu@aercafrica.orgS. Odhiambo (*) African Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi, Kenyae-mail: scholastica.odhiambo@aercafrica.orgA. Shimeles Department of Economics, University of Capetown, Capetown, South Africae-mail: abebe.shimeles@uct.ac.za© The Author(s) 2023B. Ndemo et al. (eds.), Data Governance and Policy in Africa, Information Technology and Global Governance, by the World Bank on “Agriculture in Africa: telling facts from myth1” is a clear illustration of how, for many years, policymakers in Africa formu-lated their policies toward smallholder farmers based on stylized facts that were inaccurate or untrue. The project identified over 16 well-established “myths” that generally had been taken as facts and informed decision-making in most African countries. We can cite many other examples as well that triggered significant policy actions driven by faulty data.2 Some researchers also argued that Africa’s national statistics are significantly affected by measurement errors, poor data management, and weak capac-ity, making national development strategies incoherent.3 On the other hand, relatively reliable data generated from large household or labor force surveys or census in most cases remain unused for policymaking for various reasons. It is here that AERC has played a major role in facilitating the use of such data sets for the analysis of Africa’s labor markets, poverty and inequality, small holder land and labor productivity, and so forth and made significant contributions to the understanding of African economies. Still Africa has remained the most under-researched continent to date.The last two decades, however, has seen significant improvements in the availability of high-quality data that can be used for effective policy evaluation. The advent of behavioral economics, the availability of big data through satellite imagery by NASA and others, such as changes in tem-perature, rainfall, soil quality, vegetation, night light data, movement of people and traffic across borders through Google Maps, and most of all data generated by mobile telephony present unique opportunities for Africa. Recent years have seen a rise in cutting-edge research on African economies utilizing such data as well as well-designed field experiments. A combination of these two has given researchers unique advantages to explore frontier issues that were unthinkable a few decades ago. The digi-tal footprint that flourished in the continent in the financial sector and the use of social media and other platforms also present advantages that enable economic research in Africa. The African Economic Research Consortium, with the support of the Hewlett Foundation, undertook a scoping study to bridge the gap between evidence and data, as well as evidence and policy, but more importantly to draw attention to appropriate data man-agement policy, data use, data protection, and data governance in the con-text of Africa. The introduction section presents the key findings from the seven chapters contained in this volume and outlines the way forward.The contributors to this book consist of economists, lawyers, statisti-cians, and data technology experts to assess the opportunities, challenges, and risks existent in the current state of data generations, sharing proto-cols, and consistency of legislations. Desirous of encouraging the wide-spread use of large data from different sources, ensure its reliability, and facilitate availability, the book seeks to identify opportunities, constraints, and impediments to the use of data and evidence to inform economic policy decision-making in sub-Saharan Africa and, in so doing, to engage policymakers on the implications for data governance that could provide safe access and foster its widespread use. The main objective of this book is twofold. First, to create a platform on data governance that raises aware-ness on basic principles/tenets of international norms and shares experi-ences and practices from across the world and Africa. Second, to initiate, promote, and advocate for data governance protocols in the era of digital revolution and assess the potentials for improving the digital market to enhance benefits to African consumers, governments, and businesses. To achieve these objectives, the chapters covered broad themes that provide better understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and risks in the pro-cess of data production, consumption, and utilization. Chapter 2, “A Prototype Data Governance Framework for Africa” by Bitange Ndemo and Aaron Thegeya, outlines a framework for data governance that ensures sovereignty, while at the same time enhances productivity within each African country and bolsters cross-country collaborations. The chapter proposes a continent-wide data governance strategy that “abide by core principles such as preserving accountability, ensuring data accuracy and quality, and facilitating interoperability and standardization of data.” The chapter discusses global practices that provide the principles and frame-work for data governance that promotes accountability in improving data quality, integrity privacy, and security of data subjects, as well as ethical use of data.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

003.5 BAB d

Penerbit

Switzerland : Springer Nature., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

229 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9783031244988

Klasifikasi

003.5

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

-

Subjek

Theory of Communication and Control

Info Detail Spesifik

-

Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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