Data-Driven Development
DDDM not only benefits businesses but also enables governments to make better policy decisions. For instance, DDDM can be utilized to uncover hidden patterns, unexpected relationships, and market trends or reveal preferences that may have been difficult to discover previously. Armed with this information, government entities can make better decisions about healthcare, infrastructure, and finances than they could before. Read this article from the Executive Summary through Chapter 2 to explore data-driven decision models, how data is changing development, and how data can fill the holes in policymaking.
Data: The Fuel of the Future
How Data Is Changing Development
This report is about how the data revolution is changing the
behavior of governments, individuals, and firms. Specifically, the report examines how these changes affect the nature
of development – economic, social, and cultural. How can
governments extract value from data to improve service delivery in the same way that private companies have learned to
do for profit? Is it feasible for individuals to take ownership of
their own data and to use it to improve livelihoods and quality
of life? Can developing-country firms compete with the internet majors on their own turf and even be more innovative
in their use of data to serve local customers better? Several
potential audiences could therefore benefit from this report:
- The primary audience is government policy makers, though not in a single line ministry, such as information and communication technology or finance, but rather across government, given that data is a multidisciplinary concern
- A secondary audience would be individuals concerned about how their personal data is used and those interested in how the data revolution might impact future job prospects.
- Beyond that, private sector firms, particularly in developing countries, looking to expand their markets and improve their competitive edge will find interesting examples of how other firms are doing that.
- Finally, development professionals should find the report relevant as they seek to use data more creatively to tackle long-standing global challenges, such as eliminating extreme poverty, promoting shared prosperity, or mitigating the effects of climate change.