Expanding the Data Ecosystem: The role of “Non-Official” Data for SDG Monitoring and Review

We strongly support the adoption of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data by the UN Statistical Commission. We commit to strengthening and nurturing partnerships with National Statistical Offices (NSOs), particularly around Objectives 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 5.1, and urge NSOs, governments and UN bodies to intensify work and expand opportunities for partnership with non-official data sources1 and providers. 

● We are committed to working with NSOs to overcome challenges in working closely with non-official data for the SDGs – most notably around issues of comparability and interoperability, data quality and methodologies, trust-building and subjectivity of data, and open data standards and data privacy. 

● We strongly support the call in the 2030 Agenda and the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data to strengthen the capacity of official statistical systems, as well as further support for non-official data providers as well. 

● We call upon NSOs to harness non-official data in their countries to help ensure that no one is left behind, and to further use of survey-based perception and experiential data, in an effort to maintain the people-centered nature of SDG implementation. 

● We urge countries to utilize non-official data sources to inform national development planning and indicators development. We also strongly call for governments to include non-official data sources in its monitoring and reporting systems, and to put in place inclusive mechanisms for submissions of civil society expert assessments or alternative reports, and dialogues with civil society.