The second webinar of the “Data for development in Latin America” series focused on discussing the use of business and administrative records for the measurement of the SDGs in Latin America.
The private sector collects a significant number of records related to its economic activity, value chain and interaction with citizens. These records are an ideal input not only to respond to the growing need for disaggregated information for decision-making and resource management at national and sub-national levels, but also to improve the measurement and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda.
However, there are barriers that limit the use and adequacy of these records as statistical data. This generates the need to build partnerships between the private sector and the statistical offices and government organizations that produce data to align methodologies.
In order to present the use of administrative and business records to improve the measurement and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda, as well as the generation of partnerships for its promotion and use, this webinar, moderated by Alonso Ortiz, Engagement Manager of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, presented the case studies of Colombia and Mexico, showing the opportunities for joint work between the private and public sector to use this type of records as a complement to official statistics to close information gaps.
Claudio Moris from ECLAC, focused on presenting the availability of administrative records in the LAC region and its importance for measuring the SDGs. He especially stressed that it is necessary to promote the strengthening of statistical legislation to facilitate the transfer of information and ensure confidentiality,” and that National Statistics Offices have a preponderant role in the process of producing SDG indicators from administrative records.
Margarita Vaca, Data Researcher of Cepei, presented two initiatives that business records for the measurement of the SDGs in Colombia. One of them is the Data Reconciliation project, where, together with the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), the Bogota Chamber of Commerce and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Cepei identified that the data of the commercial register, which collects information from more than 650,000 companies, serves to measure SDGs 8 and 9.
Margarita also presented the Unidos por los ODS initiative, a partnership of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá (CCB), the Pacto Global Colombia, Fundación Bolívar Davivienda and Fundación Corona, who, committed with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, joined efforts to measure the contribution that companies are making to the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda, identifying their strengths, aspects to improve and challenges.
To carry out the project, Cepei, as the technical operator, designed a questionnaire made of 71 questions covering 13 SDGs directly, that respond to 34 indicators, with SDG 14 being the only one that was not included. These indicators were formulated from a business perspective, but maintaining the collaborative approach established by the United Nations, said Margarita. The instrument was applied to 21 large companies from different sectors, which through a multi-area exercise collected detailed information on different topics for three consecutive years 2015, 2016 and 2017.
This is one of the results of the analysis for SDG 8:
Finally Nancy Cihuapilli, Director of Digital Strategy of Concamin, commented, on how the institution handles the data and the exploration process:
She also stressed the importance of data communication through the use of visualizations:
Recording