Advancing Data Governance in Africa

As part of MERL Tech’s current focus on responsible data governance in M&E, in June we hosted a session at gLocal Evaluation Week and shared our work at the European Evaluation Society’s 2022 conference. In both cases we spoke about the evolution of data governance over the years, emerging trends we’re seeing, and what this means for our practical day to day activities in M&E.

Key framing points

• digitalisation in general is advancing, and digital access among individuals around the world has grown to 63% according to the ITU – an increase of 17% since 2019
• alongside this growth is the emergence of data privacy regulations and continued advancement towards a big data economy, more data capture, increased surveillance
• country governments and organisations are coming to the realisation that their data can do both good and harm, and there is emerging awareness among the general public related to data privacy
• and thus there is growing interest in data ethics, responsibility, and compliance as well as demand for greater accountability.

We went on to discuss what responsible data management means in the practical sense at each stage of the data life cycle and M&E cycle (a framework used for the guide), and what this means in an African Context where the digital divide is a challenge. See the Responsible Data Governance Reports 1 and 2.

The African continent has taken some strides towards data governance. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, there are 33 countries with data privacy legislation, and additional countries with draft legislation. One thus needs to consider country law as well as other guiding contexts, when moving along the data life cycle.  

MERL Tech Trends on the Continent

In addition to the above discussions, at our sessions we touched on our current work with a South African enterprise, Data Innovators, to conduct a MERL Tech landscape scan in Africa. This forms part of an ongoing contribution to knowledge related to responsible data governance in Africa. The scan will provide an analysis of initiatives and solutions that support tech enabled MERL practices with a focus on equity and inclusion, youth and community empowerment, indigenous knowledge and practices, and real time decision making. This work has allowed us to better understand and assess challenges and lessons related to the use of data and MERL Tech tools.

During the Glocal Evaluation Week panel discussion, we shared some initial findings related to:

• Equity and Inclusion
• Under-representation of women, even though women account for over 50% of the total population in the countries of research
• Enduring challenges with technology access for hard-to-reach vulnerable and marginalised groups
• Youth and Community empowerment
• Youth not just as participants – but as developers of solutions and initiatives
• Indigenous knowledge and practices
• Interesting efforts to support and prioritise local and indigenous knowledge

Stay tuned for more on these findings later in the year.

Discussion points

At the EES session, we discussed whether awareness on responsible data governance has grown over the past few years in the M&E ecosystem and how this is manifesting and changing practice. Participants felt that there is some awareness at the level of government. For example, the South African government has set up a department to establish procedures for data governance. However they noted that there is less awareness amongst M&E practitioners.

Going forward, participants felt that check lists to ensure data law compliance based on the context of a country would be useful. They also suggested more focus on responsible data governance at future evaluation-focused conferences to improve M&E practitioners’ awareness of regulations and procedures. The greatest challenge, as one person highlighted, is that there is little accountability for misuse of data, despite the fact that there are now legal regulations that aim to uphold data privacy.

Watch the sessions!

Check out the videos from the two gLocal sessions for more insights

#gLOCAL2022: Responsible Data Governance for M&E in the African Context

#gLOCAL2022: Trends in African MERL Tech-Insights from the Landscape Scan