The Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has selected the African Development Bank's Africa Information Highway as one of the most innovative initiatives around the world to enable and inform the data revolution and post-2015 Sustainable Development Goal agenda.
The announcement is a culmination of a project called "Informing a Data Revolution", which was launched by PARIS21 in 2014 to identify the most innovative data initiatives to enable and inform the data revolution.
Besides being an enabler to the data revolution, to be selected an initiative needed to meet the following criteria: provide the right data, to the right people, at the right time, in the right format. As one of the selected innovative initiatives, the Africa Information Highway has been added to the PARIS21 Innovations Inventory, a collection of innovative approaches in the field of development data that started in 2014 and is now open for public participation.
Being featured in the inventory means that the selected initiative will enjoy free visibility among other innovators. It also provides a platform to meet other innovation seekers from private companies, national statistical offices, NGOs and international organizations. The inventory is a participatory tool which can be accessed at: http://innovation.paris21.org.
The Statistics Department of the African Development Bank launched the Open Data for Africa platform in 2011, with the aim of significantly increasing access to quality data necessary for managing and monitoring development results in African countries, including the Millennium Development Goals.
Since that time, the platform, also known as the Africa Information Highway, has served as a knowledge centre for collecting, accessing, and sharing data and data-driven content. The initiative enhances and underpins the AfDB's statistical strategy to improve data collection and dissemination in Africa, and to promote statistical development on the continent.