On the sidelines of the AUC-ECA Conference of Ministers running from 25 to 31 March 2015 in Addis Ababa, experts will seek to push for evidence-based development policies hinged on meaningful data.

Addis Ababa, 20 March 2015 (ECA-AUC) - How can big data be generated and put at the disposal of African decision makers to drive a sustainable development process based on the real needs and aspirations of African countries? This is the big question to be examined for three days by government officials and experts from the data industry, academia and civil society during a High Level Conference on Data Revolution that starts on 27 March at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa.

Setting the scene for a sustainable development agenda powered by Data Revolution in Africa is pitched as the theme of the HLC will seek to adopt a set of principles that will power data revolution in Africa with short, medium and long-term action plans. Such plans will inform sustainable development policies and service delivery while boosting citizen engagement and helping Africa to authoritatively script its own narrative.

The HLC, and the processes that will ensue from it, are a spin-off of the work of the Independent Expert Advisory Group (IEAG) on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development set up by the Secretary-General in August 2014 to make concrete recommendations on bringing about a data revolution in sustainable development. The Group proposes that stakeholders in the data industry, in collaboration with decision-makers that are engaged in this revolution, should focus their energies on principles and standards, technology, innovation and analysis, capacity and resources and leadership and governance.

The event is being jointly organized by the African Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Jointly issued by the ECA and the AUC