Data for Development: What's the smartest SDG target?
As reported in The Guardian and on Reuters, the Copenhagen Consensus has published the first report to estimate the cost of the High Level Panel’s data revolution. The result: $1.5billion per target globally over fifteen years. For the Open Working Group’s final outcome document, this equates to $254 billion or almost two years of ODA funding. How much are we willing to spend on measuring the post-2015 development agenda?
One interesting point of comparison is looking at what industrialized countries spend on statistics. For example, both the Norwegian and British governments have official statistical services, which cost about 0.2% of GDP. Using this figure as a measure of willingness to pay would suggest that we should aim at four SDG targets, which could be properly monitored, rather than 169.
You can read all the papers on data for development here and download the one page PDF here.
The smartest targets for the post-2015 development agenda
What are the smartest targets for the post-2015 development agenda?
In a world of limited resources, we can’t do everything, but how should we prioritize? The Copenhagen Consensus Center provides information on which targets will do the most social good relative to their costs. The final decision on choosing goals will definitely rest on a number of factors, not just economics – but knowing the costs and benefits provides an important piece of information.
The Post-2015 Consensus brought together, renowned experts from the UN, NGO and private sectors with 60 teams of economists to produced 100+ research papers to establish the most effective targets for the post-2015 development agenda within 22 core issue areas: Air Pollution, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conflict & Violence, Data for Development, Education, Energy, Food Security, Gender Equality, Governance & Institutions, Health: Chronic Diseases, Health: Health Systems, Health: Infant Mortality & Maternal Health, Health: Infectious Diseases, Infrastructure, Illicit Financial Flows, Nutrition, Population & Demography, Poverty, Science & Technology, Trade, and Water & Sanitation.
An Expert Panel including two Nobel Laureates has reviewed all of this research and identified 19 targets that represent the best value-for-money in development over the period 2016 to 2030.
Only have three minutes? Watch our introduction video to the Post-2015 Consensus project.
Making prioritization a factor in the post-2015 debate
An overview of Copenhagen Consensus' ground-breaking research which is shaping the thinking for the 193 governments about to prioritize the smartest development goals for 2016-2030. If you've just read the article in The Economist you might be interested in exploring more about our project, and the research we've undertaken so we have put together an online supplement with more in-depth information.
