Strengthening the competencies of policy makers for better use of data in public policy design1

Core Data ◽

Literacy Initiatives ◽

Task Team

Statistical literacy is one of the main areas of work of the Global Network of Institutions for Statistical Training (GIST) established in 2017. While the scope of statistical literacy initiatives will range greatly from those intended for school children and teachers to those aimed at media representatives or general public, one of the areas where a dedicated Task Team of the GIST set out to undertake a more detailed analysis was related to the core data competencies for policy makers. The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals by UN member States has led to a growing awareness around the importance of timely, robust, quality and disaggregated data for informing public policies and decisions and providing a solid evidence to address a number of complex policy issues related to ensuring more equitable policy outcomes and more coherence decision-making across different dimensions of sustainable development and different levels of governance from global to national and local. This article presents the results of a survey conducted by the GIST Task Team on Statistical Literacy back in 2018 with the participation of policy makers from various UN Member States, reviews core data competencies for policy makers, presents the free, self-paced e-learning course developed by UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), UN Statistics Division and UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) with support from the Swiss Government and using UNITAR’s Quality Assurance Framework, and discusses the ongoing work of the GIST on the inventory of statistical literacy initiatives as a new product developed by the dedicated Task Team.

The Impact of the Implementation of Cohesion Policy on the Sustainable Development of EU Countries

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11154173 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (15) ◽

pp. 4173 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ramona Pîrvu ◽

Cristian Drăgan ◽

Gheorghe Axinte ◽

Sorin Dinulescu ◽

Mihaela Lupăncescu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Cohesion Policy ◽

Member States ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Eu Countries ◽

Starting Point ◽

The Impact ◽

Official Data ◽

The Eu

The impact of implementation of cohesion policy on the sustainable development of EU countries is of great interest and presents a number of actual challenges. This research aims to evaluate the impact and the effects of the cohesion policy among the Member States using hierarchical clustering analysis in order to identify how the selected variables affect the sustainable development adopted models. The variables used in the analysis were selected on the basis of official data provided by the European Commission, SDG Index and Dashboards Reports and the EU Cohesion Monitor. The results of the research have led to the grouping of the 28 Member States in a number of six clusters, identifying performers but also those countries that have a high potential for sustainable development or which require increased attention to be sustained in recovering existing gaps. The results of the study can be a starting point for policy makers and other stakeholders involved in their efforts to support sustainable development through effective and effective policies.

Sustainability and Depletion Accounting: A Case Study of Oil in Libya

Environment and Natural Resources Research ◽

10.5539/enrr.v7n1p34 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 34 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Abdulrazag Mohamed Etelawi ◽

Keith A. Blatner ◽

Jill McCluskey

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Planning Process ◽

National Income ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Time Period ◽

Oil Resources ◽

Income Development ◽

Per Capita ◽

High Level

There is a strong need to study sustainability and depletion accounting of oil in the Libyan economy because oil production and export is the single largest source of national income in the country. This study covers the time period from 1990 to 2009. Throughout this period, the Libyan national economy used its oil and petroleum industries to increase national income. Development sustainability can be defined as investment divided by GDP. This measure provides an indication of the low level of sustainable development in Libya over the period of analysis, which is 0.38 on average. It is important that the Libyan government develop and implement plans and strategies for achieving sustainability and the maintenance of oil resources.Carbon dioxide emissions provide another indication of the presence or absence of sustainability. The ratio of carbon dioxide ranged from a minimum of 8.50 metric tons per capita in 1990 to 10.00 metric tons per capita in 2009 and average 9.07 metric tons per capita over the course of the study period. CO2 emissions were also much higher than other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. This suggests there was relatively little interest in the sustainable development of the Libyan economy during this period. The Environment Domestic Product (EDP) increased sharply from the beginning of the study at $24.23 billion in 1991 to $45.87 billion in 2009 in constant dollars. Again, one can infer that policy makers did not consider the depletion of oil resources and the environment in their planning process, or at least did not place a high level of concern on this issue.

Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability - Sustainability Science for Social, Economic, and Environmental Development ◽

Labour Observatories for Agricultural Policymaking and Sustainable Development

10.4018/978-1-4666-4995-8.ch006 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 56-63

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Developing Countries ◽

Agricultural Practices ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Agricultural Policies ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Crop Varieties ◽

The Right

Assimilation of relevant information within a labour observatory is a key to success of an observatory. Management of such relevant information and its dissemination to the right audience at the right time is also important. In this regard, a labour observatory plays a very important role for successful operationalization of agricultural policies within developing countries. Historical information regarding soil, crop varieties, agricultural practices, and skill of agricultural labourers needs to be maintained by a labour observatory. Information from the observatory has to be communicated to policy makers for making a pragmatic decision in developing countries with large agriculturally dependent populations. These decisions can impact the lives of this population and can impact the sustainable development of these countries. Initiatives related to labour observatory started more than a decade back in developed countries. It has now begun in parts of Africa, too. The chapter highlights these developments and contextualizes the association between these observatories, agricultural policymaking, and sustainable development.

Requisite Sustainable Development Contemplating Buildings

10.4018/978-1-7998-8331-9.ch014 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 269-288

Author(s):

Parul Bhyan ◽

Bhavna Shrivastava ◽

Nand Kumar

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Future Generation ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Future Research ◽

Literature Study ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Development Goals ◽

Environment Sustainability

Sustainable development is a requisite for future generation, as increasing urbanization, destruction of natural resources by anthropic activities, degrading ecosystems for the sake of present economic development at cost of environmental exploitation are increasing by each passing day on earth. The goal of this chapter is to provide meaningful insights for policy-makers and decision-makers towards sustainable development in the construction industry. This study is first-of-its-kind study focusing on the Sustainable Developments Goals and sustainability dimensions and their criteria and indicators in one compilation through literature study. The study concludes that there is a need to integrate the construction industry into the Sustainable Development Goals and their targets to test the built environment sustainability and there is a need to develop the most adequate frameworks for commencing the topic. Two possible frameworks suggested for future research recommendation needed for the Indian context to enhance sustainability within construction industry are based on LCSA and MCDM analysis.

Local Action with Global Impact: The Case of the GROW Observatory and the Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su122410518 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (24) ◽

pp. 10518

Author(s):

Raquel Ajates ◽

Gerid Hager ◽

Pavlos Georgiadis ◽

Saskia Coulson ◽

Mel Woods ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Local Level ◽

Two Dimensions ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Development Goals ◽

Closing The Gap ◽

Multi Stakeholder

This article reports on Citizen Observatories’ (COs) potential to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reflecting on the experience of the GROW Observatory (GROW). The research aims to take the first steps in closing the gap in the literature on COs’ potential contributions to the SDG framework, beyond quantitative data contributions for indicator monitoring. Following an analysis of project activities and outcomes mapped against the SDG framework, the findings reveal GROW’s potential contributions across two dimensions: (i) Actions to advance the implementation of goals and targets through awareness raising and training; participatory methods; multi-stakeholder connections; and supporting citizens to move from data to action and (ii) Data contributions to SDG indicator monitoring through citizen-generated datasets. While earlier research has focused mostly on the latter (dimension ii), CO activities can impact numerous goals and targets, highlighting their potential to relate global SDGs to local level action, and vice versa. These findings align with the growing literature on COs’ ability to bring together policy makers, scientists and citizens, and support changes to environmental policy and practice. Furthermore, this research suggests groundwork activities that address the goal and target level can also enhance sustained data collection to contribute to indicator level monitoring. We conclude with future trends and recommendations for COs wishing to contribute to the SDGs.

Handbook of Research on Islamic Social Finance and Economic Recovery After a Global Health Crisis - Advances in Finance, Accounting, and Economics ◽

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

10.4018/978-1-7998-6811-8.ch018 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 280-295

Author(s):

Nur Farhah Mahadi ◽

Nor Razinah Mohd. Zain ◽

Shamsuddeen Muhammad Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Financial Inclusion ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Development Goals ◽

Corporate Social ◽

The Relationship

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of Islamic social finance towards realising financial inclusion in achieving nine of the seventeen goals of sustainable development goals (SDGs) which are SDG1, SDG2, SDG3, SDG4, SDG5, SDG8, SDG9, SDG10, and SDG17 in the 2030 agenda for SDGs, as propagated by United Nations Member States in 2015. Then, a critical analysis is made to explain the possible contribution of Islamic social finance in achieving financial inclusion which is aligned with SDGs that brings balanced to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual of the community in supporting overall economic growth which finally combats the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research and empirical studies can be conducted to explore the relationship between Islamic social finance, financial inclusion, and SDGs which in tandem with Maqᾱṣid al-Sharῑ῾ah to equip ourselves in unpredictable economic hiccups during COVID-19. The results may also motivate the financial industries to promote Islamic social finance products and corporate social responsibilities as well as enhance the development of Islamic social finance towards achieving financial inclusion in fulfilling SDGs which soon will provide significant social impacts as the results will enable new initiatives by industries and policy makers to develop Islamic social finance in attaining financial inclusion to achieve SDGs which is seen as being parallel with Maqᾱṣid al-Sharῑ῾ah especially in resolving economic issues of COVID-19.

How Is Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals Measured? Comparing Four Approaches for the EU

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12187675 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (18) ◽

pp. 7675

Author(s):

Guillaume Lafortune ◽

Grayson Fuller ◽

Guido Schmidt-Traub ◽

Christian Kroll

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Policy Framework ◽

Member States ◽

Eu Member States ◽

Methodological Choices ◽

Data Gaps ◽

Development Goals ◽

The Eu

Evidence-based policymaking must be rooted in sound data to inform policy priorities, budget allocations, and tracking of progress. This is especially true in the case of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they provide the policy framework that all 193 UN member states have pledged to achieve by 2030. Good data and clear metrics are critical for each country to take stock of where it stands, devise pathways for achieving the goals, and track progress. Current assessments of the EU’s performance on the SDGs, however, tend to reach different findings and policy conclusions on where the priorities for further action lie, which can be confusing for researchers and policymakers. In order to demystify the drivers of such differences and make them transparent, this paper compares and contrasts the results obtained by four SDG monitoring approaches. We identify three main elements that are responsible for most of the differences: (i) the use of pre-defined targets for calculating baseline assessments and countries’ trajectories; (ii) the inclusion of measures that track not only domestic performance, but also the EU’s transboundary impacts on the rest of the world; and (iii) the use of non-official statistics to bridge data gaps, especially for biodiversity goals. This paper concludes that there is not one “correct” way of providing an assessment of whether the EU and EU member states are on track to achieve the goals, but we illustrate how the different results are the outcomes of certain methodological choices. More “forward-looking” policy trackers are needed to assess implementation efforts on key SDG transformations.

How to promote Geography for Sustainability

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-130 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Wenwu Zhao ◽

Bojie Fu ◽

Yanxu Liu

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Human Activities ◽

Scale Model ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Sustainable Solutions ◽

Earth Systems ◽

Development Goals

<p>Human interactions with Earth systems have accelerated dramatically in recent decades. Human activities are altering the Earth system and exerting significant impacts on the environment, and undermining improvements in human wellbeing and poverty alleviation. In order to secure global prosperity and transform to global sustainability, United Nations launched the&#160;17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)&#160;of the&#160;2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. The goals include efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and to consolidate efforts to slow climate change and preserve our world environment.&#160;The process of implementing the SDGs has created new challenges for policy makers and for the scientific community. Half of the Sustainable Development Goals are related to environment and natural resources. Geographical Science is one of the most important KEY for sustainable development. Geographers have been conducting various experiments and modelling at multi-scales, and tried to identify the relationships between human activities and various earth surface processes, dwell on ecosystem processes and ecosystem services trade off at multi-scale, model the effects of human activity and earth systems, and try to figure out the possible sustainable solutions for regional, national and global developments. It&#8217;s time to launch a new journal focus on Geography and Sustainability for the world. That&#8217;s why, Faculty of Geographical Science (Beijing Normal University) start to publish the new journal: Geography and Sustainability. The new journal focus on: Geographical processes, Human-Environmental Systems, Ecosystem services and human being, Sustainable development, Geo-data and model for Sustainability. The new journal is also the office journal for IGU Commission on Geography for Future Earth: Coupled Human-Earth Systems for Sustainability.</p>

University 4.0 within the context of the sustainable development of higher education

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202125004002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 250 ◽

pp. 04002

Author(s):

Larisa Gorina ◽

Ekaterina Polyakova

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Workforce Development ◽

Higher Education Research ◽

Institutions Of Higher Education ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Technology Industry ◽

The University ◽

Support Research

The process of development of universities from the places where medieval elites met to conduct alliances and partnerships to the modern biotechnological and digital institutions of higher education, research and business took several centuries and went through four main stages. This paper describes the role and the place of the University 4.0 within the context of the sustainable development of higher education in the 21st century. We show that University 4.0 is designed to promote the technology industry through partnerships that support research, marketing, workforce development, as well as entrepreneurship. In keeping with the cooperative nature efforts directed and driven by the policy-makers and relevant stakeholders need to be dedicated to promoting modern universities as hub for the development of intelligent, connected technologies and services that would lead to the sustainable development of higher education that would reflect the challenges of our time.

An Analysis of Dynamic Changes in Selected Areas of Sustainable Development of the European Union Countries

Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia ◽

10.2478/foli-2018-0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 93-107 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Iwona Bąk ◽

Katarzyna Cheba

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Point Of View ◽

Reference Points ◽

The European Union ◽

Member States ◽

Eu Member States ◽

The Individual

Abstract The aim of the study is to determine the pace and directions of changes (understood as: improvement or deterioration) occurring in selected areas of sustainable development of EU Member States. The paper analyzes dynamics of changes in selected areas of sustainable development monitored on the basis of headline indicators published by Eurostat from 2008 to 2015. In the paper, three variants of reference points of synthetic measure of development were considered. On the basis of the obtained results, the countries in which the improvement in the sustainable development and its deterioration can be observed were identified. The results have confirmed the existence of significant developmental disparities between EU Member States in this field, but it should be noted that the obtained results depend on the methodological approach both to the selection of features and the adoption of a specific standardization formula, as well as the considered variants of reference points. The results obtained can be utilized in subsequent years to examine the directions of change observed both from the point of view of European Union as one organization, and the individual EU Member States.