In Africa, leveraging on data for socio-economic development is impeded by inadequate data infrastructure and digital platforms which limit the capacity of organizations (in the private and public sector) to design methodologies for data use, curation and repurposing. There is a need to create processes and digital tools that impel decision-makers to act on insights derived from the small-to-big data. A connection between those who work on the data and those who make decisions is crucial. The challenge has three dimensions namely; data gaps (i.e., absence or limited availability of the data that adds value to development interventions and public engagement), access gaps (i.e., limited accessibility to the existing datasets) and usability gaps (i.e., the ineffective and sub-optimal use of available data). These gaps exist despite the increased computing power and access to data in recent decades, the ability of public and private sector organizations to use data in the decision-making processes is compromised. Therefore, the development of a data use methodology to provide solutions for real-world socio-economic problems is one of the top priorities for the AUC, AUDA-NEPAD, RECs and the Member States participating in the project summarized in section 1. This assignment will directly contribute to specific objectives 1 to 4 of the Data for Development Project. The objective of the assignment is to enhance the capacity of stakeholders to extract insights that contribute to accelerated implementation of Agenda 2063.

The methodology will lay a strong foundation to understand development issues based on knowing the key questions to ask of the data.

This methodology will also guide;
a) The selection and use of key performance indicators (and their drivers) for the accelerated implementation of Agenda 2063,
b) How to invest data curation time and resources,
c) Whatdataisthere(thesourcesofdata,whowantstousethedata),
d) How the data could be used (tools and analytics) to derive insights, and
e) How the insights are communicated to impel actions by decision-makers.