The Citizen Generated Data journey in Uganda: Counting our SDG data gains.

One could easily laze away and say that it is data generated by a citizen – which could be correct, keeping other details silent.?

Personally, Citizen Generated Data (CGD) is that one optional question I never attempted in a multi-choice question exam section – even when I have read and know something about it.?

Lucky for me, a webinar by?our very own @UBOS &UN Women came to my rescue in raising my appetite for it – a reality check of sorts. Especially when I delved into the PARIS21- Kenya and Philistine experience.?

As a convert, let me applaud the strides made by the government of Uganda in acknowledging that data from civil society in the Plan for National Statistics Development (PNSD), availing us with a toolkit and an updated SDG data portal, and supporting the development of statistics strategies, among others. It is the much-needed progressive distraction to mask the delayed fruits from civil society efforts to reclaim civic space.??

This could be the game changer in drawing us closer to one Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system for both government and civil society (very loud thought) – kind of reminds me of the ‘principle of oneness’ from my HIV programming days.?

My 5 cents on CGD:??

• On the CSO side, there is a need to build interest in the uptake and use of this opportunity to contribute to the national SDG data. This can be a country-wide campaign to increase awareness of CGD.?
• UBOS should widely share tools, Protocols, and strategies to support the development of CGD – provide accessible, user-friendly graphics, and simplified text versions that are a click away.?
• More financing to CGD quality initiatives – Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), Local Governments (LGs), and CSOs should prioritise having budget lines for statistics.?
• ?Donors / funders to invest in CGD – financial support extended to build the capacity of Civil Society.?

The journey has started, and each civic actor should understand their role so that no one is left behind.?

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