It is with great pleasure that I present this final project after enrolling into the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Data for Better Lives: A New Social Contract. This course based on the World Bank’s World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives, meticulously addressed the tremendous and untapped potential of data along with its harmful power when unused or misused and thereby emphasized on the need for a social contract to harness and divert the potential of data to bring about development changes, specially in the context of developing countries, while fostering trust through an ecosystem of data governance. This course provides a whole new perspective on data and its linkage with development. Among the many takeaways, the emphasis on the creation of an Integrated National Data System (INDS), provides a holistic approach on how data can be produced, used/reused/repurposed, the main actors in this process, and the pillars needed to make better and sustainable use of data for development purpose.

1. FINAL PROJECT
BETTER DATA – BETTER DEVELOPMENT
AN INTEGRATED NATIONAL DATA SYSTEM
_
CONTEXTUALIZED EXAMPLE

2. INTRODUCTION
It is with great pleasure that I present this final project after enrolling into the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Data for
Better Lives: A New Social Contract.
This course based on the World Bank’s World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives, meticulously addressed the
tremendous and untapped potential of data along with its harmful power when unused or misused and thereby emphasized
on the need for a social contract to harness and divert the potential of data to bring about development changes, specially in
the context of developing countries, while fostering trust through an ecosystem of data governance.
This course provides a whole new perspective on data and its linkage with development. Among the many takeaways, the
emphasis on the creation of an Integrated National Data System (INDS), provides a holistic approach on how data can be
produced, used/reused/repurposed, the main actors in this process, and the pillars needed to make better and sustainable
use of data for development purpose.

3. INTEGRATED NATIONAL DATA
SYSTEM (INDS),
The diagram below as presented in the MOOC provides a visual definition of what an INDS requires.
As observable, the creation of an INDS requires a multi-level
approach starting from the creation of data and its management, to
the different stakeholders (public, private, civil society, and
international organizations); the pillars (infrastructure, laws and
regulations, economic policies, and institutions) as well as the
foundations required to sustain it.
At the same time, it provides us with an understanding that creating
INDS for developing countries requires massive investments in all
four areas. Nonetheless, a phased approached can be taken to
building this while in the meantime looking at the possibility of
creating data intermediary structures to solve urgent needs.
The next slide tries to contextualize the need for INDS and data
intermediaries in the case of a developing country.

4. CONTEXTUALIZING INDS FOR
ETHIOPIA
35% GDP
70% population
6.2% growth over the next ten
years
The power of the agriculture sector in the economy
When looking at the possibility of creating an Integrated National Data System in the context of a developing country, I would
like to take contextualize on Ethiopia, a country of 110 million people with strong economic reliance on Agriculture.
In an economy strongly reliant on agriculture, the lack of basic data; poor data management and governance, and related
infrastructure, institution, funding as well as the lack of human capital contribute to the weakening of the agricultural sector
and lead to heavy dependance on aid to cover basic human rights: food sufficiency.
In such context, building an INDS remains the key to awakening the dormant economic pillar: agriculture and breaking out of
poverty.

5. CONTEXTUALIZING INDS FOR
ETHIOPIA
Where to start?
The first steps in the process of creating an INDS to help grow the agriculture sector and consequently enhance the
economy, starts with creating a unit within the Ministry of Agriculture and other and related partners (like the Central
Statistical Agency) to help initiate data auditing.
• The audit in this process is expected to help understand the gap in data. Therefore, helping understand what data is
available or not, in what format, where and from when as well as its quality, and interoperability, among others.
• Once the gap analysis is conducted, mandating different institutions based on findings will help give clear authority and
responsibility.
• The next steps will require engaging different public, private, academic and international organizations collaborative work
to fill in the observed gap either through helping collect, process, share inexistent data required for decision making and
development of the sector or assist in other areas such as funding, research, human capital and infrastructure
development , among others.
Understand what is
missing
Give authority and
responsibility to
institutions and people
Partner with public,
private, academic and
international
organizations to start
fill in the gap
Conduct a gap
analysis
Mandate
institutions
Collaborate
with external
parties

6. CONTEXTUALIZING INDS FOR
ETHIOPIA
Where to start?
These first steps in understanding the nature and amount of work required to build an integrate national data system with a
focus on developing the agriculture sector will also trigger works in other related areas such as updates in population
census, collecting data on production, processing capacity that are found to be highly varying from source to source or
incomplete most of the time to cite just a few.
The creation of an INDS will help have clarity on the overall agricultural value chain and its bottlenecks through the collection
of timely and accurate data while having clarity in this aspect will allow to strengthen the INDS in turn.
Overall, better data in the agriculture sector, which encompasses the largest population of the country, will allow stronger
development.
INDS
Better Data
Better
Agriculture
Better
Economic
Development

7. THANK YOU!