I am currently attending Festival de Datos in Uruguay.  While my work is more… ‘data adjacent’, it’s a short flight from Peru (my current temporary home) so why not spend 3 days immersed in a world of data for development.  I am sharing a few reflections / questions from the sessions I’m attending here.  Please comment! If you’re interested in following along, livestreams are available here.

Listening to some of the opening speakers at the data fest discussing how NGOs can make better use of data in their quest to achieve the SDGs reminded me of a LinkedIn post I saw recently:

“Achieving the SDGs is the role of governments, not NGOs, we are there to help the governments”

An interesting thought experiment….  If we take for granted that the shared goal of governments an NGOs is sustained positive change, then it stands to reason that we are all working towards structural and systemic change, not just short-term or gap-filling solutions.

With these two points in mind, there are different roles an NGO could play

1. The most important would be anything that helps bring about lasting structural and systemic change –realistically this is most likely an influencing or advocacy role – seeking to change the way actors with the most power operate – governments, multi-laterals and international private sector organisations.
2. Next most important seems to be working directly with these actors who are already trying to make a difference (e.g. some governments), bringing in specific expertise which, combined with their existing broader knowledge, can improve their impact
3. Least useful, though still of some value, is to paper over the cracks, fill the gaps where governments are not playing this role and act as a temporary provider in lieu of government

Unfortunately, the reality seems to be the opposite way round.

Based on the (ironically, zero) data I have analysed, but anecdotally…

• 90%+ of NGO funding and work appears to focus on direct delivery – a short-term sticking plaster
• Maybe 9% focuses on advising / working with governments, but how much of this is invited and involves specialist expertise, vs. a neo-colonial ‘we know best’ I would hate to guess
• Maybe ~1% of funded development work focuses on trying to change fundamental inequalities behind poverty, i.e. seeking sustainable, systemic, structural changes

So, I have two questions…

1. Is this really the case, or are my anecdotal observations wildly out of date?
2. What does this mean for those of us working in Digital and Data? (How do we do Datat4Dev or Digital Transformation in a way that reflects a desire for long-term structural change?)

I’d love to hear reflections in the comments below!