Governance Data Alliance

The Challenge

High-quality data on the different dimensions of governance — ranging from corruption perceptions to fiscal transparency to business regulation and freedom of the press — can shape policy reforms that have the potential to improve economic, human, and democratic development. However, the current state of governance data limits its potential impact.

The challenges are many. On the whole governance data are wildly incomplete, covering some countries and years but not others, and they are often produced with little to no understanding of who actually uses these data, and for what purpose. Additionally, production costs remain high despite possibilities for economies of scale. No single organization can solve those problems alone.

The Opportunity

The Governance Data Alliance, a consortium of governance data producers, users, and funders, was formed to address these challenges and to strengthen the production, use, and impact of governance data.

The Alliance encouraged greater coordination amongst data producers to fill data gaps while simultaneously investigating who governance data users actually are, and what kinds of data they need and want. The goal was to produce and aggregate high-quality but accessible governance data that change agents and decision makers at the country level can use to take action.

Our Work

The Alliance’s work was organized around four work streams:

1. Knowledge-sharing and collaboration among data producers. This work stream supported peer exchange and technical assistance between groups within (and beyond) the Alliance on topics ranging from research methodology design and data analysis tools to data storage, data visualization techniques, and managing government feedback.
2. Publishing and promoting a governance data dashboard that aggregates high-quality data in one place: www.governancedata.org. This work stream promoted improved accessibility, standardization, and use of existing governance data.
3. Collecting and analyzing governance data user habits and trends to better understand and meet the needs of those users in future data production efforts. This work stream involved an analysis of data collected through the 2014 Reform Efforts Survey as well as the collection of new data through novel “snap polls” focused on understanding future demand for governance assessments.
4. Piloting coordinated data co-production efforts to explore possible economies of scale. This work stream aimed to improve the availability of data, particularly for under-assessed countries, and drive down the costs of data production over time.

The Alliance’s secretariat was hosted at the Results for Development Institute and the Alliance’s work was supported by Omidyar Network, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Related Publications

• Governance Data: Who Uses It and Why? (report)
• Modernizing the Marketplace for Governance Data
• When is Governance Data Good Enough?

For information on R4D’s current governance work, contact Dr. Mario Picon.