On March 1, 2024, the Global Data Facility (GDF) released its inaugural Annual Report for January-December 2023. The report details key progress toward the umbrella trust fund's commitment to help finance data-powered development to enable better lives on a livable planet. Thanks to the generous thought-leadership, support, and trust of our partners, the GDF’s impact is already being felt on issues that directly affect the most vulnerable among us.
At the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium in July 2023, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Bank’s Development Data Group announced a new collaboration to put Mobile Phone Data (MPD) to work for policy. The collaboration aims to provide programmatic funding and support through the World Bank-hosted Global Data Facility to integrate MPD into the national data systems of 30 countries by 2030
Craig Hammer (Senior Program Manager at the World Bank's Development Data Group and manager of the Global Data Facility) sat down for an interview during the 2023 UN World Data Forum in Hangzhou, China to discuss challenges and opportunities around data financing, as well as the Global Data Facility's role in providing funding for the world's most critical data impact opportunities.
"The World Bank-hosted Global Data Facility aims to boost programmatic funding and support to integrate the use of MPD for official statistics and policy planning into 30 national data systems by 2030. The Global Data Facility is an innovative global funding instrument designed to enable long-term support and transform data ecosystems and data capital in low- and middle-income countries."
On September 22, 2022, during the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, and World Bank Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships, Mari Pangestu, convened a multi-stakeholder High-Level Event titled “Unlocking Impact: Data with Purpose.”
A new report, conducted by Dalberg and published by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, demonstrates that every dollar invested in data systems creates an average of $32 in economic benefits. In addition, the research shows that stronger data systems drive a diverse range of powerful benefits.
"We will continue to work with the UN and World Bank on their efforts to strengthen data systems and to improve the capabilities and policies of countries and organizations globally to produce, share and consume high-quality data responsibly, thus helping governments to enable measurement and realization of the SDGs."
“The Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building experiences inform the work of the Global Data Facility (GDF), the new World Bank-hosted fund to support data and statistics priorities at the global, regional, national, and community levels. […] The GDF builds and expands on the impactful legacy of its predecessor.”
“A collective, high-level effort is now being mobilized by senior leadership of the World Bank and the United Nations, in close collaboration with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, to join forces to increase global investments in fragile, low-and-middle-income countries’ data priorities and to better put data to work for green, resilient, inclusive development.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced a $1.2 million contribution to the Global Data Facility in July 2022.
“Two other ingredients are needed. The first is money, because after a 10-year period in which aid for data systems has flatlined there is now a financing gap of more than $1bn (£800m). For donor countries, spending money on statisticians is simply not as glamorous as spending money on a new hospital, even though better data would lead to better health care. The World Bank and the UN launched a campaign last week to raise at least $500m over the next 10 years, which they believe could act as the catalyst for billions of dollars of overseas development assistance and private sector funding.”
Highlighting the increased debt sustainability risks of developing countries and the importance of enhanced debt transparency with accurate data, Kentaro Ogata, Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs of Japan, announced a contribution of $5 million to the Global Data Facility to strengthen data reporting and recording at the national and international level during his remarks at “Putting Data to Work For People and Planet: A Joint Call to Action” in April, 2022.
During “Putting Data to Work For People and Planet: A Joint Call to Action” in April 2022, Marjeta Jager, Deputy Director-General of International Partnerships at the European Commission, announced a €2 million contribution to the Global Data Facility. In her intervention, Ms. Jager emphasized the need for a more strategic and aligned collective engagement on data and statistics to understand countries’ needs and improve country-level data systems.
On April 27, 2022, during the 2022 World Bank Spring Meetings, the World Bank Group Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Carmen Reinhart, World Bank Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships, Mari Pangestu, and United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, convened a High-Level Roundtable to create a new coalition on investing in "Data with Purpose."
