Jocelle Batapa Sigue

The study titled Data For Development (D4D): A Study Towards Building a Comprehensive Data Analytics and Visualization Portal for National and Local Development in the Philippines conducted by Jocelle Batapa-Sigue beginning 2019, aims to address the challenges and opportunities related to data-driven governance and sustainable development in the Philippines under the Re-imagining Sustainable Development Futures Today research program of the Graduate School of Public and Development Management (GSPDM) of the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) in collaboration with Frei Sangil, as co-researcher.

Introduction

The Philippines is standing at major crossroads that require careful and thoughtful consideration. Do we intently build a future that is designed using the power of big data that learns from hindsight, harnesses insights, and leverages on foresight or do we waste the huge amount of data that is simply sitting in our public sector institutions?

A sustainable and resilient future is one which is effectively anchored on the intelligent analysis of data with public value, visually accessible, and useful to key decision makers especially in the public sector and to a digitally literate citizenry, especially that the Philippines is continuously positioning itself as a strong economy moving towards digital transformation. By making data-driven policies the foundation for socio-economic growth and development in all levels of government, we will make our journey towards digital transformation easier and quicker.

Digital transformation can be better realized when data-driven approaches are also in place. In the pursuit of attaining a digitally empowered Philippines, a strong and sustainable framework is needed that to sustain a data-driven and responsive programs and policies.

To ensure fast, effective, and efficient public services, governments around the globe have embraced data-driven approaches in creating and designing public programs and policies to meet the expectations of citizens for relevant services, and to rethink the way governments and their constituents engage with one another. So should the Philippines, if we are to achieve the expectation of becoming a tiger economy in the next few decades. For this reason, this study aims to explore existing data portals in the Philippines and define a basic framework for creating a data-driven visualization portal that fits the Philippine context. With this tool, the Philippines can empower its key-decision makers and planners, and even its citizens, to drive effective policies and programs for development.

By making data-driven policies the foundation for socio-economic growth and development in all levels of government, our journey towards digital transformation will be easier and quicker as the Philippines is continuously positioning itself as a strong economy moving towards digital transformation.

Using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, the respondents and research participants were selected based on the criteria that they are exposed to use data and digital technologies as C-level managers, supervisors, and professionals in their fields covering a variety of areas in ICT. The key findings of the research recommend the development and institutionalization of the Philippine Data Analytics and Visualization Portal and the adoption of the Data Governance Framework based on the leading portals namely Atlas Economic Complexity and Numbers for Development. (Abstract, Page 7)

Key Features

1. Introduction: The study begins by highlighting the importance of digital transformation and the era of big data. It emphasizes the need for a data-driven public sector and identifies the absence of a national public data governance framework as a challenge.
2. Review of Related Literature: This section explores the necessity of a comprehensive public data visualization portal and the significance of data for policy innovation. It presents a conceptual framework that includes models for data governance and public data visualization portals, drawing insights from global examples.
3. Methodology: The study employs both quantitative survey research and qualitative research methods, including surveys, key informant interviews, and desk reviews. The research analysis involves crosstab analysis and thematic analysis.
4. Key Research Findings: This section presents key findings related to the use of data in the Philippines, the importance of data in decision-making, data accessibility issues, the need for a data governance framework, and data visualization.
5. Conclusion and Recommendation: The study concludes by summarizing the importance of data governance and data visualization in the public sector and recommends the establishment of a Philippine Data Governance Framework and a Philippine Data Analytics and Visualization Portal.

Objectives

The main objective of this study is to propose a unified data governance framework for the Philippines in the advent of big data.

Specifically, the researcher aims to do the following:

1. Examine the accessibility of data in the Philippine settings
2. Identify best practices in Data Governance Framework and Data Visualization Model on the global level.
3. Propose the creation of a comprehensive data analytics and visualization portal towards a data-driven public sector based on Data Governance Framework and Data Visualization Model

Importance and Timeliness of the Study to the Philippines:

1. Addressing Digital Transformation: The study acknowledges the ongoing digital transformation, making it timely as the Philippines, like many countries, is navigating the challenges and opportunities of digitalization in various sectors.
2. Data-Driven Governance: In an age where data plays a pivotal role in decision-making, the study’s focus on building a comprehensive data analytics and visualization portal aligns with the need for evidence-based policy development and governance in the Philippines.
3. National Data Governance Framework: The absence of a national data governance framework is a pressing issue that this study addresses. Developing such a framework is crucial to ensure data security, accessibility, and ethical use.
4. Global Insights: The study draws lessons from global models of data governance and visualization, providing a broader perspective and potentially offering solutions that have been successful in other countries.

This study is important and timely for the Philippines as it addresses critical issues related to data-driven governance and sustainable development. It proposes practical solutions, such as the creation of a data governance framework and a data analytics and visualization portal, which can contribute to informed decision-making and better governance in the country.

Rationale

The development of a data-driven public sector, especially in policymaking, will entail a lot of resources, time, and effort, but benchmarking with existing practices, harnessing current available systems and human resource, as well as establishing a standard or framework will make the vision more attainable. Governments around the world need to constantly keep up with the growing demands of their citizens amidst the technological developments in the twenty-first century. Key policy makers, whose decisions affect large numbers of individuals, must consistently develop novel solutions and strategies to address the rapidly evolving demands of society in the Digital Age. Citizens (Citizens 4.0) in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) require more responsive, more relevant, and faster services from their governments. What used to be fast and effective, prior to industry 4.0 may be considered by citizens as slow, inaccurate, and wasteful government programs that are no longer acceptable.

Establishing a case for data as an asset may prove valuable in helping to implement and establish a data-driven culture throughout the public sector by challenging leaders to appreciate that their data will increase, or decrease, in value directly in relation to their efforts to manage and apply it. In pursuing the development of the data-driven public sector, key performance indicators should be created for those with responsibility for the data agenda that set clear expectations for identifying ways in which data add value and tackling any lost opportunities in terms of transforming a service or avoiding costs.[1]

The United Nations (UN), in launching the Sustainable Development Goals (SGD)[2] in 2015, recognized that baseline data for several of the targets remain unavailable, and called for increased support for strengthening data collection and capacity building in Member States, to develop national and global baselines where they do not yet exist. The UN is committed to “addressing this gap in data collection so as to better inform the measurement of progress, in particular for those targets below which do not have clear numerical targets.” Without accurate, timely, intelligent data, it will be difficult to create policies that will effectively address concerns of citizens, conserve and efficiently use public resources, promote trust and integrity in government and elicit active citizens’ participation and engagement.

Today, governments around the world leverage and harness the use of these technologies to design advanced, sustainable, resilient, productive, and developed nations. Public services are becoming more complex as the demand of demands of society continue to grow with the fast pace of things in the Digital Age. Citizens in the Fourth Industrial Revolution continuously demanded more timely, responsive, relevant services from their governments.

The legal and policy mandates of government across the globe – why governments exist, their main responsibilities, and what their functions are – could be the same throughout ages. But how they are expected to perform, to deliver services, or to engage with citizens could be another story. Governments need to re-think and re-design the way they do things. Slow, inaccurate, and wasteful government programs are no longer simply acceptable. Hence, digital transformation must also be a journey that governments, and the public sector in general, need to understand, and eventually embrace. Government capacity should not remain static; it needs to adapt to societal and technological changes. Governments must anticipate, adapt to, and mitigate these change processes as part of their innovation.

Towards this end, the Philippine needs to create and strengthen clear and effective data-driven public sector frameworks that can help our cities, municipalities, and provinces, as well as the country identify, design, evaluate and assess the elements or parameters that are necessary for collecting, storing, analyzing, using, re-using, or sharing data to make informed decisions.

Digital Transformation and The Age of Big Data 

The rise of data and digital technologies are rapidly transforming economies and societies, with enormous implications for governments’ daily operations. Twenty-first century governments must keep pace with the growing expectations of their citizens, manage increasing pressure on their budgets, and react to new policy challenges. Any failure to adapt to this new and changing environment could expose them to damaging risks and a consequent diminishing of public trust.[3] At the core of digital transformation is the confluence of four profoundly disruptive technologies, namely, cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence.[4]

Digital transformation involves integrating digital technologies and solutions into every area of a business.[5] These solutions are aimed at improving business operations, delivering services to customers, improving human resource capabilities, augmenting the workforce and business models, among other purposes. But while the term applies initially to business, the need to digitally transform the public sector has become very imperative. The concept, therefore, of digital transformation has generally become the adoption of digital technologies to improve efficiency, value, or innovation.[6]

The Challenge of Developing a Data-Driven Public Sector

Data has the potential for playing a positive role in society. But, despite some advances, turning the promise of data into tangible, measurable, and consistent outcomes remain elusive. In the public sector, the role of data in the ongoing digital transformation has come up against legacy technologies, skills shortfalls, and legal obstacles. Some countries have made noteworthy progress in strengthening the capacity to use data strategically to improve policy making, service delivery or performance management. Individual organizations have also produced impressive results. Nevertheless, the use of data is not yet viewed — or resourced – as a fundamental means of creating public value.[7]

The voluminous amount of data collected and stored every day through public channels, from the local up to the national level, supports the urgency of data-driven governance. But first, the government must craft and institutionalize a clear set of strategies for data analytics to gain insights that can support the development of data-driven decisions leading to effective programs and policies.

Sustainable and strong strategies are needed to cope with the increasing demand of digital transformation such as data science and data analytics. Data science is an interdisciplinary field of study that uses data for various research and reporting purposes to derive insights and meaning out of that data. Data science requires a mix of different skills including statistics, business acumen, computer science, and more. On the other hand, data analytics refers to the process of examining datasets to draw conclusions about the information they contain. Data analytic techniques enable you to take raw data and uncover patterns to extract valuable insights from it.

Key Recommendations

The Philippine Data Governance Framework (PDGF) is a critical recommendation for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a structured and standardized approach to handling data in the country. This framework ensures that data is collected, processed, stored, and shared in a secure and responsible manner, which is crucial in maintaining data privacy and security. With the increasing importance of data in decision-making across various sectors, having a comprehensive data governance framework like PDGF ensures that data is used effectively and ethically.

Data is an asset for the public sector because of the use of data. Files of the public sectors will be systematically arranged in order according to its purpose. Archiving will be achieved because of using data, restoring the files on the system will be monitored. Public sector development, or the public in general, stands to benefit immensely from transparency in data to allow accountability and more factual, evidence-based decisions to be made. Data allows the public sector to design their programs and services so that they can create a higher impact on their internal and external customers. Data also allows them to gauge their performance and use it as a basis in making improvements in the delivery of services to customers.

Philippine Data Governance Framework:

Based on the OECD’s analysis of how countries are using data, and the gaps that exist between their ambitions and reality, this report has proposed three areas for countries to focus on in their quest towards a data-driven public sector. Together, these inter-connected areas address the need for creating the foundations for a value-oriented and trustworthy application of data in the public sector.

To extract and deliver value from data, governments must build a solid data governance foundation. Such a foundation should allow coherent policy implementation and define trustworthy and safe environments for the ethical sharing and reuse of data. Data governance is a growing priority across OECD members and partner countries. Ensuring a holistic approach to data governance that reflects the strategic, tactical, and delivery needs; focuses on how the use of data can generate public value; and enshrines the rights of citizens in conversations about the use of data can help to successfully advance the principles and practices of a data-driven public sector (DDPS). The need for public sector data governance is built on three premises:

1. Joining up government as a whole, thus ensuring greater coherence when moving towards the construction of a data-driven public sector.

• Enabling government as a platform, to help improve the delivery of proactive and user-driven public services and promote the development and adoption of common tools for greater data integration within and outside the public sector (e.g., cross-sector and cross-border data sharing) as well as collaboration with non-governmental actors.

• Building greater trust in government (e.g., to ensure the trustworthy, ethical, and transparent processing of data) by ensuring that data initiatives and practices respect, and are in line with, citizens’ digital rights.

This is particularly important as the fast-paced proliferation of data-driven initiatives across the public sector can lead to fragmented efforts and set the basis for new legacy challenges in the future. Data governance can help prevent and address these challenges and create the right context for the application of data for greater public value in a coherent fashion. At the national level, OECD member and partner countries are moving towards national data strategies and clearer institutional leadership structures to bring together dispersed data policies, including data sharing within the public sector, open data, data ethics, and protection. At the same time, improving the technical infrastructure and architecture to facilitate data sharing implies the development of common frameworks and tools that can be easily adopted, scaled up, and spread across the public sector to support coherence and integration.These efforts should be sustained.

The conceptualization, implementation, and evaluation of data governance should be open, inclusive, iterative, collective, and value based. It is important to acknowledge that data governance needs to evolve in response to the digital maturity of a society, highlighting the connection between government-wide data policies and other policy fields, such as open government and public sector innovation. Governments should recognize the opportunities that exist to engage the public, collaborate with non-governmental actors including researchers and academia, and stimulate private sector investment. They should make every effort to bring together public servants, civil society, and other stakeholders to work together to design integrated policies and services that cross organizational boundaries to meet the end-to-end need of a citizen through all their interactions with the state, and not just those which a single organization handle. This implies, for example, bringing key actors from all sectors on board during the development and implementation of the national data strategy. By doing so, these actors can become active agents of the transformation of government by sharing knowledge (e.g., to identify otherwise missed policy priorities and emerging risks), capacities (e.g., talent and digital solutions through partnerships), and data itself (e.g., through community-, consent-based, trustworthy, and purposeful data-sharing frameworks).

While public sector capabilities and internal dialogue on the impact and effectiveness of policy making, service delivery and performance measurement are all important, external actors need to be part of the solution, from conceptualization to implementation and evaluation. Although it is easy for public sector organizations to state that “data are an asset” in their data strategy, it is much harder in practice to translate it into a defined value to include data in asset registers or on balance sheets. There is no simple, one-size-fits-all, solution for responding to this challenge. This leaves individual public sectors free to develop methodologies that reflect their local context to define and measure the value of data for their organizations and in their societies. Being effective in defining and measuring the value of data will help public sector organizations to understand their contribution to “public value” and communicate the purposes for which data are used and the expected benefits for society.

Recognizing the government data value cycle and its policy implications and using this knowledge as the basis for mapping the flow of data and the barriers and opportunities are paramount to unlocking the value of data. There are practical implications for the way in which public sector organizations work together when it comes to data-driven approaches. This reflects the importance of mapping the flow of data and the integration of the data value cycle (from data generation and openness to reuse), as well as the acknowledgement that each stage entails specific policy implications (e.g., a focus on data generation and collection can help reduce biased policy action). Public sector capability (e.g., in terms of talent, stewardship, and multidisciplinary teams) and formal institutional networks can help deliver value from data.

Several countries have created roles and organizations to enhance accountability around the monitoring and transparency of data use. The public sector can benefit from establishing recognized roles with clear career paths, as well as institutions with responsibility for stewarding the accountable application of data to generate, and preserve, public value throughout the government data value cycle. Yet, governments should also ensure that data stewardship is widespread across the public sector, at diverse levels and in different institutions.

Policy issues increasingly require the simultaneous attention of specialists from different domains; a diverse and multi-disciplinary team can provide a better approach to delivering a response to such challenges. Bringing together all those involved with the “anticipation and planning,” “delivery,” and “evaluation and monitoring” of a given policy issue will result in improved quality at each of those stages through better understanding of the user need, developing a clear purpose, and increasing public value.

The DDPS approach should enable experimentation and challenge preconceived ideas and assumptions. This requires new funding models that give teams the flexibility to initiate ambitious ideas and then iterate on them. It also means committing to measuring and evaluating activity to make the argument for ongoing investment and ensuring longer term sustainability. As countries consider the role of data from “anticipation and planning” through to “evaluation and monitoring” there are increasing opportunities to gain experience about the impact of policy and services on society and respond accordingly. Therefore, the public sector should encourage flexibility in funding and delivery models that encourage experimentation and speak positively about making changes in response to data, especially where it challenges initial hypotheses.

Nevertheless, being able to respond to the insights generated by data throughout the policy life cycle means committing to implementing measurement and evaluation mechanisms at its start, middle, and end. Defining baselines and performance methodologies is not something that can be done retrospectively. Therefore, no planning or delivery should take place without considering how activity will be evaluated, performance monitored, or impact measured. Increased data flows and sharing across borders can help deliver value to citizens. Yet, governments must ensure the right balance between ensuring the free flow of valuable datasets for policy making and service delivery and protecting sensitive and personal data.

Shared public sector data governance frameworks and data-sharing infrastructures (as observed in some Nordic countries) provide the basis for the design and delivery of cross-border services. However, the growing need for government intervention to prevent data misuse and to ensure citizens’ right to control how their data are used can lead to a state of data overprotection, which can have potential negative implications in terms of public service delivery and evidenced-based policy making. Governments need to find the right policy arrangements (and the deployment of the relevant data tools to support their implementation) to ensure the secure transfer of data and promote the delivery of value for citizens in a trustworthy fashion.

The public sector needs to ensure data is managed in an ethical manner, data privacy is protected and consent respected, transparency of data is clear and accessible, and digital security is considered. This implies enabling the right data governance frameworks and environments to ensure the trustworthy management and processing of data across the data value cycle.

Trust is indeed essential to increase individual and collective well-being. As governments gradually turn to data to build trust from citizens, the way data is managed becomes a priority. As a result, several OECD countries have placed a high priority on ethics, privacy and consent, transparency, and security. When appropriate, public-sector institutions should develop and/or update legal and regulatory frameworks to respond to the current needs in terms of digital rights and citizens’ trust in government.

These challenges can be met by either promoting ethical behavior through an independent body for government-held data or through ethical frameworks, which are not intended to be prescriptive but aim at widening a mutual understanding and working through ethical concerns. Since an unethical situation is not necessarily unlawful, there is an important need to establish a responsible value-based environment and guidelines to retain citizens’ trust.

In response to challenges around the use of data and public trust, the OECD Thematic Group on Data-driven Public Sector developed a set of proposed ethics guidelines aiming at promoting responsible and ethical behavior among public servants managing data. While covering the four areas of ethics, privacy and consent, transparency, and security, the guidelines are not meant to be prescriptive, as no two countries are the same. Instead, governments should use the guidelines as suggestions and tailor them to their own needs.

The increasing use of artificial intelligence in government to improve decision making and service delivery makes the transparency of data and algorithms essential. Openness and clarity in terms of what data are used, for what purpose, and by whom should remain a priority for governments. Transparency of data use helps build trust, as this discloses the purpose of data collection and the way it is being used. Public trust is also strengthened by people clearly understanding the intended goal and output of data used for algorithmic decisions and by governments making their performance public. Public sector organizations should promote transparency by giving more details not only about the purpose and processing of data, but also about the decision-making algorithm, and by publishing government performances.

The OECD has developed its own set of principles on artificial intelligence, which were adopted in May 2019, and aim at promoting artificial intelligence that is innovative and trustworthy and that respects human rights and democratic values.

Governments should include digital security either in a stand-alone strategy or on the country’s broader policy agenda, with an emphasis on closing the digital security skills gap. All efforts put in place to secure data protection should be taken more seriously than ever. Digital attacks can be extremely costly, not only in terms of financial cost, but also in terms of reputation. An organization suffering from a data breach can lose its users’ trust, as well as the trust of potential users.

The increasing number of sophisticated hackers also needs to be addressed, starting by equipping the public with digital security skills. Digital security should not compensate for the lack of skills or capacity, instead equipping citizens to understand how to keep themselves safe, and consequently to be savvier in their online interactions and the use of their personal information, is essential in the digital age. Digital security is therefore not an optional extra but needs to be a fundamental part of government’s digital, data and technology strategies. It needs to be addressed by government-wide strategies and be approached in ways that enable the proactive use of data for designing and delivering better quality government.

Philippine Data Analytics and Visualization Portal

The Philippine Data Analytics and Visualization Portal (PDAVP) is equally important as it complements the PDGF. This portal serves as a centralized platform for data analytics and visualization, making it easier for government agencies, businesses, and researchers to access and analyze data. It promotes transparency and data-driven decision-making, allowing stakeholders to make informed choices based on data insights. Additionally, PDAVP fosters collaboration and innovation by providing a common space for sharing data and analytics tools, which can lead to the development of new solutions and initiatives that benefit the Philippine society as a whole.

Visualizing the data is an imperative to data-driven decision making. When you want to understand, and discover important data insights, a picture turns out to be an essential tool. Visuals are helpful when you want to discover relationships between hundreds of variables. Companies produce and gather data every minute. Everyone, from data analysts to employees, wants to pick up something from the different sets of data which can help a person make a better decision and work more effectively. No one wants to miss any critical correlation or develop the wrong conclusion that might heavily affect their decision making. When complex analysis is rapidly carried out, the outcome can be displayed in a way that is simple to use as well as allowing exploration and queries. As a result, everybody in the organization has the chance to dig deep into data and develop insights for faster and effective decisions.

The Data for Development (D4D) portal is a comprehensive data analytics and visualization portal for national and local development in the Philippines. It contains available data from important open databases, which the portal extracts, in one place, and gives you the ability to see content from multiple databases existing to compare, visualize, and easily share multisectoral data that provide indicators. The Data for Development contains indicator tools and interactive visualization to observe data that is important for the Philippines. This portal answers your need for including data in decision making and planning. The D4D portal provides easy and quick access to data useful for all Filipinos, especially for policy makers and leaders, but also for students, businesspeople, statisticians, journalists, planners, and professionals. It is easy to reuse and share the data you have used.

D4D is an open data portal that highlights the importance of the quality and reliability of the data used in development contexts, and how the visualization of such data can help us in the process. D4D showcases socio-economic indicators for the Philippines and all the local government units in partnership between seven data sources:

Department of Agriculture – a database that enables policy makers and analysts to track agricultural policies and to support the agriculture sector.

1. Department of Trade and Industry – comprehensive online gateway bringing together information on integration and trade in the region.
2. Philippine Statistics Authority – over five hundred indicators consolidating data on macroeconomics, social issues, trade, capital flows, markets, and governance.
3. Department of Finance – a set of public management indicators based on methodologies developed for tracking local government performance.
4. National Economic Development Authority – full set of key indicators on living conditions in the Philippines.
5. Department of Labor and Employment – the main source of information on labor markets in the Philippines.
6. Department of the Interior and Local Government – a complete dataset of social indicators providing insight into the Philippine’s socioeconomic conditions.

Here are some key features of the portal:

1. Data on the regions, provinces, cities, and municipalities at a granular level is not available in other sources.
2. Unique indicators, such as availability of skilled workers, poverty indicators and wages, Internet penetration, ease of doing business metrics, and many more.
3. Social Outlook indicators carefully curated by NEDA social sector specialists.
4. Interactive and animated data visualizations.
5. Quick and easy access to data for all – economists, statisticians, journalists, and development practitioners.
6. Easy to reuse and share the data.

In summary, the Philippine Data Governance Framework and the Philippine Data Analytics and Visualization Portal are both vital recommendations for the country’s development. They establish a solid foundation for responsible data management and utilization, promote transparency and collaboration, and ultimately contribute to informed decision-making, innovation, and the overall growth of the Philippines.

TO REQUEST FOR A FULL COPY OF THE RESEARCH – Please email ceo@jocellebatapasigue.com and kindly share information about yourself and the purpose for the request. Thanks.

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[1] Charlotte Van Ooijen, Barbara Ubaldi & Benjamin Welby. May 2019. A data-driven public sector. OECD Working Papers on Public Governance No. 33.

[2] United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development.  Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda

[3]   OECD (2019), The Path to Becoming a Data-Driven Public Sector, OECD Digital Government Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/059814a7-en.

[4]Thomas M Siebel. 2019.  Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction. Rosettabooks.

[5] SAP Insights, “What is Digital Transformation”, 2021, https://insights.sap.com/about-sap-insights/

[6] Schmarzo, Bill. May 2017. The Economics of Data, Analytics, and Digital Transformation: The theorems, laws, and empowerment.

[7] OECD (2019), The Path to Becoming a Data-Driven Public Sector, OECD Digital Government Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/059814a7-en.