The 1st Kenya National Forum
on Development Data
“An African data revolution should be built on the principles of openness across the data
value chain and a vibrant data ecosystem driven by national priorities and inclusive
national statistical systems.”
Conference of Ministers 2015 Ministerial Statement
Introduction
In their report to the UN Secretary General, the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post
2015 Agenda called for a “data revolution for sustainable development, with a new international
initiative to improve the quality of statistics and information available to citizens.” The panel called
on stakeholders to “actively take advantage of new technology, crowd sourcing, and improved
connectivity to empower people with information on the progress towards the targets.”
At the African Union summit in June 2014, the Heads of State and Government requested the
African Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African
Development Bank (AfDB) to convene a meeting to discuss the impact of a data revolution on
Africa’s development agenda. This request resulted in the convening of a High Level Conference
(HLC) on the Data Revolution from the 27th - 29th of March 2015. This consultation was organized
as a side event at the 8th Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Specialized Technical
Committee on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration, and the ECA
Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. The theme of
this conference was “Implementing Agenda 2063: planning, mobilizing and financing for
development.”
The High Level Conference adopted the African Data Consensus, a guiding document that lays out
a vision for the data revolution in Africa, and the principles such a transformation should inhere.
The African Data Consensus also addresses the challenges most likely to emerge in the pursuit of
this goal, and eleven key actions stakeholders need to implement to move this agenda forward.
The Context
2015 is a milestone year globally as we come to the end of the period defined by the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). These watershed years were framed by eight broad goals agreed
upon in the Millennium Declaration, adopted by member states under the auspices of the United
Nations in September 2000.
Draft Concept Note
The MDGs can be credited for galvanizing the world in pursuit of a common development agenda,
rallying political will and resources behind a push to end poverty by improving health and reducing
maternal and child mortality, among other related objectives, within an ambitious target of fifteen
years.
2015 is also the year when African countries began domestication of Agenda 2063, the continent’s
long-term vision and plan, which aims to bring greater prosperity, peace and development to the
continent within the next 50 years. Organized around six transformative pillars, Agenda 2063
articulates Africa’s development priorities which include reducing inequality within and between
states, making people-centered development a reality for Africa’s people, delivering on
continental integration based on Pan-Africanism, and the domestication of other normative
instruments to support this agenda.
At national level, Kenya is currently implementing the 2nd Medium Term Plan (MTPII) for Vision
2030. This guiding document that offers our national long-term vision is designed to propel Kenya
towards a more just, equal and prosperous society by 2030. MTPII takes into consideration the
transition from the MDGs to the successor framework currently referred to as the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG). The SDGs will be aligned with our national priorities as articulated in
Vision 2030, as well as Africa’s continental vision as expressed in Agenda 2063. This new era will
require revolutionary approaches which include agile use of new technologies and evidence, as
well as the adoption of novel sources of data to measure progress and inform smarter and quicker
interventions.
In recognition of the ambitious nature of the SDGs, the UN Secretary General in 2014 released a
Synthesis Report that brings together input from various expert groups on the post 2015
development agenda. The report titled “The Road to Dignity by 2030” called for stakeholders to
convene a World Forum on Sustainable Development Data, as well as similar regional fora in order
to make the data revolution for sustainable development a reality.
The National Forum on Development Data
The unfolding data revolution is anticipated to have significant impact on national development. It
will therefore require stakeholders to take into account national realities, priorities and
recognition of national policy space as the ultimate context for implementation of SDGs. It is based
on this premise that we propose the convening of a two-day National Forum on Sustainable
Development Data which will emphasize on the need for the domestication of the data revolution
as a key step in accelerating the implementation of Kenya’s national development agenda; a
project which inevitably also include an intricate connection with regional and global goals.
The National Forum will convene stakeholders from various data communities as envisioned in the
proposed African Data Consensus. Diversity is upheld in order to facilitate a broader and more
inclusive data ecosystem, which recognizes both the importance of National Statistics Systems, as
well as new non-traditional sources of development data. Furthermore, this Forum will showcase
the importance of integrating use of emerging technologies to improve frequency, accuracy and
the cost effectiveness of monitoring development indicators.
As the proposed African Development Consensus has indicated, all countries in the continent need
to include the following priorities and imperatives:
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Draft Concept Note
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Create(ing) an inclusive data ecosystem involving government, private sector, academia, civil
society, local communities and development partners who engage on the informational
aspects of development decision-making in a coordinated way. Governments must play a proactive role in engaging this community and other stakeholders should prioritize partnership
with government.
Existing National Strategies for the Development of Statistics should be revised to become
more inclusive of all data communities.
The development of Civil Registration systems that produces credible vital statistics must be a
cornerstone of the data revolution. Likewise population, economic, labour, health, education,
land and agricultural management information systems should be supported to ensure timely
and accurate data to drive decision-making at national and sub-national level.
The 1st National Forum to be held at the last week of August will be convened by the Presidency
through the Office of the Deputy President. The Ministry of Devolution and Planning will play a
central role in the recognition of Executive Order No. 2 of 2013, which vests the function of
planning for development within the Ministry. Local Development Research Institute (LDRI),
Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and Kenya Association of
Manufacturers (KAM) will co-convene the 1stNational Forum on Sustainable Development Data
with the Presidency.
Objectives
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Convene the various communities of data producers and users along thematic lines as they
have been articulated in the Africa Data Consensus. This is done so as to provide concrete
policy recommendations and practices to fast track Kenya’s domestication of the new
development framework.
Establish a multi-stakeholder dialogue between and within data communities on the
realization of a data revolution in Kenya.
Articulate the priority areas within the thematic focus of the conference where capacity,
resources and policy are privileged to drive progress.
Launch a Kenyan Partnership on the Data Revolution made up of stakeholders in the Data
Ecosystem
The Forum’s Format
The title of this forum, The National Forum on Development Data, captures our principle goal and
gestures towards our key objectives. The task remains to spell out the key stages that are part of
achieving these goals. With this in mind we will organize our plenary events around the
brainstorming and elaboration of the key phases discerned. Chronologically these sessions will
focus on, for example:
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Visioning
Financing the Data Revolution and Kenya’s Development
Managing the Data Revolution and Kenya’s Development
Monitoring the Data Revolution
These sessions will incorporate and complement, in adherence to PASGR’s mandate, research and
policy focused break out groups that will attend to the key focus areas in Vision 2030, and which
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Draft Concept Note
are also highlighted within the Cabinet Brief of 22nd April, 2015 on budget estimates for
FY2015/2016. These are:
 Agriculture
 Education
 Health
 Transport
Crucial crosscutting themes shall also be mainstreamed into the forum as these are integral to the
implementation of inclusive development interventions which we anticipate to come out of each
session. These are;
 ICT & Innovation
 Gender equality
 Public Finance Management
 Accessibility to all constituents (youth, marginalized and persons with disabilities)
Organization
A multi-stakeholder technical committee shall be convened to organize the conference. It will
consist of representatives from government ministries, private sector, civil society and
Government agencies whose work will be guided by the themes identified.
Each of the four main themes shall be coordinated by a sub-committee which will be co-chaired by
representatives from different sectors; i.e. public, non profit and private sector. Members of the
sub-committees shall organize the plenary sessions, breakout sessions and exhibitions related to
their thematic area, and will also identify and draw upon experts to participate in the discussions.
Each session of the forum shall have rapporteurs who will capture and summarize the
proceedings, and these will be included in the main forum report, which will be prepared and
shared widely by the conveners.
Outputs
The outputs of the National Forum will be instrumental to the operationalization of Vision 2030,
and will allow the country to accelerate achievement of this guiding plan through better and more
timely data and statistics from all stakeholders. It is intended that the Kenya National Bureau of
Statistics will play a leadership role within this emergent data ecosystem.
To contribute to the transition from the MDG-based frameworks to the new SDG/ Agenda 2063based environment, the outputs would be presented to the Legal and Intergovernmental Liaison
Office at the Deputy President’s Office, the Ministry of ICTs, the National Treasury and the
Ministry of Devolution and Planning. This will require the alignment of various initiatives, such as
the Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council (IBEC), The County Budget and Economic
Forum (CBEF), Constituency Development Fund (CDF), the Women and Youth Funds, the
Development Partners Forum among others, to the new framework.
The outputs expected from the 1st National Forum include:
 A comprehensive report of the deliberations and recommendations of the Forum
 A declaration that captures the commitments made by stakeholders
 Multi-media outputs to allow those who could not attend to watch or view the proceedings.
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Draft Concept Note
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A statement of priorities- short term, medium term and long term aligned to Vision 2030,
regional and global goals
Suggestions on financing mechanisms and partnerships for such mechanism
A functioning multi-stakeholder data ecosystem that will facilitate the data revolution
holistically informing national development planning.
Participation
A total of 200 participants representing key stakeholders will be invited from the following
constituencies:
 Representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) in the National and County
governments
 Constitutional Commissions
 Representatives from the EAC Secretariat
 Representatives from the African Union
 Development Partners and Agencies
 Media organisations and journalists
 Universities, research institutes and think-tanks
 Youth organizations
 Women’s organizations
 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
 Political Parties
 Private Sector (Multinationals/ Local/Informal trade groups)
 Philanthropy organizations and individuals
 Religious organizations
 Higher Education, Science Technology and Innovation networks, institutions and bodies.
 UN agencies
 International and continental financial institutions (e.g. AfDB, IMF, World Bank)
Dates and Venue
The proposed dates for the 1st National Forum on Sustainable Development Data are the 26th and
27th of August, 2015
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