Data Partnerships for the SDGs: The Potential of Federated Information Systems

Quality data collection and distribution are fundamental to SDG achievement. However, the scope of the SDG indicator framework coupled with the potentially conflicting needs of the data producers and data consumers renders the SDGs an unprecedented global data reporting challenge. The magnitude of the challenge is such that international data partnerships are required should robust global SDG reporting be achieved. This chapter aims to describe one of the lifelines to global SDG reporting that results from an international data partnership between the UN and ESRI—the federated information system for the SDGs (FIS4SDGs). While the data partnership has proven fruitful insofar as national SDG data hubs have been successfully launched in five partnering nations, it does not come without certain limitations, the majority of which stem from barriers associated with the systems’ political, financial, or technological context. The FIS4SDGs serves as a potent example of the benefits that may be reaped from international data partnerships, catalyzing national SDG reporting and localization; however, its true power is yet to be realized. Indeed, the FIS4SDGs has the potential to revolutionize current SDG reporting acting as the medium through which citizen science-generated data and big data might be incorporated into the SDG data system.