Use of digital data in development decision-making: an economic analysis

Regular, granular, digital data may be considered a 'holy grail' in development--allowing regular course correction, systematic learning and knowledge generation, performance management, remote monitoring, on-demand reports, unprecedented accountability and transparency, and even remote service provision & feedback. Till now, however, supply of such data has been severely constrained -- so development organizations have evolved systems designed to work in data scarcity, such as extensive planning and to-the-point implementation, elaborate monitoring systems, and logframe-based static evaluation methods. As a result of the proliferation of ICTs, a steady flow of high-frequency, high-fidelity data about beneficiaries and impact is now possible at low marginal cost. However, the development sector is yet to fully absorb and realize the potential of ICT-generated data in making itself more efficient and agile, due to the friction that occurs with processes designed for an analog world. This paper therefore argues that demand side constraints must be addressed before the abundant supply of data can be optimally utilized for making development more impactful.