Realising the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development: Towards Capacity Development 4.0

SUMMARY FROM PAPER: This paper presents dedicated reflections on improving statistical capacity development. Whereas international commitments emphasise the need for more resources and investments, they only stand to benefit statistical systems if they are guided by a fundamentally new vision guiding concerted action by all relevant stakeholders. That vision for ‘Capacity Development 4.0’, a term first coined by PARIS21 (Jütting, 2016; Jütting, 2017), is set out below and discussed with regard to its implications for moving away from business as usual to realise the SDGs. In essence, a Capacity Development 4.0 (CD4.0) approach requires fundamental reforms in both co-operation substance and the process to establish patterns of co-operation in support of capacity development for data and statistics, drawing on insights developed in the context of emerging discussions on ‘Industry 4.0’ (see PwC, 2016). It does not imply a linear step following the successful realisation of CD1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. As is made abundantly clear in available independent evaluations and academic research referred to here, CD4.0 instead reflects a combination of finalising an unfinished agenda of applying key aid and development effectiveness principles – particularly those insights gained in more general research on capacity development – as well as innovative approaches to capacity development that are equally sensitive to technical innovation as to collective action opportunities and challenges on data and statistics.