Ghana performed poorly in a Data For Change Survey by Confluent Media and Custom, a business intelligence company, IoTeedom with support from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

According to the survey, there is not enough consistent data for people, and policy in developing parts of the world, including Ghana.

The research found increased demand to build software to help support SME growth and resilience. Also, access to public information was 2.1 in average rating on a scale of 1-5 (1 being low and 5 high) among population samples. 

The average rating of perceived government transparency was 1.3 on a scale of 1-5 among population samples.

Consultant in International Social Impact, Founder of IoTeedom, Brianna Cook, has called for data to be disaggregated and transparent.

“With disaggregated data, we don’t have knowledge on how to actually expand the city and attain the Sustainable Development Goals. Data must be treated as a commodity just as gas and oil. Transparency and openness to data so that you don’t have to get an advanced degree to consume these data. It must be disaggregated. As data collectors we collect disaggregated data within subgroups to better aggregate data for the public’s use and ability to understand, simply,” Brianna Cook told Charles Ayitey on the Market Place.

Meanwhile, Business Development Strategist and Managing Partner, Confluent, Joseph Ntsiful, says even though the government is taking steps to aggregate data through the ongoing Census, there is the need for awareness creation.

“The key issue with data has to do with accessibility and accuracy. Apart from the fact that people were not able to access data because most of the data is disaggregated – you would have to go through so many institutions to access information – the issue of accuracy was there. There must be awareness in this regard,” he stated.

The Voices for Peace, the architect of the Data for Change survey, invited entrepreneurs from the United States and Europe, international justice lawyers and representatives from the Institute for Accountability in the Digital Age based in the Netherlands to gather local and international partners at one table. 

Together, they discussed the relation between peace, technology and partnerships to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The campaign shows that collecting and sharing data on citizens’ needs and perspectives of security has the power to engage peaceful dialogues between all members of society in Ghana.