The Data for Good Partnership, a unique public-private partnership and not-for-profit initiative to support evidence-based decision-making for the wellbeing of all in Ghana, has been renewed between three institutions.
They are Vodafone Ghana, the Flowminder Foundation, and Ghana Statistical Services (GSS). The project also received funding support from Vodafone Foundation.
Having in mind the importance of development of statistics on the African continent, the partners are taking the opportunity to publicly announce the renewal of a successful partnership which dates back to October 2017, with the signing of Phase 2 of the Data for Good Partnership Agreement.
The deal enables the partners to continue and enhance their collaboration in using pseudonymised and aggregated mobile operator data to estimate population distributions and trends of population movements across Ghana for development and humanitarian purposes.
A statement issued by the partners in Accra yesterday said the signing of a partnership agreement helped to guide the partners and stakeholders in the goals and objectives that were to be pursued through the partnership.
“This partnership makes it possible to transform the production of official statistics through the secure analysis of anonymised and aggregated Call Detail Records (CDR), a set of data routinely and automatically collected by the network operator for billing purposes,” it said.
This collaboration, which is the first of its kind in Ghana, and one of the first in Africa, is aimed at taking advantage of technology to drive evidence-based planning in the areas of health, disaster management and traffic management, among many others.
Referring to the essence of this innovation, the Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, noted: “Understanding changes in mobility patterns is important…. The work conducted to date, including the production of various analyses to understand mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic, shows the power of mobile operator data analytics, and is a good example of how it can benefit anyone through its integration into our national statistical
system.”
Cathy Riley, Strategic Partnerships Director of Flowminder Foundation, said “the partnership aims to enhance the production of timely and relevant official statistics and indicators through the incorporation of aggregated, anonymised mobile phone data outputs into the National Statistical System. GSS, as its coordinator, will leverage those indicators to inform government operations, decision-making and policy formation for the well-being of all in Ghana, and may serve as a model of this approach to other countries in the region”.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, said, “We are excited that this unique partnership is helping the government of Ghana estimate and monitor population movement for social good.”
“The mobility insights from this project are indeed helping the country to better analyse and make predictions for the benefit of all, especially in the area of health. While we are thrilled to have reached this point in our journey, we know that this is only the beginning! We are motivated by the abundant opportunities this initiative will bring to Ghana,” she said.
BY TIMES REPORTER
