Publication:
Data for Better Governance: Building Government Analytics Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Published
2024-11-25
ISSN
Date
2024-11-14
Author(s)
Santini, Juan Francisco
Sacco Capurro, Flavia
Lundy, Timothy
Kim, Galileu
de León Miranda, Jorge
Cocciolo, Serena
Casanova, Chiara
Editor(s)
Abstract
Governments in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region face significant developmental and institutional challenges, such as slowing growth, fiscal constraints, and inefficiencies in the public sector. At the same time, governments have invested significantly in government technologies (GovTech), making LAC a global pioneer in management information systems (MISs). This investment creates an opportunity for governments to leverage MIS data to strengthen the functioning of government and achieve development goals—that is, government analytics. This report provides a conceptual framework to assess and provide guidance on the regional government analytics agenda and how to harvest the benefits of GovTech investments. It examines how government analytics can inform policy making and improve accountability and efficiency, drawing on survey data and successful applications of government analytics. The report also explores the enabling conditions for government analytics—data infrastructure and analytical capabilities—and how to strengthen them. Finally, it provides practical guidance on how to develop a holistic government analytics agenda. "Data for Better Governance: Building Government Analytics Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean" is part of the Government Analytics collection, which began with The Government Analytics Handbook (2023). This growing series features frontier evidence and expert insights on how to leverage data to improve government performance.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Santini, Juan Francisco; Sacco Capurro, Flavia; Rogger, Daniel; Lundy, Timothy; Kim, Galileu; de León Miranda, Jorge; Cocciolo, Serena; Casanova, Chiara. 2024. Data for Better Governance: Building Government Analytics Ecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42413 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Government Analytics in Europe
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-05-29) Hasnain, Zahid; Khurshid, Ayesha; Lundy, Timothy; Rogger, Daniel
    This report is part of a collection examining how analytics using government microdata is revolutionizing public administration throughout the world. Its focus is on government analytics in the European Union. The collection is based on "The Government Analytics Handbook", a comprehensive guide to using data to understand and improve government. The reports in this collection aim to help public servants apply lessons from the Handbook to their own administrations by describing the unique opportunities and challenges for government analytics that arise in different regions. No two regions, countries, administrations, or organizations are alike—that is why using microdata to measure, understand, and improve government is so important!
  • Publication
    Effects of the Business Cycle on Social Indicators in Latin America and the Caribbean
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-04-04) Vegh, Carlos A.; Riera-Crichton, Daniel; Puig, Jorge; Camarena, José Andrée; Galeano, Luciana; Morano, Luis; Venturi, Lucila; Vuletin, Guillermo
    After mediocre growth in 2018 of 0.7 percent. LAC is expected to perform only marginally better in 2019 (growth of 0.9 percent) followed by a much more solid growth of 2.1 percent in 2020. LAC will face both internal and external challenges during 2019. On the domestic front. the recession in Argentina; a slower than expected recovery in Brazil from the 2014-2015 recession, anemic growth in Mexico. and the continued deterioration of Venezuela. present the biggest challenges. On the external front. the sharp drop in net capital inflows to the region since early 2018 and the monetary policy normalization in the United States stand among the greatest perils. Furthermore, the recent increase in poverty in Brazil because of the recession points to the large effects that the business cycle may have on poverty. The core of this report argues that social indicators that are very sensitive to the business cycle may yield a highly misleading picture of permanent social gains in the region.
  • Publication
    Afro-descendants in Latin America
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-08-28) Freire, German; Diaz-Bonilla, Carolina; Schwartz Orellana, Steven; Soler Lopez, Jorge; Carbonari, Flavia
    About one in four Latin Americans self-identify as Afro-descendants today. They comprise a highly heterogeneous population and are unevenly distributed across the region, but share a common history of displacement and exclusion. Despite significant gains over the past decade, Afro-descendants still are overrepresented among the poor and are underrepresented in decision-making positions, both in the private and the public sector. The extent to which Latin America will be able to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity will therefore depend, to a very large degree, on the social inclusion of Afro-descendants. The objective of this study is to deepen the region's empirical understanding of the drivers behind the persistent exclusion of the afro-descendants, as a first step to design appropriate solutions. The report proposes a framework to organize and think of the myriad options available to address their situations, based on the experience accumulated by the region and the data available.
  • Publication
    Mangroves as a Coastal Protection of Local Economic Activities from Hurricanes in the Caribbean
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-10-01) Gunasekera, Rashmin; Miranda, Juan Jose; Butron, Luigi; Pantoja, Chrissie; Daniell, James; Brand, Johannes
    In recent decades, hurricane frequency and intensity have increased in the Caribbean basin. From 2000 to 2012, more than 100 hurricanes impacted lives, infrastructure, gross domestic product, and natural environments along the coastal shorelines. Recent academic references mention that the dense root system of mangrove forests might mitigate the impact of hurricanes, which would help stabilize the coastline and prevents erosion from waves and storms. Many tropical mangroves are found on the coasts of Caribbean islands, unfortunately, these wetland ecosystems have been cleared at a rate of one percent per year since the nineties by climatic and anthropogenic events. Given this critical context, this study quantifies the causal effects hurricane windstorms on local economic activity, using as a proxy nightlights in the Caribbean region at the highest spatial resolution data available (1 square kilometer), and then measure the level of mangrove natural protection against the impact of hurricanes, employing different widths of the mangroves belt, which leads to a broader socio-economic and environmental perspective study. The results suggest that major hurricanes show negative effects of approximately two percent in nightlights and even a greater negative impact of sixteen percent in storm surge prone areas. However, the presence of mangroves on the coast minimizes the impact of hurricanes, shows a reduction of nightlights between one and six percent. The paper contributes to the literature of natural coastal protection against natural disasters by providing robust estimates of the causal effects of major hurricanes windstorms in the Caribbean, producing regional evidence that could improve targeting of environmental policies and disaster risk management toward those most impacted islands.
  • Publication
    Assessing Latin America’s Progress Toward Achieving Universal Health Coverage
    (Project HOPE, 2015-10) Buisman, Leander R.; Wagstaff, Adam; Eozenou, Patrick Hoang-Vu; Dmytraczenko, Tania; Almeida, Gisele; Cercone, James; Díaz, Yadira; Maceira, Daniel; Bredenkamp, Caryn; Molina, Silvia; Mori Sarti, Flávia; Paraje, Guillermo; Ruiz, Fernando; Scott, John; Valdivia, Martin; Werneck, Heitor
    Two commonly used metrics for assessing progress toward universal health coverage involve assessing citizens’ rights to health care and counting the number of people who are in a financial protection scheme that safeguards them from high health care payments. On these metrics most countries in Latin America have already “reached” universal health coverage. Neither metric indicates, however, whether a country has achieved universal health coverage in the now commonly accepted sense of the term: that everyone—irrespective of their ability to pay—gets the health services they need without suffering undue financial hardship. We operationalized a framework proposed by the World Bank and the World Health Organization to monitor progress under this definition and then constructed an overall index of universal health coverage achievement. We applied the approach using data from 112 household surveys from 1990 to 2013 for all twenty Latin American countries. No country has achieved a perfect universal health coverage score, but some countries (including those with more integrated health systems) fare better than others. All countries except one improved in overall universal health coverage over the time period analyzed.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    The State of Emergency Medical Services in Sub-Saharan Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-02-15) World Bank
    Health system investments in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have historically focused on primary health care to address the high rates of communicable diseases. However, with increasing rates of road trauma along with other life-threatening conditions such as non-communicable diseaseslike cardiac arrest and stroke that require urgent medical attention, many countries must now also look to develop functional Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Providing efficient and effective post-crash care and pre-hospital treatment for injuries, hemorrhage, and other medical and obstetrical emergencies under normal operating conditions become even more critical during disasters or conflict situations. They should also be made a priority due to the increasing morbidity and mortality from medical, surgical and obstetrical emergencies. According to World Health Organization (WHO), Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) are currently the 8th leading cause of death globally and the 10th leading cause in SSA, resulting in more than 1.4 million deaths per year worldwide in 2016 and 284,000 in SSA. Road injuries do not strike the population equally, and some groups are more vulnerable than others. Globally, RTAs are the leading cause of death for children, adolescents, and young adults aged 5-29 years, and yet have been long neglected in the health agenda for this group. Additionally, more than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Differences are noticeable between regions: while pedestrians and cyclists represent 26 percent of all deaths worldwide, they represent 44 percent of deaths in Africa. More generally, Africa is the continent with the highest rate of road traffic deaths with 26.6 deaths per 100,000 population in 2016, compared to 18.2 worldwide. It is now estimated that by 2030 the numberof RTA deaths could conceivably increase by 30 percent to 1.85 million fatalities annually, making it the 7th leading cause of death globally. Unfortunately, the RTA death rate in SSA is 25 percent higher than the global average (2015) and it is projected to increase a further 72 percent by 2030 to 38 fatalities per 100,000 population. For SSA, the challenge is even more pressing - if RTAs were to double to 514,000 annually, they would potentially become the 6th leading cause of death by 2030 - making RTAs responsible for more deaths than pre-term birth complications or malaria (ranked 7th and 8th, respectively).
  • Publication
    Global Economic Prospects, June 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-10) World Bank
    The global economy is facing another substantial headwind, emanating largely from an increase in trade tensions and heightened global policy uncertainty. For emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), the ability to boost job creation and reduce extreme poverty has declined. Key downside risks include a further escalation of trade barriers and continued policy uncertainty. These challenges are exacerbated by subdued foreign direct investment into EMDEs. Global cooperation is needed to restore a more stable international trade environment and scale up support for vulnerable countries grappling with conflict, debt burdens, and climate change. Domestic policy action is also critical to contain inflation risks and strengthen fiscal resilience. To accelerate job creation and long-term growth, structural reforms must focus on raising institutional quality, attracting private investment, and strengthening human capital and labor markets. Countries in fragile and conflict situations face daunting development challenges that will require tailored domestic policy reforms and well-coordinated multilateral support.
  • Publication
    Digital Pathways for Education
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-08) Rajasekaran, S.; Adam, T.; Tilmes, K.
    This work aims to offer a strategic approach to policymakers when undertaking digital transformation reforms in education and skills development systems, with a focus on “how.” It builds on the World Bank education vision framework offered in realizing the future of Learning by unpacking the digital cross-cutting area of “Invest wisely in technology”, looking into how this may be done to maximize impact at scale for all. The authors promote cautious optimism and techno realism, clarifying how the education and skills sector can use digital technologies to its advantage by being proactive, strategic, and evidence-based, considering carefully why to use digital and in what conditions the existing and emerging technologies might be positively leveraged. It is widely recognized that one size does not fit all and that policymakers need to have a laser focus on learning, weighing in contextual needs, and purposefully using the next marginal investable dollar on digital solutions to fulfill education objectives equitably at scale for all. Along with policymakers in government who are the primary audience for this work, it is intended to enable dialogue and critical partnerships across industry, academia, researchers and multilateral, and World Bank staff to support and deepen our country engagements as countries increasingly expand the digital reach of public education services.
  • Publication
    Business Ready 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03) World Bank
    Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.
  • Publication
    The Government Analytics Handbook
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-28) Rogger, Daniel; Schuster, Christian
    The Government Analytics Handbook presents frontier evidence and practitioner insights on how to leverage data to strengthen public administration. Covering a range of microdata sources—such as administrative data and public servant surveys—as well as tools and resources for undertaking the analytics, it transforms the ability of governments to take a data-informed approach to diagnose and improve how public organizations work. The "Handbook" is a must-have for practitioners, policy makers, academics, and government agencies. It is available as a single volume in print or digital formats, and as chapters for modular use. Additional tools, data and background information are available at worldbank.org/governmentanalytics. “Governments have long been assessed using aggregate governance indicators, giving us little insight into their diversity and how they can practically be improved. This pioneering handbook shows how microdata can be used to give scholars and practitioners granular and real insights into how states work, and practical guidance on the process of state-building.” —Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University, author of State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century - "The Government Analytics Handbook is the most comprehensive work on practically building government administration I have ever seen, helping practitioners to change public administration for the better.” —Francisco Gaetani, Special Secretary for State Transformation, Government of Brazil - “The machinery of the state is central to a country’s prosperity. This handbook provides insights and methodological tools for creating a better shared understanding of the realities of a state, to support the redesign of institutions, and improve the quality of public administration.” —James Robinson, University of Chicago, coauthor of Why Nations Fail