Measurement of development indicators: data quality workshop

Background

DataFirst has been regularly hosting workshops since 2008 discussing data quality issues in South African national surveys. The objective of these workshops has been to share information about what we know and don’t know about progress on meeting the developmental challenges of South Africa since the end of apartheid. In this year’s event we will be focusing also on innovative measurement approaches. DataFirst has been involved in an international partnership with the UK Data Archive, funded by the ESRC/NRF, looking at “Big Data” in the context of household energy.

Call for participants and papers

We are looking for individuals who would like to participate and/or who would like to present some of their work. Preference will be given to active researchers and data producers. In particular we are looking for papers that highlight innovative uses of currently available data or discussions that show how new forms of data can be used.

Applications and abstracts should be mailed to Alison Siljeur by 31 May 2017.

Draft programme:

• Thursday 6 July

Morning session: Measurement of Individual and Household well-being
In this session we want to include papers looking at our understanding of what has happened to poverty, inequality and various indicators of well-being since the end of apartheid.

Afternoon session: Access to household energy and household services
Here we are looking for papers that illuminate our understanding of the process of service roll-out, as well as of its impact.

• Friday 7 July

Morning session: Innovative approaches to measurement
This session will look out the use of new forms of data, such as smart meters, remote sensing and others.

Afternoon session: Labour market changes
DataFirst has put out the “Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series” (PALMS) as a way of thinking about what has happened to employment and earnings. Here we want to reflect on what we have learned and where we need to go.