Data is important for making informed decisions at all levels of government. However, in Papua New Guinea (PNG), several barriers restrict the availability of quality data for making informed decisions on service delivery.
The National Research Institute (NRI) Spotlight Volume 16, Issue 4 titled “Barriers to the use of Data to drive Policy Decisions in Papua New Guinea” by Peter Michael Magury, Research Fellow at PNG NRI, looks at interventions that can be used to build capability and to address barriers associated with the use of data for making policy-related decisions.
The barriers that restrict the use of data to drive policy decisions in PNG include the following:
• Knowledge gaps in statistical skills and data use resulting in lack of access, analyses, poor interpretation of data, and difficulty in summarizing data into clear messages for decision-makers in presentable formats.
• Poor data quality that includes data that are not timely, reliable, accurate and complete that limit the confidence and value that decision-makers place on data.
• Unavailability of data, which includes inaccessibility of relevant data and poor packaging of available data that restrict its availability for use in making informed policy decisions.
• Poor communication between data producers and users throughout the stages of data collection, analysis, interpretation, and use.
Interventions for making quality data available is important for providing the needed confidence in using the data for making informed policy related decisions by policy-makers.
Interventions such as building skills and knowledge in data use, improve data quality and communication, access and improve engagement between data users and producers can improve data used to drive policy decisions .