The Acting Country Director for World Bank
Ghana Office, Patrick Mullen, has revealed that Ghana will be able to develop a
social contract with citizens as it relates to data if it’s able to strengthen its infrastructure and skills further to capture data and turn them into
value; the scale and agency to participate equitably in global data markets and
their governance, and the institutional and regulatory framework to create
trust in data systems.
Speaking at the opening of the 2021 World
Development Report (WDR): Ghana Country Dissemination Workshop for Ghana
journalists in Accra, Mr. Mullen said to ensure a multi-stakeholder-based
approach to establishing a data governance framework, it is also crucial to
create a platform for collaboration and continuous dialogues between various
stakeholders and data users in Ghana.
According to him, Ghana needs to develop
alternative methods to collect and analyze data to continue not only to measure trends but also to develop data-driven policies to meet its ambitious poverty
reduction goals, adding that to do this, the government needs to develop
the infrastructure, skills, governance, institutional and regulatory framework to
not only develop these systems but also public trust in the said system.
Discussing the World Development Report 2021, the
Acting Country Director noted that the World Bank had prepared the WDR 2021: “Data
for Better Lives” to enhance the positive use and reuse of data while promoting
an approach that provides safeguards against the misuse of data.
The workshop is part of a series of national
events designed to raise awareness of WDR 2021 policy messages in the Western
and Central Africa Region of the World Bank Group and to promote dialogue with
national policymakers and stakeholders of the data ecosystem. With broadband
access advancing and data traffic rising rapidly, harnessing the development
potential of these growing volumes of data requires bridging critical gaps in
the legal and regulatory frameworks for data creation, use, and reuse.
By: Kanto Okanta
