Promoting Data for Development: A Commitment of National Population Councils of the Regional Collaboration Platform.

Recognizing the longstanding legacy of national population councils and commissions (NPCs) in using data to identify population and development links and guide policy agendas and as governance in the region becomes increasingly decentralized, NPCs must now expand upon this legacy by leveraging the growing wealth of country data to inform subnational policy and program priorities that better respond to local challenges and needs;

Recognizing that high-quality data for development will enable countries to identify and address specific policy and program constraints affecting universal sexual and reproductive health and rights and inclusive development, and better incorporate population dynamics in development planning;

We, the NPC Regional Collaboration Platform, representing the NPCs of Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda; and the Population and Development Department of the Ministry of National Development Planning of Zambia at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, therefore commit to:

1. Championing the generation and use of high-quality data for decision-making at national, regional, and local levels to advance inclusive development and economic growth;
2. Promoting greater generation and use of subnational data by supporting application of state-of-the-art data collection and modelling approaches to fill existing information gaps;
3. Improving the usability of data by building capacity of local technical authorities to analyse, interpret, package, and disseminate data in compelling, actionable formats, and;
4. Advancing application of high-quality, disaggregated population and household data to local development planning across policy sectors.

These investments will optimize subnational policy planning and contribute to national efforts to attain the demographic dividend and ICPD

Modes of engagement:

• Policy and guidance
  The commitments will optimize sub national policy planning and contribute to national efforts to attain the demographic dividend and the achievement of the ICPD Programme of Action.
• Programmatic action
  The commitments will guide the countries in the region share lessons and best practices on data generation and use for improved programming for population and development.