Data literacy integration into development agenda. A catalyst to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Abstract

The ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (4IR) era characterized by ‘Information Communication Technology’ (ICT) based data literacy with respect to research data collection, documentation, preservation, intellectual protection / control and dissemination is a functional catalyst in enabling the realization of the SDGs of the United Nations (UN) global agenda on poverty reduction; hunger eradication; safe water accessibility, sustainable energy accessibility; ‘Sustainable Forest Management’ (SFM); climate change resilience; ‘Disaster Risk Reduction’ (DRR); biodiversity conservation and; social and gender equity by 2030. The study, employing a desk bound literature review research design, conceptualized that ‘ICT based digital data literacy’ (dependent variable) can ‘catalyze an enabling of the realization of the SDGs of the United Nations (UN) global agenda’ (independent variable), ‘inherent challenges’ (intervening variable) like poor internet infrastructure, digital data illiteracy and high-power costs among others notwithstanding. Global government ‘Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are managing voluminous (big) digital data to support strategic decision making, policy implementation and operational optimization (monitoring and evaluation) towards realizing the SDGs. This requires effective competence (literacy) in digital data analytics to facilitate SDGs based data processing thereby enabling global government MDAs to accurately utilize data for policy implementation and decision making towards effectively realizing the SDGs. The study findings recommend a scaling up of digital data literacy and internet infrastructure development as well as power accessibility in especially developing countries among others.