Highlights section

Launch of Locus Charter

The Locus Charter is an international collaboration of governments, organizations, and individual practitioners seeking to ensure the ethical & responsible use of location data throughout the world. The Charter proposes that a wider, shared understanding of risks and solutions relating to uses of location data can improve standards of practice, and help protect individuals and the public interests.

The charter will be officially launched on March 24, 2021. This is a one-hour event starting from 10 AM EDT, which will be followed by an expert panel discussion to explore the Charter’s approach and principles.

To register for the event, please use this link.

Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED)

The 2019 Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED) database contains public expenditure data for 164 countries from 1980 to 2017 for ten sectors: agriculture, communication, education, defense, health, mining, social protection, fuel and energy, transport, and transport and communication combined as one sector. Indicators reported include percentage of sector expenditure in total expenditure, percentage of total expenditure to total gross domestic product, and per capita sector and total expenditure in constant prices.

The data were compiled from multiple sources, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and national governments, and conducted extensive data checks and adjustments to ensure consistent spending measurements over time that are free of exchange-rate fluctuations and currency denomination changes.

SPEED is a user-friendly tool that could help governments to better allocate their resources to be consistent with their policy objectives, and citizens’ needs and priorities. Because of the wide coverage of time periods, countries, and sectors, it could help policymakers and researchers to better understand the linkages between different types of public expenditure and development. It could also help examine historical trends and compare those to other countries.

This database is openly accessible from here.

Food Policy Indicators: Tracking Change

Decisionmakers and policy analysts need solid evidence and timely information to develop and implement effective food policies. The 2019 Global Food Policy Report, launched on March 27, includes an entire section on food policy indicators. Indicators included were investments in agricultural research, public spending on agriculture, agricultural total factor productivity, and projections for agricultural production, food consumption, and risk of hunger to 2030 and 2050. These indicators can be helpful to gauge the impact of policy changes and the progress made on specific aspects of development. IFPRI developed these indicators, updates them regularly and makes them available in print and online in reusable file format. [Read more...]

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