Cuts to foreign assistance by a number of governments are already taking a human toll in the world’s poorest countries. So it may seem trivial to be worrying about a non-human casualty in all this: data.
Many don’t realize the critical role that stable data systems globally have played over the past several decades in tracking and responding to poverty, diseases, deforestation, food shortages, natural disasters, and more. Data has saved and improved lives. It is relied upon not only by aid agencies but also Global South governments and local NGOs who are often working on the front lines.
But if many of the world’s established data systems are now facing their own life-and-death struggle, there may also be an opportunity. Such is the premise of a new 30-month, $1 million research award from the Hewlett Foundation to AidData, a research lab at William & Mary. The grant will support an ambitious, far-reaching effort to rethink how development data systems are funded, built, maintained, and used.
“We are in a crisis now with key data sources at risk, which could negatively affect projects that help millions of people,” said Rodney Knight, Project Director and AidData’s Interim Director of Policy Analysis. “So we realize we’ve been given the unique opportunity to not only rebuild but also reimagine the data systems key to development progress. A key question for us and for the data systems of the future is how to maintain quality with dwindling resources."
The “Reimagining Development Data (RD²)” project will bring together stakeholders from the Global South and North to determine which development data systems need to be preserved and protected and which ones need to be redesigned and reinvented. The research team say we may be entering a period of “creative destruction,” with data producers, users, and funders increasingly willing to reconsider whether and how new technologies and capabilities can be leveraged to develop more efficient, flexible, and resilient data systems.
“We have an enormous responsibility to the people who benefit from and use data to improve lives,” said Co-Principal Investigator and Senior Policy Specialist Bryan Burgess. “But smarter data systems will not necessarily emerge in the absence of a systematic review process and a process for consultation, coordination, and consensus-building with key stakeholders. Without a vision for the future, those who are invested in the status quo may resist change and fight to maintain legacy systems—without significant adaptation or innovation.”
Legacy data systems were especially critical in data-poor environments where there were few alternatives. Examples include the Demographic and Health (DHS) surveys, a massive decades-long program that focused on population and health; the Famine Early Warning Systems Network FEWS NET that allowed governments and organizations to quickly respond to food insecurity crises, including famines; and NASA-USAID’s joint program SERVIR, which used satellite imagery to support locally-led climate and development efforts—all of which were fully or majority-funded by the U.S. government and went temporarily or permanently dark in early 2025, following cuts to U.S. assistance programs. There is also a host of intergovernmental organizations with formal surveillance mandates, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and more. Hundreds of data sources further underpin the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which conclude in 2030.
“For decades, data projects have produced high-quality data to guide development assistance,” says Knight. “But a key weakness has always been lurking in the background: the inability to sustain these systems with limited resources. We now have an opportunity to move forward together to make sustainable development data systems a reality.”
The team will use a mixed methods approach to identify persistent gaps in the data supply and demand ecosystem, including understanding how data assets are being funded, produced and used—or not used. The research will focus on five priority sectors that have historically received the largest volumes of foreign assistance and philanthropic support: (1) governance, (2) health and education, (3) agriculture and food security, (4) the environment and conservation, and (5) disaster and humanitarian response.
Among the research components to the project, the researchers will conduct a data asset mapping exercise, field surveys, and key informant interviews. They will host two regional convenings, as well as focus group consultations with a diverse set of stakeholders.
The project will leverage AidData’s in-house Listening to Leaders survey infrastructure to reach a global sample of government officials, data producers, and users across the five priority sectors, as well as those that support the broader data ecosystem, such as National Statistics Office (NSO) officials. They will ask about data use, perceptions of how aid cuts have affected data availability and quality, types of support considered most helpful and sound out respondents on existing country-level capacity for data collection, management, and analysis.
The team is aware of the urgency of their task. “With many assets already lost or in jeopardy, we hope to share preliminary results from the systematic review with key stakeholders to inform ongoing conversations and identify high-value interventions,” said Divya Mathew, Associate Director of Policy Analysis.
Their dissemination plans include informing real-world decision-making and strategic planning, with briefings, policy briefs and technical notes. These will target funders, policymakers, and practitioners to support evidence-informed decisions, incorporating data visualizations to make complex findings accessible and actionable for technical and non-technical audiences. A synthesis report will provide a comprehensive summary of findings. The researchers will also develop “Guidelines for Resilient Data Systems”—practical recommendations for strengthening the sustainability and adaptability of development data infrastructure in the future.
AidData’s Policy Analysis Unit has extensive expertise in researching data system use and advising policymakers and development practitioners on the topic, including a 2017 report—Avoiding Data Graveyards—that flagged the perils of producing data without understanding who uses it, how, and why. That report proposed a set of principles to improve data uptake.
“Through this new, Hewlett-funded project, AidData has the opportunity to transform the data landscape for foreign assistance for decades to come,” said Knight, who thirty years ago was part of the team that designed the MEASURE public health data initiative, which in turn set the stage for USAID-funded data collection systems for decades. “This project can in a sense replicate what MEASURE did but on a broader scale, not just impacting health data, but data across multiple sectors.”
