Data to leave no one behind: Development Initiatives launches inaugural P20 Initiative baseline report

A new report published today by Development Initiatives (DI) provides a baseline for tracking the progress of the poorest 20% of the world’s population – the P20 – to better understand who is at risk of being left behind in progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report comes from DI’s P20 Initiative, which aims to track the progress of the poorest 20% of people globally across three bellwether indicators: income, nutrition and civil registration. In so doing it provides a simple assessment of whether or not the people in the P20 are benefiting from global progress.

Crucially, the baseline report demonstrates the need for a new mindset and approach to understanding and measuring progress of people out of poverty if we are to achieve the ambitions of Agenda 2030. Harpinder Collacott, Executive Director at Development Initiatives, said: “To ensure everyone benefits from growth and development, we must track the progress of everyone. This will require counting people not averages, since aggregates are far too imprecise to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Without significant investment to improve data and evidence on the poorest people, we are ill-equipped to ensure that no one is left behind.”

The report demonstrates the urgent need for better production and use of disaggregated data and comprehensive civil registration systems to ensure everyone is included in progress.

Publication of this baseline report concludes the first phase of the P20 Initiative. The next phase will focus on the ways that the P20 Initiative can support everyone to identify and include people who are currently missing out on progress – politically and practically

Read the report, and find out more about the P20 Initiative.

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