Crisis, fragility and risk: Good with data, episode 3

In the first mini-series of Good with data we explore one of the most important issues in global development today, the Leave No One Behind Agenda; what it means, why it matters, and how we can make it a reality by improving data and making best use of existing data and evidence.

In this episode, we discuss how data about risk can support efforts to leave no one behind in uncertain times and in fragile places. By this, we mean the risk of natural disasters, conflict, diseases and economic shocks resulting in sudden, dramatic and extensive changes to poverty and inequality beyond the individual or household level.

For international development actors, this means balancing what we know about who is left behind today with a forward-looking understanding of who may be vulnerable to shocks in the future. We’ve seen the importance of this all too clearly over the last couple of years, as global poverty reduction went into reverse amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our guests are:

• Harsh Desai, a Data and Policy Analyst for Crises and Fragility at the OECD, where among other things he contributes to the flagship States of Fragility report and oversees the production of the multidimensional fragility framework and States of Fragility platform;
• Roberto Schiano Lomoriello, Programme Management Officer at the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, where he covers Sub-Saharan Africa.

For more on this subject, read our blog: How can data enable effective risk management to mitigate the worst outcomes for people experiencing vulnerability and leave no one behind? And the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2021.

During the episode, we asked our panellists to share their recommendations for listeners to explore issues relating to risk further:

• Roberto recommended reviewing the outputs of the 7th Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, and reading the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 for an overall picture of global risk. He also encouraged us to think about how we all create risks in our daily lives, from our patterns of consumption to the way we build homes;
• Harsh encouraged listeners to think about the link between data production and use, ensuring the data we produce is having the impact that we want, and to read the OECD’s States of Fragility report.

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