Shaida Badiee is a former director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group and now leads an NGO, Open Data Watch. Credit: IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth
After nearly two decades running the World Bank’s Development Data Group, Shaida Badiee now works to help developing nations improve their data systems. And she has a clear message for donor countries: individual aid projects can be helpful, but the real need is for basic data infrastructure
During her long career in strategic data management, Shaida Badiee has had some diverse jobs. For 18 years, she was director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group – establishing the organisation from scratch in 1993, and building it up to a 200-strong team. And for the last eight years, she’s run Open Data Watch, a small non-governmental organisation (NGO) that campaigns to improve global access to high-quality development data.
Director, Development Data Group, The World Bank Group
Haishan Fu is the Director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group and Co-Chair of the Bank’s Development Data Council. In this capacity Haishan leads and coordinates the development and implementation of the Bank’s development data agenda.
She has been an active leader in the global statistical community, having served or currently serving as a member of the UN Secretary General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, Council Member of the International Statistical Institute, and Co-Chair of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities among over 45 UN and other international development agencies, among others.
As various global restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic continue, so do disruptions to the operations of National Statistical Offices. This comes at a time when data remain key to inform evidence-based policymaking that addresses the manifold public health, economic, and social challenges countries face.
To understand these new challenges and NSOs’ needs, the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Bank s Development Data Group, in coordination with the five UN regional commissions, just released the results of the third round of a global online survey to monitor the impact of the coronavirus crisis on NSOs.