Learnings from India’s data maturity assessment model (DGQI) for improving administrative data for M&E

Administrative data forms the backbone of decentralized monitoring and evaluation systems. It plays a crucial role in enabling regular monitoring of government programmes and using evidence to make mid-course corrections. With the rapid pace of digitisation of government services across the world, administrative data can also be efficiently used along with survey data for cost and time effective concurrent evaluations.

Ensuring relevant, high-quality and reliable administrative data for effective data use by various stakeholders is hence of immediate importance. Further, it is crucial to ensure that these data systems allow for easy data sharing and use while taking care of data security and privacy to move from siloed data systems to more integrated data ecosystems.
In this context, to enable this transition in a smooth manner, it is important to undertake comprehensive review of existing data systems via data maturity assessments. This assessment can then become the basis for building frameworks, policies and action plans to pivot the quality of administrative data for effective M&E.

The session aims to focus on the importance of data maturity assessments by governments to drive reforms for improving data use for effective M&E. It will highlight recent attempts by the Government of India to undertake a comprehensive review of data maturity level of over 70+ Ministries/Departments in the form of Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI) from 2020 onwards.

DMEO, NITI Aayog would be convening the session with the following objectives to ensure that audience members:

1. Understand the importance of administrative data in driving evidence based policymaking and present challenges faced by India in using this data for better policy decisions
2. Appreciate the critical need for undertaking exhaustive data maturity assessments by governments to improve the quality of administrative data
3. Understand the architecture of the Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI), a data maturity assessment framework designed and being used by the Government of India
4. Recognize the need to drive these assessments via a structural measure-and-reform approach to be able to translate measurement into suitable reform actions
5. Envision pathways as to how other governments can contextualize and adopt DGQI to undertake their own data maturity assessments for improved evidence-based policymaking