Data collected from communities and civil society organizations (CSOs) have the potential to complement and enhance official data collected by National Statistical Offices (NSOs) on the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the most marginalized groups such as migrants, according to a new report released by the Civil Society Collaborative on Inclusive COVID-19 Data.
The report, which shares evidence from 38 studies and 60 key resources relevant to community and CSO data on COVID-19, found that community and CSO data, like programmatic data and case studies, can complement NSO data because it can :
- capture deviations from national averages;
- be more inclusive of "hard-to-reach" people; and
- uncover data gaps that are not so obvious in official data.
The report further recommends how national governments and donors can accelerate investment into the production of community and CSO data and develop more inclusive official data systems.