FAO releases a new data dissemination platform: FAO DATA EXPLORER Beta version
The FAO Data Explorer is the corporate data dissemination platform of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This first beta version contains 60 datasets, providing access to all the relevant information related to the 21 SDG Indicators under FAO custodianship in over 245 countries and territories. The data is drawn from the FAO SDG Indicators Portal, FAOSTAT and the UN SDG Data Portal.
Currently, the open access platform allows for easy finding, using and visualizing data and metadata. The platform is continuously updated and will be soon populated with data from other FAO domains, starting with agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture production.
The overall objective of the platform is to become the one-stop-shop for statistical data related to food and agriculture, and all domains relevant to FAO’s mandate. It will participate to FAO’s effort to modernize its statistical system, by improving the consistency and quality of FAO data and developing new channels and services for data dissemination and exchange between FAO, and national and international organizations.
The platform is a FAO-branded version of the open-source SDMX-based platform built by the Statistical Information System Collaboration Community (SIS-CC).
FAO became the 16th member of the SIS-CC community in November 2022. The .Stat Suite was selected as the best solution for FAO to centralize its data on a unified platform underpinned by the standard of the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX).
“The integrated dissemination system, on one side, will reinforce the internal statistics governance and related data quality assurance processes while, on the other, will significantly increase efficiency by reducing development and maintenance costs of multiple IT platforms and technologies. Moreover, the project adopts a user-centric approach for data dissemination to improve user satisfaction and increase their analytical capacity with the integration of visual analytics software tools” said FAO Chief Statistician, Pietro Gennari.
On 16 June 2023, the Office of Chief Statistician organized a well-attended seminar focusing on the management and dissemination of statistics using SDMX, where representatives from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) were invited to share their views and experiences.
The release of the first beta version of the FAO Data Explorer marks the beginning of a long journey, where collaboration and learning from peers will be key to achieve the modernization of FAO Statistics.