COVID-19 highlights South Africa’s need for local level social data

(…) Generating and sharing local level social data
The collection of this data is funded by the Gauteng provincial government, with support from municipalities. The GCRO independently manages data collection and analysis, to academic standards. The data is freely available for non-commercial purposes and has been shared with many groups working to understand and respond to the pandemic.

In other provinces, access to relatively fine-grained spatial data is more limited. The most recent data available below the municipal level is often from Census 2011, which is now quite dated, particularly in rapidly changing urban areas. A range of models have been built on top of the census data. Models have an essential role to play, but cannot supplant real data collected on the ground.

In the longer term, a more frequent national census would enhance local data, but at enormous cost. Regular, high quality sample surveys, targeted at areas experiencing rapid social change, are a more cost-effective option.

In the short term, platforms that share existing research and governmental data, such as the University of Cape Town’s DataFirst, make a valuable contribution. Important work to enhance access to local data, for example through the South African Cities Open Data Almanac platform, must be continued. Approaches to open sharing of administrative data, while protecting confidentiality, are crucial. Vast amounts of local information are held by community organisations, local government and others. Systematic approaches to drawing on this will help validate and complement other data sources.

Survey by the Human Sciences Research Council and Statistics SA provides valuable social data on the pandemic’s impact. Telephone or online surveys with geographically targeted sampling would complement this work. Read more here