---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:recommendations/improve-data-management"
type: "GovLab policy recommendation"
title: "Improve Data Management"
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/improve-data-management"
summary: "Improve data management (collection, storage, and analysis) processes to support evidence-driven programs and policies that identify vulnerable populations and account for their needs."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Improve Data Management

Improve data management (collection, storage, and analysis) processes to support evidence-driven programs and policies that identify vulnerable populations and account for their needs.

- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/), [all recommendations](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations)

## Strategy 1

Review data collection processes and ensure all data systems adequately collect disaggregated data differentiating vulnerable populations.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Private Sector, Academia, Civil Society, Healthcare Providers, Organized Civil Society, Nonprofits
- Type: Policy/Legislative/Regulatory, Data, Technology/Innovation, Partnerships, Vulnerable Populations
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/review-data-collection-processes-and-ensure-all-da

### Actions governments should take (strategy 1)

1. List existing data collection and storage systems the government controls. A thorough audit of these systems will look both at national, subnational, and local data sources.
2. Identify opportunities to capitalize on existing data from across government ministries or health centers.
3. Review existing data collection and storage systems to ensure they capture disaggregated data by sex, age, gender, ethnicity, race, education level, socioeconomic status, and other important demographic and social factors.
4. Standardize data collection processes to ensure sex, age, race, and ethnicity are adequately captured across all systems.
5. Review each analysis to consider which populations are missing from current data collection processes and how they can be captured by existing processes.
6. Avoid missed uses of data.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 1)

1. [The COVID-19 Sex-Disaggregated Data Tracker is a database that captures sex- and gender- disaggreagated data on COVID-19 that highlights differences in COVID-19 infection, illness and death among women and men from across the entire world. The intention of the project is to create the evidence base to identify and address gender-disparities in health outcomes and to inform gender-responsive approaches to COVID-19. and to address gender-disparities in health outcomes.](https://globalhealth5050.org/the-sex-gender-and-covid-19-project/#1587664245579-30fa0c77-7d6a)

## Strategy 2

Build coalitions with “trust brokers” (e.g. NGOs,Civil Society Organizations,and community leaders) and affected populations to co-design data collection,analysis and use processes

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Civil Society, Vulnerable Populations, Organized Civil Society, Nonprofits
- Type: Partnerships, Vulnerable Populations
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/build-coalitions-with-%E2%80%9Ctrust-brokers%E2%80%9D-(e.g.-ng

### Actions governments should take (strategy 2)

1. Identify the target stakeholders. Stakeholders can be specific ages, demographics, geographic communities, language groups, etc.
2. Define the groups as specifically as possible (geographically, racially/ethnically, age breakdown, sex/gender, language groups, etc.).
3. Work with other levels of government, including sub-national, to coordinate with local actors.
4. Create a stakeholder group that includes individuals from a variety of disciplines and relevant sectors to review data management processes. These groups should include, but not be limited to, hospitals, clinicians, statisticians, social service providers, frontline-health workers, academic researchers, and community based organizations.
5. Have these stakeholders be amplifiers for helping make their constituencies more “seen” and visible to government programs through better data.
6. Ask populations for their permission to use data.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 2)

1. [Facing the insufficiency of national ethnically disaggregated data collection protocols, the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil has leveraged its network of smaller civil society organizations to collect better quality data from community sources.](https://emergenciaindigena.apiboficial.org/en/dados-covid-19-novo/)

## Strategy 3

Collect disaggregated data at strategic locations and service delivery touchpoints.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Private Sector, Civil Society, Vulnerable Populations, Healthcare Providers, Essential Workers, Organized Civil Society, Nonprofits
- Type: Data, Technology/Innovation, Partnerships, Vulnerable Populations
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/collect-disaggregated-data-at-strategic-locations-

### Actions governments should take (strategy 3)

1. Identify large-scale or high-volume sites serving vulnerable populations, including youth, racial minorities, women, and children.
2. Identify partners that you will need to engage to get access to these locations.
3. Identify key community leaders who can help you identify these sites or locations for collecting important information on vulnerable populations.
4. Standardize data collection processes to ensure they capture disaggregated data by sex, age, gender, ethnicity, race, education level, socioeconomic status, and other important demographic and social factors.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 3)

1. [The city of Medellin, in Colombia, has created the Medellin me Cuida app to collect relevant data on its population. Citizens register as individuals or families, and businesses can also register. By collecting data such as address and the members of each household, and regularly screening users for symptoms, the app can give officials important contact tracing data and alert users when someone nearby has tested positive. By integrating services such as the city’s financial assistance and workers’ quarantine exemption programs into the app, Medellin has created incentives for people to register.](https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/diferencias-entre-plataformas-medellin-me-cuida-y-bogota-cuidadora-502506https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/medellin/diferencias-entre-plataformas-medellin-me-cuida-y-bogota-cuidadora-502506)

## Strategy 4

Strengthen government capacity to interpret new and existing data,focusing on vulnerable populations and publish data and analysis publicly.

- Timeframe: 3-6 Months (medium)
- Audience: Private Sector, Academia, Vulnerable Populations, Government Workers
- Type: Data, Technology/Innovation, Capacity Building
- Strategy page: https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/strengthen-government-capacity-to-interpret-new-an

### Actions governments should take (strategy 4)

1. Create and publish data dashboards that are updated regularly and show progress on metrics. Governments should develop a dashboard aligned with both the contact tracing platform and surveillance/reportable disease databases.
2. Survey available data tools that integrate with communicable disease databases and contact tracing platforms. Examples include power BI, Esri, or Tableau.
3. Fund and assign a data science team to specifically take charge of public-facing data communications, including the dashboard.
4. Maintain consistent reporting and regular updating of the dashboard to build trust with the public.
5. Ensure all data is disaggregated by sex, age, race, ethnicity, and other important demographic and social factors.

### Examples from around the world (strategy 4)

1. [In Vietnam, the government partnered with PATH to improve the system by which data already being collected is registered and analyzed. By using online tools, they not only decreased the lag for case notification, but also improved data visualization, thus making it easier and more accessible to analyze existing and new data.](https://www.path.org/articles/vietnam-tuan-ngo-finds-safety-numbers/)