Beyond GDP: Innovative ideas for a regional dashboard

The GCRO BAROMETER 2014

01/01/2014

Darlington Mushongera

Researcher, GCRO

28/10/2014

• What is the GCRO?

• Gauteng City Region Observatory

• A research centre based at Wits University in Johannesburg

• Established in 2008

• By the provincial government as a partnership with Wits University, University of

Johannesburg (UJ) and GPG

• More recently, organised local government has come on board as a partner (SALGA)

• What is its purpose/aim?

• Assist in building a knowledge base for government, business, labour, civil society and

citizens,

• That knowledge based is required for shaping appropriate strategies that will advance

the Gauteng as a competitive, integrated, sustainable and inclusive city-region

• How?

• Through cutting edge research in a wide range of areas, economic, social, political,

and environment but with relevance to Gauteng

• Modelling patterns and GIS mapping

• A range of visual data intensive outputs (Vignettes, Data Briefs, Map of the months etc.)

• To view our work please go to www.gcro.ac.za

• A major element of our work – the biannual Quality of Life Survey

GCRO – the institution

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Gauteng City-Region (GCR) – the space

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The Barometer – tool

• Purpose– Part of GCRO mandate

– To depict, in a single visual, developmental progress in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR)

– Reducing complex data into into quick and easily digestible format but not lossing sight of the detail

• Web based, interactive, circular visual

• Displays 38 Indicators

• Spread across 10 Sectors

• Indicator definitions and data sources

• Trend charts for each indicator – 2002-2012

• Downloadable report with brief analysis of the trends

• Accessible on line via PC (Mac/Win), Laptop, iPad, smart phone, etc

• The link is www.gcro.ac.za/barometer

1 Economic growth

• GDP

• Per capita GDP

• Gross Fixed Capital formation

• Tress Index

2 Poverty and Inequality

• Human Development Index

• Gini coefficient

• Poverty rate

3 Labour Market Dynamics

• Labourforce participation rate

• Unemployment rate (official)

• Total numbers employed

10 Sectors 38 indicators

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4. Safety and security

• Number of cases for murder per 100 000 inhabitants

• Safety in neighborhoods

• Total sexual crimes

5. Infrastructure service

• Access to piped water

• Sanitation access

• Energy use

• Dwelling type (formal)

• Communication

6. Health

• Life expectancy

• Infant mortality

• Maternal mortality (MMR)

• Cure rate (TB)

• HIV prevalence

10 Sectors 38 indicators

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7. Education

• Net primary school enrolment (NER)

• Learner-educator ratio – primary

• Matric pass rate

• Science and technology graduates

• Adult literacy

8. Social cohesion

• Membership to voluntary organization

• Public opinion on race

9. Governance

• Corruption perception

• Public opinion on service delivery

• Voter Age Population (VAP) registered

• Voter turnout

10 sectors 38 indicators

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10.Sustainability

• Drinking water quality – Blue Drop Index

• Sanitation Risk – Green drop Index

• Air quality – Air quality index

• Electricity consumption – per capita

10 Sectors 38 indicators

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• 38 key indicators were selected and categorized into 10 broad sectors

• The period covered in the analysis is 2002 to 2012.

• Ideally, the intention was to cover the period from 1995 to 2013 but there were

no datasets that consistently covered this period for all 38 indicators.

• Various data sources were used such as StatsSA3, Quantec, Global Insight,

SAAQIS, SAPS and GCRO’s Quality of Life (QoL) surveys.

• A simple index was used to benchmark progress in 2012 against 3 base years

i.e. 2002, 2007 and 2011.

• The average sector indices were used to determine progress relative to the

base years using a colour scale,

• Red=significant negative change [<100];

• Amber=only minor positive change [=>100 but <105];

• Green=significant positive change =>105).

Method

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• Government

• Statistics South Africa - official source of data in SA

• DEA (SAAQIS)

• DWA (now W&S)

• GDE

• DoH (Health Systems Trust)

• SAPS

• Private Sector

• Quantec

• Global Insight

• GCRO Quality of Life

• Major part of GCRO

• Mostly opinion survey,

• Perceptions about life, government, race, service delivery, etc.

Data sources

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• Data scarcity!

• For as much as there is to be abundance of data in SA, its in fact scarce when

you come to do in depth and time series analysis as this.

• Comparability of data

• Time series data sometimes fails to tell a logical story e.g. access to water

• Data experts the private sector

• Quantec, Global Insight – can we take these as given

• Their methodologies? Motive? Can we really trust their data?

• Technical

• Functionality

• Choosing variables to represent sector

• Defining variables – local vs. international standards

Key issues arising the project

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Summary results from GCRO Barometer

2014

• Significant progress across all sectors

• However people perceptions about government are waning

• Relative apathy in terms of citizen participation in governance matters

• This should be a cause for concern for policy makers at all levels regarding the pace

and nature of development and its impact on people.

• Note:• Significant changes over longer periods – which is logical

• But not much change in shorter periods <=5 years

• With local politics getting more competitive it my be difficult to see the impact of government policies

• The Barometer was launched in August 2014

• Metros found it useful

• City of Johannesburg – want 3 separate ones for benchmarking with Ekurhuleni and

Tshwane

Thank you