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Re-imagining Data Systems as if Women Counted

After decades of feminist advocacy, it is now accepted as a part of conventional wisdom that all data collection systems should provide gender-disaggregated data. However, this ‘add gender and stir’ approach often fails to capture data that is critical for developing gender-friendly policies, especially data on care responsibilities, access to public spaces, and, discrimination in employment. NCAER organised a discussion on re-imagining data systems from a gendered perspective to celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, 2022.

In recent years, national data collection systems in India have faced considerable challenges. Lack of data, particularly at a time when data are most needed, have hampered both the evaluation of public policies and an understanding of women’s lived realities. The panellists at this discussion comprised a diverse group having extensive experience with the data and evidence ecosystem. They drew upon their past experiences to discuss the importance of gender data and strategies for ensuring its efficient collection and optimal use. Broadly, the seminar address the following questions:

  • How can the existing data systems be re-imagined?
  • What data should be collected and from whom?
  • Who should collect it?
  • How do we enable feminist advocates to move beyond data gatekeepers to access pertinent data?

The event was held in a hybrid mode, in-person and virtual. Speakers at this forum included the following:

Panellists:

Rukmini S. is an independent data journalist based in Chennai. In 2004, she began covering Mumbai city for the Times of India. Since 2010, she has specialised in data journalism. She was the first Data Editor of an Indian newsroom, initially at The Hindu and then at Huffpost India. She now writes for a range of publications, including Mint, IndiaSpend, and The Guardian. Her pandemic podcast, The Moving Curve, won an Emergent Ventures India COVID-19 Prize in 2020. She was awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Mediaperson (Honourable Mention) in 2020 and the Likho Awards for Excellence in Media in 2019. She has a post-graduate Diploma in Social Communications Media and an MSc in Development Studies.

Diva Dhar, Deputy Director (Data and Evidence), Women’s Economic Empowerment, leads the global strategies at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and oversees investments on strengthening the gender data architecture and deepening research and evidence for women’s economic empowerment programming and policymaking. Prior to joining the team in 2019, she anchored research and evaluation portfolios for the foundation on nutrition, health systems, ICT, youth and gender in India. Previously, she worked for over a decade in public policy research and design for J-PAL, Innovations for Poverty Action, World Bank, Planning Commission of India, and other non-profit organisations in India, Morocco and Bangladesh. Diva is currently a doctoral candidate in Public Policy at the University of Oxford. She has a Master’s in International and Development Economics from Yale University.

Mayra Buvinic, an internationally recognised expert on gender and development, is a Senior Fellow with Data2X and a Senior Fellow Emeritus with the Center for Global Development. Previously, she was Director for Gender and Development at the World Bank. She also worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) where she headed the Social Development Division and was founding member and President of the International Center for Research on Women. She has a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

 

Jeemol Unni is Professor of Economics at Ahmedabad University. Earlier she was Director at Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) and RBI Chair Professor of Economics at IRMA. She holds a PhD. and MPhil in Economics and was a post-doctoral Fellow at Economic Growth Center, Yale University. She is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Statistics constituted by the Government of India. She is on the Editorial Board of The Indian Journal of Labour Economics and Journal of Development Policy and Practice. Her research addresses issues of informal labour, returns to education, social protection and women entrepreneurship. Her latest co-authored book is titled Women Entrepreneurship in the Indian Middle Class (Orient Blackswan, 2021).

Pallavi Choudhuri is a Fellow at the NCAER-National Data Innovation Center (NDIC). At NDIC, her work focuses on methodological innovations in measuring income, consumption, and women’s time use. Prior to joining NCAER, Choudhuri taught courses in Economics and Finance at the Grand Valley State University as a Visiting Assistant Professor and as an Instructor at the University of Wyoming. She has a PhD in Economics from the University of Wyoming.

 

Sonalde Desai is a Professor at NCAER with a joint appointment as Distinguished University Professor in Department of Sociology at the University of Maryland. She directs the NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC). She is an internationally known demographer whose work deals primarily with human development in developing countries with a particular focus on gender and class inequalities. At present, she is leading the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), India’s only nationally representative panel study conducted in two rounds in 2004–05 and 2011–12. Preparations are currently on for the next round of IHDS.

Tracking Lives and Livelihoods through the Pandemic

How have the lives of residents of Delhi and other areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) changed over the past two years since the advent of COVID?  NCAER National Data Innovation Centre (NCAER-NDIC) team discussed results from the Delhi Metropolitan Area Study (DMAS), which interviewed residents from Delhi-NCR in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic, and has continued to follow their lives since then, as they have struggled to protect their health and livelihoods, and to educate their children through the biggest global crisis of our generation.

The NCAER-NDIC team interviewed over 5,200 households in NCR, with samples drawn from Delhi as well as districts in the neighbouring States of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. The DMAS survey was initiated in early 2019 and continued until November 2021, allowing us to assess the lives of our respondents before and after COVID-19, and the changes brought about by the pandemic. These households have lived through the difficulties and challenges caused by COVID-19 infections and the lockdowns designed to control the spread of the disease. This webinar discussed the findings on:

  • Experience of COVID-19 infection and its severity;
  • COVID-19 vaccinations;
  • Management of non-communicable diseases during the pandemic;
  • Impact of school closure on education and access to digital learning;
  • Changes in employment patterns and financial recovery;
  • Trends in food consumption and role of social policies; and
  • Perceptions regarding the decision to impose the nationwide lockdown during the early phase of the pandemic.

The NCAER press note on DMAS findings is available on this webpage.

Sonalde Desai is a Professor at NCAER with a joint appointment as Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. She directs the NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC), which has been established by NCAER in collaboration with its consortium partners, University of Maryland and University of Michigan. She is an internationally known demographer whose work deals primarily with human development in developing countries with a particular focus on gender and class inequalities. At present, Sonalde Desai is leading the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), India’s only nationally representative panel study conducted in two rounds in 2004–05 and 2011–12. Preparations are currently on for the next round of IHDS.

Santanu Pramanik is a Senior Fellow at NCAER and the Deputy Director of the National Data Innovation Centre. He is a Statistician and Survey Methodologist by training. His research interests encompass survey methods, data quality, remote monitoring of data collection activities, randomised controlled trials, small area estimation, and the application of these methods across different substantive domains, including vaccination, health insurance and healthcare expenditure, and family planning. He has earlier worked as a Research Scientist at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), and as a Survey Statistician at National Opinion Research Center, an independent affiliate of the University of Chicago.

The other team members who partcipated in the conversation include Reem Ashraf, Ruchi Jain, Abhinav Motheram, Debasis Barik, Manjistha Banerji, and Pallavi Choudhuri.

NCAER Report Release: Present and Potential Contribution of Microfinance to India’s Economy

NCAER and Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) released a report titled Present and Potential Contribution of Microfinance to India’s Economy. The report was released by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog in a virtual event.

In this livecast session, Dr Poonam Gupta, Director General, NCAER gave a background to this study while Dr Shashanka Bhide, Senior Advisor, NCAER presented the key findings of the report. Dr Alok Misra, CEO & Director, MFIN, Mr. Devesh Sachdev, Chairperson MFIN, MD & CEO, Fusion Micro Finance Ltd and Mr. Vivek Tiwari, Vice Chairperson MFIN, MD ,CEO & Chief Information Officer(CIO), Satya MicroCapital Ltd also spoke the event.

The fact that the microfinance sector enjoys a vast reach among crores of borrowers also gives rise to certain corollary questions: What is the scale of the economic impact of microfinance operations at the national level? How are the microfinance sector and overall economic growth related? It is with a view to explore these questions that the Micro Finance Institutions Network (MFIN), an association of NBFC-MFIs, approached NCAER to carry out such a study. This study by NCAER provides an assessment of the impact of microfinance on the macro economy, focusing on the activities of Nonbanking Finance Companies (NBFC-MFIs). This focus provides a better understanding of the channels of the impact of microfinance on jobs and income. The impact on GDP and jobs has been extrapolated to the entire microfinance sector to arrive at a broader assessment of the sector as a whole.

The NCAER study team was led by Shashanka Bhide. The team members included Senior Adviser, Devendra B. Gupta, Bornali Bhandari, Sanjukta Das, Madhura Dasgupta, Samarth Gupta, Devender Pratap, Ajaya Sahu, Jaskirat Singh Kohli, and Ruchi Avtar.

Role of NGOs in Educating India Financially

A webinar on Role of NGOs in Educating India Financially with special reference to changing dynamics in women’s empowerment was organised by NCAER as part of the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) Chair Unit’s webinar series. NCAER established the IEPF Chair Unit in 2020, with funding from the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. NCAER’s IEPF Chair Unit conducts research on contemporary issues related to investor education and protection, and an analysis of related economic and regulatory issues.

The webinar was held virtually on with Ms Kalpana Pant, Managing Director, Chaitanya and Women’s Integrated and Synergistic Empowerment (WISE), Mr Mathew Titus, Founding director of Sa-Dhan and Ms Jayshree Vyas, Managing Director, Shree Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank. The discussion was moderated by Ms Mythili Bhusnurmath, Senior Adviser, NCAER.

If literacy is the first step to empowerment, financial literacy is a close second. In India as well as in the world, NGOs have played a stellar role in empowering women through financial literacy. Financial literacy helps women, especially the poor amongst them, to gain control over their earnings, become proactive, and use information and resources to enhance their economic security. It also enables them to make the best use of financial services and reduces their vulnerability to fraudulent schemes. The success of women’s Self-Help Groups like the Kudumbashree in Kerala have been extensively documented. However, given the numbers, there are large pockets of the country that are yet untouched by such pioneering efforts. To celebrate World NGO Day on February 28, NCAER, together with the IEPFA, is organised this webinar with a view to spreading awareness on the role of financial literacy in women’s empowerment.

Kalpana Pant is Managing Director, WISE, Indore and Executive Director, Chaitanya, one of the pioneers of community-based micro- finance in Maharashtra.

Mathew Titus is Founding Director of Sa-Dhan, the first association for microfinance institutions. He served as a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on MSME from 2010 to 2014, was Senior Advisor, Ashoka University, Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy and is now Partner with Market & Ecosystem Advisory.

Jayshree Vyas is Managing Director, Shree Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, Ahmedabad since 1986. She has earlier served as Board Member at Equitas Micro Finance India and is widely regarded as one of the early leaders in women’s empowerment at the grassroots.

Mythili Bhusnurmath is Senior Adviser, NCAER, and Consulting Editor, ET Now TV. She holds a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. She also holds a law degree from Delhi University. She worked with the State Bank of India and Reserve Bank of India before moving to journalism in 1993.

Report on Global Economic Prospects, January 2022

NCAER organised a webinar to discuss the report on Global Economic Prospects, January 2022 with Dr Indermit Gill, Vice President, World Bank and Mr Ayhan Kose, Chief Economist and Director of the Prospects Group in the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions Practice Group of the World Bank. Professor Manoj Pant, Director and Vice Chancellor, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and Dr Poonam Gupta, Director General, NCAER, will be the discussants. The discussion was moderated by Ms Mythili Bhusnurmath, Senior Adviser, NCAER.

About Global Economic Prospects

Global Economic Prospects (GEP) is a flagship report of the World Bank Group, which examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semi-annual basis (in January and June). Each edition includes analytical pieces on topical policy challenges faced by these economies.

Global Outlook

The global economic recovery is set to decelerate amid diminished policy support, continued COVID-19 flare-ups, and lingering supply bottlenecks. The outlook is clouded by various downside risks, including new COVID-19 outbreaks, the possibility of de-anchored inflation expectations, and financial stress in a context of record-high debt levels. These challenges underscore the importance of national policy responses and strengthened global cooperation to promote a green, resilient, and inclusive recovery.

Regional Outlooks

Growth in most Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) in 2022-23 is projected to revert to the average rates witnessed during the decade prior to the pandemic. This pace of growth will not be enough to recoup the output setbacks that occurred during the pandemic. All the emerging market regions will stand in contrast to the advanced economies, where the gap is projected to close.
The GEP January 2022 report features analytical sections that provide fresh insights into three emerging obstacles to a durable recovery in developing economies – Debt, Commodity prices, and Inequality.

Indermit Gill is Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions at the World Bank. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a Professor of Public Policy at Duke University and Non-resident Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. Gill worked at the World Bank from 1993 to 2016, where his assignments included Director of Development Policy in Development Economics, Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia, Staff Director for the 2009 World Development Report on Economic Geography, Acting Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific, and Principal Country Economist for Brazil. He has a PhD and AM in Economics from the University of Chicago, an MA from the Delhi School of Economics, and a BA in Economics from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Ayhan Kose is Chief Economist and Director of the Prospects Group in the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions Practice Group of the World Bank. Under his management, the Prospects Group produces the Bank’s corporate flagship report, Global Economic Prospects, in addition to other policy and analytical publications. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was Assistant to the Director of the Research Department and Deputy Chief of the Multilateral Surveillance Division in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Mr Kose is a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a Dean’s Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, and a Research Associate at the Center for Applied Macroeconomics. He has a PhD in Economics from the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University.

Mythili Bhusnurmath is Senior Adviser, NCAER, and Consulting Editor, ET Now TV. She holds a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. She also holds a law degree from Delhi University. She worked with the State Bank of India and Reserve Bank of India before moving to journalism in 1993. She was Opinion Page Editor, The Economic Times, and Editor, The Financial Express.

Manoj Pant is an Indian expert in International Trade. He is Director and Vice Chancellor, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), since August 2017. Previously, he was a full-time Professor at the Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he taught international trade theory. Prior to that he taught Economics at Delhi University. He has also been a guest lecturer in the business schools of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, IIFT, Delhi, and University of Lucerne, Switzerland, and a visiting Fulbright scholar at Columbia University.

He obtained his undergraduate degree from St Stephen’s College, and his master’s degree from Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. He earned his PhD at the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA.

Poonam Gupta is the Director General of NCAER and a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). Before joining NCAER, she was Lead Economist, Global Macro and Market Research, International Finance Corporation (IFC); and Lead Economist for India at the World Bank. Her prior appointments include the Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP); Professor at Indian Council for Research on International Economics Relations (ICRIER); Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics; and, Economist at the International Monetary Fund. She holds a PhD in International Economics from the University of Maryland, USA, and a Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

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