As the world embarks on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) era, efforts abound to improve development planning and measure impacts. The talk is of a "data revolution". But does the sector that once talked endlessly of participation and ownership care any more about the voices of citizens and beneficiaries? Or has a focus on value-for-money and efficiency obscured this previously central mantra. Of the 230 SDG progress indicators, only four relate to people's perceptions. In this context, we ask if, by accident or design, the international development community has de-prioritised listening. We also discuss the value of perceptions vs "objective" data. Is giving people a voice an expensive and methodologically complicated luxury or does it need to regain its place at the heart of the debate?

1. DO PEOPLE’S VOICES MATTER
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?
WHO CARES
WHAT YOU
THINK?

2. BOBBY
DUFFY
DIRECTOR,
Ipsos Social
Research Institute

3. 3 © 2015 Ipsos.
Agenda:
Director, Ipsos Sustainable Development Research Centre
Jonathan Glennie
Director and Co-founder, Gapminder
Ola Rosling
Director, Ipsos PA, Sub-Saharan Africa
Virginia Nkwanzi
QUESTIONS
DRINKS
Director, Ipsos Social Research Institute
Bobby Duffy
Exec Director, Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data
Claire Melamed
Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development
Michael Anderson

4. 4 © 2015 Ipsos.
Two intertwined themes…
The Power and Perils of Perceptions…
1 The importance of putting peoples’ voices at heart
of sustainable development
2 The importance of acknowledging and
understanding misperceptions…

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PERILS OF
PERCEPTION
2016
A 40-Country Study

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[COUNTRY] ABOUT HOW MANY DO
OUT OF EVERY 100 PEOPLE IN
Actual…
Guess…
1%
17%
YOU THINK ARE MUSLIM?

7. 7 © 2015 Ipsos.
OUT OF EVERY 100 PEOPLE IN
PEOPLE
THINKING ABOUT 2020,
Projection…
Guess…
1.1%
23%
[COUNTRY] HOW MANY DO YOU
THINK WILL BE MUSLIM?

8. 8 © 2015 Ipsos.
We struggle with maths...
– and we’re thinking “fast”…
But also Emotional Innumeracy…
Media and political discourse…
SO WRONG…?
WHY DO WE GET IT

9. JONATHAN
GLENNIE
DIRECTOR,
Ipsos Sustainable
Development
Research Centre

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THE IPSOS
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH CENTRE

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A global commitment

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WHOSE
PRIORITIES
MATTER?

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My team’s work
has been quadrupled,
but my budget has
not!
Only 4 indicators are based on perceptions
8MDGs 17SDGs
169
Data overload?
targets
230 indicators!!

14. 14 © 2015 Ipsos.
“Do women have the same opportunities as men
in South Africa?”
70
58
47
Men Overall Women
59
44
29
Men Overall Women
Yes, there is gender equality
in South Africa (%)
Yes, the government is
doing enough (%)

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“Do women have the same opportunities as men
in India?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Actual inequality (higher = more equal)
(UNDP Gender Inequality Index, 2014)
Perceivedinequality
(IpsosGlobal@dviser,2016)
India
China

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Why am I showing
a photo of
Michael Gove?

17. 17 © 2015 Ipsos.
John Gray, writing in the New Statesman
Much of what has passed for expert
knowledge consists of speculative or
discredited theories… When rattled liberals
talk of the triumph of emotion over reason,
what they mean is that voters are ignoring
the intellectual detritus that has guided their
leaders and are responding instead to facts
and their own experiences.”

18. 18 © 2015 Ipsos.
Experts in this country don’t
understand the lives of people like me”
31%
29%
8%
4%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree

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WHOSE
REALITY
COUNTS?

20. 20 © 2015 Ipsos.
Thanks for listening.
We look forward
to working with
you.

21. CLAIRE
MELAMED
EXEC DIRECTOR,
Global Partnership
for Sustainable
Development Data

22. 22 © 2015 Ipsos.
Data Revolution

23. 23 © 2015 Ipsos.

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Data is the raw material for information
governments
to people
people to
governments

25. VIRGINIA
NKWANZI
DIRECTOR,
Ipsos PA,
Sub-Saharan
Africa

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Lessons and
Experiences from Africa
VIRGINIA NKWANZI
Director Public Affairs, Sub Saharan Africa
The Influence of perceptions
© 2017 Ipsos. All rights reserved. Contains Ipsos' Confidential and Proprietary information
and may not be disclosed or reproduced without the prior written consent of Ipsos.

27. Its people and influences

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…influenced by:
Influence of the East
(China) and West
(America and Europe)

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Factors that shape people’s perceptions in Africa
AFRICA
• Values and social norms are strong
and are the main identity for the
society
• Male dominated society –
implications on gender and human
rights
• Strong society relationships affect
change and influence perceptions.
• Mass inclusion – UBUNTU (I am
because you are).
CULTURE AND RELIGION CLOSE KNIT SOCIETY

30. 30 © 2015 Ipsos.
Factors that shape people’s perceptions in Africa
AFRICA
• Word of Mouth is more effective
and trusted than mass media
• The power of the Elite and political
leaders
• Most countries in Africa have come
out or are in war and conflict
situations.
• Displaced and moving population –
transformation of culture and
perception.
COMMUNICATION AND
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS WAR AND INTERNAL CONFLICT

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Factors that shape people’s perceptions in Africa
AFRICA
• Affects the general outlook of
individuals society.
• Feeling of selflessness
POVERTY

32. Relevance for the SDGs

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How to encourage handwashing
AFRICA
• Triggers of handwashing with soap in studies done in
East Africa show that handwashing is associated
with:
• Spirituality: Purity among Muslim women
• Attractiveness: for married women
• Purity? Babies are pure, do not need to wash hands
after changing nappies.
33 © 2015 Ipsos.

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Men need to be actively involved in gender
related interventions
AFRICA
• Involving male spouses in family planning
interventions leads to better results
• Working with men in gender based violence
interventions reduces the incidence of violence

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Malnutrition can be driven by misperception that
expensive = healthy food
AFRICA
• People in rural areas think that processed food is
more nutritious than fresh food because it is more
expensive – so even relatively well-to-do households
are malnourished

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The need to work with community structures to
achieve positive behaviour change
AFRICA
― The role of women groups in:
―Financial inclusion
―Early Childhood Development and maternal health
―Health workers played an important role in Ebola crisis in West
Africa, undertaking birth registration etc.
―Local council chiefs in Uganda important for the success of
Census

37. 37 © 2015 Ipsos.
The importance of dealing with cultural
bottlenecks using role models
AFRICA
•Funeral rituals: West Africa and Ebola
•Inheritance rights: HIV/AIDS in Uganda

38. Thank
you!

39. Thank you!
Watch this space
for more…

40. 40 © 2015 Ipsos.