As the world works to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — the universal roadmap toward peace, prosperity, and equality — policymakers and program experts are too often forced to rely on old and incomplete data to guide their decisions.

That’s where the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data comes in. Launched in 2015 and hosted at the United Nations Foundation, this initiative exists to bridge gaps in data by bringing governments, companies, academics, and resources together.

As part of these efforts, the Global Partnership will be launching Data4Now — a new collaboration to collect and utilize real-time data at a global level — at the UN General Assembly this month.

Tell me about the origins of the Global Partnership. Why is this initiative so important?

We were launched at the same time as Sustainable Development Goals to support a wide range of partners: Governments, companies, civil society organizations, all those who were going to be responsible for achieving and supporting those goals. To do that, all of these partners need to have the right data to make the right decisions, as well as monitor progress so they know whether what they’re doing is working.

How does this drive toward better data translate into results for sustainable development?

I think one of the strengths of the Sustainable Development Goals is that they have a deadline. From the moment in 2015 when those goals were launched, when the gavel came down at the UN, the clock was ticking. So they’ve really drawn attention to the necessary speed of change and the importance of making the right decisions to really accelerate progress, and the fact that we don’t have time to lose.

Read the full article about data that helps drive progress on the Sustainable Development Goals by MJ Altman at United Nations Foundation.