Capability: Civil service training

To what extent is the government providing training to develop civil servants' data literacy and data skills?

DefinitionsResearch GuidanceQuestion sub-componentsIndicator Justification

Definitions and Identification

Public servants are key players in ensuring that data is used for public good, with institutional readiness to govern, work with, and publish or share data depending significantly on the involvement of motivated and skilled public servants.

Public servants in data-centered positions should have strong data skills, while public servants in more general positions should meet at least a minimum level of data literacy. Achieving this requires regular and ongoing training opportunities to develop and maintain data skills and literacy.

This indicator focuses on different training activities that governments may undertake to train public servants; these may involve teaching the basics for working with data or improving already existing capacities. Training activities may take place within particular agencies or through cross-cutting programs for all public servants; they may be delivered through online platforms, shared lectures, and so on.

Examples

• In Estonia, the State Shared Service Center provides data skills training for public sector employees throughout the country; topics include personal data processing, data literacy, data management for local government, implementing data science projects, etc.

• Bulgaria’s Institute of Public Administration offers civil servants from central, regional, and local levels centralized professional development in data skills. Topics in the IPA catalog include personal data protection, the data regulatory framework in context, statistical literacy, and others.

Start by identifying the public employment or public service national agency, and check whether it mentions training in a general sense and data-related training more specifically. You can also check for e-government or innovation institutions that may lead data training in the country.

Starting points

• Search:

  • Public service national agency;

  • Documents and laws describing national data strategies.

• Consult:

  • Data literacy experts;

  • Scholars and officers of civil society organizations working in topics such as e-government, state modernization, data for public good, etc.;

  • Public servants.

What to look for?

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

• Is there evidence of government´s actions to train civil servants on data matters? If there is such evidence, are training activities isolated efforts or part of a wider strategy?

• Do data training efforts target a general audience of public servants or do they focus only on data scientists and others who already work intensively with data?

• What topics does this training address?

  • Data protection, including laws, policies, and guidelines for managing individual and community privacy;

  • Data gathering, or how to collect data in order to be able to use it effectively;

  • Data management, such as relevant practices for documentation, the use of technical standards, and validating data quality;

  • Data sharing, including practices for sharing data both within the government and with external actors;

  • Data analysis and understanding the limitations of datasets;

  • Data publication, or how to make data publicly accessible and available for reuse, both directly by human users and by programmatic means, while maintaining appropriate safeguards;

  • Technical tools for working with data;

  • Artificial intelligence, including critical literacy topics such as AI limitations and biases; legal concerns of AI datasets; environmental, human rights, and social impact assessments of algorithmic decision-making systems; etc.

• In what context are these trainings delivered?

  • Are they run by an established government training department that works with various subjects, including data?

  • Are they available thanks to a partnership with an external institution, such as a university, civil society organization, or international organization?

  • Are they isolated trainings run by an external provider?

  • Do public servants receive a certification when completing training or is there some other formal recognition of the training as professional development?

• How widespread are these trainings in terms of agencies and ministries?

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

• Is there evidence of government’s actions to train civil servants on data matters?

  • There is no evidence of government supporting civil servants’ training on data matters.
  • There is isolated evidence of government supporting civil servants’ training on data matters.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your response.Please indicate who is delivering these trainings: a dedicated government team, an occasional external supplier, an external mid-term partner such as universities, etc.Please provide URL(s) for where this evidence can be found.

  • There is some evidence of government supporting civil servants’ training on data matters, as part of a planned and sustainable strategy.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your response.Please indicate who is delivering these trainings: a dedicated government team, an occasional external supplier, an external mid-term partner such as universities, etc.Please provide URL(s) for where this evidence can be found.

  • There is widespread and regular evidence of government supporting civil servants’ training on data matters, as part of a planned and sustainable strategy.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your response.Please indicate who is delivering these trainings: a dedicated government team, an occasional external supplier, an external mid-term partner such as universities, etc.Please provide URL(s) for where this evidence can be found.

• Extent of existence:

• How nationally comprehensive are the trainings assessed for this indicator? (The trainings involve subnational or local public servants of one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such trainings., The trainings involve subnational or local public servants, and are representative of the kind of trainings that can be found for all, or most, localities., The trainings involve national public servants.)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If The trainings involve subnational or local public servants of one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such trainings. or The trainings involve subnational or local public servants, and are representative of the kind of trainings that can be found for all, or most, localities.: Which locality or localities do these trainings involve?

  If The trainings involve subnational or local public servants of one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such trainings. or The trainings involve subnational or local public servants, and are representative of the kind of trainings that can be found for all, or most, localities. or The trainings involve national public servants.: Please explain your response.

  If The trainings involve subnational or local public servants of one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such trainings. or The trainings involve subnational or local public servants, and are representative of the kind of trainings that can be found for all, or most, localities. or The trainings involve national public servants.: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary.

• How widespread, in terms of agencies and ministries, are the trainings assessed for this question? (The trainings are available only to a very limited number of agencies or ministries, and most other agencies or ministries do not have such training available., The trainings are available to, or representative of, the kind of training that can be found for a significant number of agencies or ministries, but other agencies or ministries do not have such training available., The trainings are representative of the kind of training that can be found for all or almost all agencies or ministries.)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If The trainings are available only to a very limited number of agencies or ministries, and most other agencies or ministries do not have such training available. or The trainings are available to, or representative of, the kind of training that can be found for a significant number of agencies or ministries, but other agencies or ministries do not have such training available. or The trainings are representative of the kind of training that can be found for all or almost all agencies or ministries.: Please explain your response.

  If The trainings are available only to a very limited number of agencies or ministries, and most other agencies or ministries do not have such training available. or The trainings are available to, or representative of, the kind of training that can be found for a significant number of agencies or ministries, but other agencies or ministries do not have such training available. or The trainings are representative of the kind of training that can be found for all or almost all agencies or ministries.: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary.

• Existence summary:

• Please summarize your answers to the preceding existence sub-questions, including the extent of existence. [Open Text] Drawing on the research you have conducted and the evidence you have gathered for this section, describe what you have found (or not found) when answering the existence sub-questions for this indicator.

  Supporting questions

  Please provide the URL(s) for the evidence that supports the summary provided.

Elements

• Kinds of capacities:

• The training covers data protection. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers data collection. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers data management. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers data analysis and data limitations. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers data sharing. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers data publication. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Does the training cover the publication of open data? Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Does the training cover data visualizations and storytelling techniques? Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers artificial intelligence literacy and skills. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Yes” if training includes critical AI literacy topics; e.g., AI limitations and biases; legal concerns of AI datasets; environmental, human rights, and social impact assessments of algorithmic decision-making systems; etc. Answer “Partially” if training covers developing tool skills but not critical literacy.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• The training covers specific technical topics for data-centered roles. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for evidence of training on this topic.

• User groups:

• Training on data addresses non-technical public servants. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Partially” if you find evidence of training that addresses non-technical roles, but it is not as widespread as training for technical roles.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary.

• Training on data is focused on specific positions already working with data. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Partially” if you find evidence of training that addresses technical roles, but it is not as widespread as training for non-technical roles.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary.

• Specific features:

• Training is planned by an established training team, department, or agency. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If No or Partially or Yes: Who is in charge of planning the trainings?

• Public servants receive a certification or other formal recognition of professional development for training. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: What kind of certification or formal recognition do they receive?

• Elements summary:

• Please summarize your answers to the preceding element sub-questions. [Open Text] Drawing on the research you have conducted and the evidence you have gathered for this section, describe what you have found (or not found) when answering the element sub-questions for this indicator.

  Supporting questions

  Please provide the URL(s) for the evidence that supports the summary provided.

Data literacy for public servants is a precondition for governments working toward using data for public good. The World Bank's 2021 Data for Better Lives highlights civil servants' data skills as a key component for effective data governance, stating that "institutions can only carry out their roles effectively if their staff are capable of and willing to use good data to undertake their core operations, inform policies, and deliver services... Governing data thus requires a strong technical capacity and investments in human capital development for those who collect, process, analyze, and use data to support evidence-based policy making, core government operations, and service delivery"(World Bank 2021).

Similarly, the OECD notes that skilled and motivated public servants are the foundation for an effective and sustainable open data policy, and key for achieving a data-driven public sector that governs and manages data as a strategic asset to create public value (OECD 2020).

For data literacy, public servants need ongoing training, either to learn basic skills to effectively govern, manage, and share data, or to improve and update existing skills. Training programs, therefore, should target different audiences among government officials: some should focus more broadly on civil servants who work with different types of content, while other should focus on improving the skills of those in data-specific positions.