Capability: Civil service training

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is government providing training to civil servants on data literacy and skills?

Definitions

Definitions and Identification

Institutional readiness to work with, release and govern data is heavily dependent on motivated and skilled people. Public servants are key players in ensuring that data is used for public good, therefore, they should have solid data skills in data centred positions, and a minimum level of data literacy throughout the more general positions. "The cognitive challenges posed by data are unlike those of most other commodities in terms of understanding the scale and complexities of (potential) use. 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).

To achieve these, governments should offer salaries to attract technical data scientists and compete with the private sector; and also offer career development for them, along with continuous training focused on these technical profiles, as well as general data training for all public servants.

This indicator focuses on different strategies or training activities that governments carry on to deliver training to all public servants, some of them to set the basis for working with data, and others to improve the already existing capacities. These training activities can take place within particular agencies, throughout cross-cutting programs for all public administration, through on-line platforms, shared lectures, and so on. No matter the learning strategy, this indicator aims to track efforts to improve government´s capabilities through public servants’ training on data use and governance.

Research Guidance

Start by identifying the public employment or public service national agency, and check whether they mention training in a general sense, and data training in particular. You can also check for e-government or innovation institutions that might be leading data training in the country.

Starting points

• Search:

  • Public service national agency
  • Documents and laws describing national data strategies.

• Consult:

  • Data literacy experts
  • Scholar and 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 evidence, are they isolated efforts or they are part of a wider strategy?
• Are these data training efforts targeting a general audience of public servants or are only focused on data scientists and other profiles already working intensively with data?
• What kinds of topics does this training refer to?
  • Data governance, including laws, policies, and guidelines to collect and share data within government and with external actors.
  • Data gathering: how to collect data to then be able to take the most of it.
  • Data analysis, viz and story telling
  • Data biases and risk on sharing data
  • Technical tools to work with data
• How is the context in which these trainings are being deliveried?
  • Are they offered by a pre-existent training department that works with several topics, including data?
  • Are they offered thanks to a partnership with an external institution, such as a university or CSO, or international organisations?
  • Has an external provided been contracted for isolated trainings?
  • Do public servants receive a certification when taking a training so there is a formal recognition as a professional development?
• How widespread are these trainings in terms of agencies and ministries?

National and sub-national considerations

Some countries may have training programs at a national level, which might coordinate efforts with local governments. In others, there might be local trainings with no national initiatives. Please note if trainings assessed were delivered at national or sub-national governments in the questions on the scope and coverage of the framework.

Question sub-components

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 provide url of this evidence.Please indicate who is delivering these trainings: a dedicated government team, an occasional external supplier, an external mid-term partner such as universities, etc.

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

    Supporting questions: Please provide url of this evidence.Please indicate who is delivering these trainings: a dedicated government team, an occasional external supplier, an external mid-term partner such as universities, etc.

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

    Supporting questions: Please provide url of this evidence.Please indicate who is delivering these trainings: a dedicated government team, an occasional external supplier, an external mid-term partner such as universities, etc.

Elements

• Kinds of capacities:

• Training delivered covers data frameworks and governance topics. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide evidence of training on this topic and justify your answer.

• Training delivered to public servants covers topics on data gathering. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide evidence of training on this topic and justify your answer.

• Training delivered covers data analysis, visualisations and storytelling techniques. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide evidence of training on this topic and justify your answer.

• Training delivered covers specific technical topics for data centred roles. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide evidence of training on this topic and justify your answer.

• 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 provide an explanation for your answer and supporting urls if needed.

• 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 provide an explanation for your answer and supporting urls if needed.

• Specific features:

• Training is planned by a 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 when taking a training so there is a formal recognition as a professional development. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

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

Extent

• How widespread, in terms of agencies and ministries, are the trainings assessed for this question?

  • The training assessed is available to one or more agencies or ministries, but there are many other agencies or ministries without such training.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

  • The training assessed is representative of the kind of training that can be found for all, or most, agencies or ministries.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

• How widespread, in terms of jurisdictions, are trainings assessed for this question?

  • Assessed training involve sub-national or local public servants of one or more localities, but there are many other localities without such trainings.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

  • Assessed trainings involve sub-national or local public servants, and are representative example of the kind of trainings that can be found for all, or most, localities.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

  • Assessed trainings involve national public servants.

    Supporting questions: Please explain your answer and provide supporting urls if necessary.

Indicator Justification

Data literacy for public servants is a precondition for governments working towards using data for public good. The latest World Bank report Data for Better Lives highlights civil servants´ data skills as a key component for well-functioning institutions 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).

This need is also noted by OECD in its analysis of Open Data throughout country members. In the context of achieving a data-driven public sector, which governs and manages data as a strategic asset to create public value, skilled and motivated public servants are the foundation for an effective and sustainable Open Data policy, and to promote the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI within the public sector (OECD, 2020).

Despite the importance of data literacy among public servants, governments’ capacities to produce and work with data are not always in place (García Montes and Slater, 2020), since "there is currently not enough technical support for most public officials tasked with implementing open data projects."

Public servants, thus, need to have constant training on data literacy, either to develop basic skills to effectively govern data, or to improve and update existing ones. Training programs, therefore, should target different audiences among government officials: some should focus on data specific positions to improve their skills, and others for civil servants in a wider sense with different contents (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016): "We need to understand the different degrees of data literacy required for each public position. We can’t expect all public officials to become data scientists overnight and nor do we want this. What is needed is to “translate'' data skills into practice" (Apolitical, 2020).