Quality Education

The utility or value of a synthetic data set reflects how useful that data set is to the purpose or the use case for the data. As discussed in Chapter 2 synthetic data is often used either instead of the original data or as a preliminary analysis to guide the final results which will be run on the original data. In both cases the utility of synthetic data is based on how similar the conclusions are between the synthetic data and the original (confidential) data. This is equally important in the latter use case because preliminary analysis on the synthetic data will guide the final models used.

There are many methods for generating synthetic data and to determine which method to use it is important to start by identifying the type of synthetic data that is required and within what context they will be used. Specifically when creating a synthetic data set the synthesiser (the individual making the synthetic data) needs to consider the desired analytical value to be preserved as well as the acceptable level of disclosure risk which will mainly depend on how accessible the synthetic data set that is generated will be (i.e. public release restricted release etc.).

This guide is for those working in NSOs who are involved in managing access to statistical data and who wish to explore the possibility of using synthetic data as a possible method for users to access it. The guide highlights some recent successful applications of synthetic data by a number of different NSOs and introduces some of the different approaches that can be taken to creating synthetic data including recommendations on which approaches to use in different situations as well as practical tips and resources for getting started for practitioners.

Synthetic data can solve statistical disclosure problems faced by NSOs but the value of syntheticZ data varies with the nature of the problem faced. This section explains the main uses of synthetic data in NSOs with a discussion of utility disclosure risk requirements and risk mitigation.

In the area of global development issues there has been a long-standing agenda concerning women’s rights and gender issues. While progress has been made on various fronts gender inequality across the world remains to be addressed in its entirety including in the Arab region. The Arab region continues to register one of the largest gender gaps despite significant progress in educational achievement. Educational advancement has not trickled down to economic participation and opportunity since women’s labour force participation in several countries in the region remains low compared to countries in other regions or to male labour force participation in Arab countries. These guidelines form a tool addressed to policymakers in the Arab States to support and scale up their efforts to advance care economy and policies and promote women’s economic participation. It also serves relevant non-governmental stakeholders to support the promotion and expansion of the care economy.

This guidelines document is developed in the context of efforts made by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) relating to women’s economic empowerment and care economy in the Arab region led by Rouba Arja Social Affairs Officer Gender Justice Population and Inclusive Development Cluster under the overall guidance of Mehrinaz el Awady Cluster Leader. It is prepared under a global Development Account project on strengthening social protection for pandemic responses coordinated by Nada Darwazeh Director ESCWA Centrer for Women. The present document primarily builds on a draft prepared by Ruchika Chaudhary (consultant). Ghada Tabbah (consultant) provided substantive inputs to the guidelines.

This section will focus on the transformative policies mostly related to recognizing reducing and redistributing unpaid care work without addressing policies related to rewarding and representing care workers.