STAKEHOLDERS will soon be able to track national development performance via a Vision 2030 Jamaica monitoring dashboard that will be available under a new online platform to be launched by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) in June.

The dashboard will be one of several features of the Data 4 Development online monitoring platform which is to be officially launched in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This was disclosed by the PIOJ’s Director General Dr Wayne Henry during the institute’s quarterly media briefing at its head office in New Kingston, on Tuesday.

“The online monitoring platform forms part of the PIOJ’s Data for Development initiative, geared towards strengthening national capacity for evidence-based policy and planning through the provision of data on development indicators, for analysis and monitoring and evaluation,” he said.

This, he said, will aid the PIOJ as it builds institutional capacity to support the monitoring and evaluation of results-based national development processes, in accordance with its mandate.

Dr Henry pointed out that the platform is geared towards promoting stakeholder engagement in monitoring national development performance under Vision 2030 Jamaica and the sustainable development goals (SDGs); and using data, statistics and information to inform decision-making as they support Jamaica’s national development.

The platform will also support the identification and documentation of lessons learned so as to inform national development planning post-2030, Dr Henry further noted.

He said the platform also features an integrated Jam Data database with social, economic, and environmental data at the national and local levels; a data visualiser that allows users to create and save personalised galleries with data on indicators; statistical dashboards; a meta data hub; and an online resource library.

“The platform is accompanied by a Jam Data mobile application that is accessible online free of cost in the Google Play and the App Store. The PIOJ is currently engaged in site testing and improving offerings to meet stakeholder needs,” Dr Henry said.

He noted that the UNDP supported the establishment of the platform, commencing in 2019, under the project: Advancing the SDGs through Vision 2030 Jamaica; and the PIOJ led the implementation of the project and provided counterpart funding to establish the platform.

Vision 2030 Jamaica – National Development Plan, the country’s first long-term strategic development plan, provides a comprehensive planning framework in which the economic, social, environmental and governance aspects of national development are integrated. The plan, which was approved in Parliament in 2009, is intended to put Jamaica in a position to achieve developed country status by 2030 and is based on the vision statement: “Jamaica, the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business”.