Public Sector Relies On Digital Evaluation Tools
A public policy scholar's recent research finds South African government departments increasingly using digital tools—dashboards and mobile data platforms—to monitor programmes, but lacking tailored ethical guidance. The study, based on interviews across government, NGOs, academia, and consultancies, documents risks including surveillance, data reuse without consent, exclusion of marginalised groups, and uncritical reliance on algorithmic outputs. It calls for context-sensitive standards for consent, data ownership, auditability, and evaluator independence.
Key Points
- 1Documents increasing use of dashboards and mobile data platforms across South African government evaluations.
- 2Highlights risks: surveillance, data reuse without consent, exclusion, algorithmic bias affecting evaluation validity.
- 3Urges context-sensitive ethical standards for consent, data ownership, auditability, and protecting evaluator independence.
Scoring Rationale
Moderate novelty and practical relevance, but limited by single-study focus and lack of broad empirical quantification across departments.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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