Part 3 Inside the GRID Overcoming data shortfalls A number of global and regional policy processes have recognised the importance of collecting and analysing credible and transparent data on internal displacement. Such an evidence base is essential as a yardstick against which to measure progress toward implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Agenda for Humanity, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the UNFCCC Paris Agreement and other commitments on climate change, the Nansen Initiative’s protection agenda for people displaced across borders by disasters, the Valletta Summit action plan and the New Urban Agenda. There is also a growing demand for evidence to inform the two-year negotiations on the global compacts for safe, orderly and regular migration, and on sharing responsibility for refugees in 2018. In his report to the World Humanitarian Summit, the previous UN secretary-general stated that: Data and joint analysis must become the bedrock of our action. Data and analysis are the starting point for moving from a supply-driven approach to one informed by the greatest risks and the needs of the most vulnerable. National Governments and subregional, regional and international actors need to dedicate significant financial and human resource capacity towards collecting data and monitoring and analysing risk before, during and after crises, particularly in the most risk-prone countries and areas.265 for the times when IDPs cross international borders to seek protection. Comprehensive stock and flow data is also needed to monitor progress towards the UN secretarygeneral’s ambitious target of “reducing new and protracted internal displacement by 2030” by at least 50 per cent in ways that “always guarantee voluntariness, dignity and safety” and “never compromise the right to flee.”267 IDMC’s global data will serve as the baseline against which progress toward this target is measured and to direct attention where it is most needed. In addition to the secretary general, the UN General Assembly and member states have repeatedly underscored the need for global data, and for IDMC to provide it.268 This section of the GRID highlights some of the main challenges IDMC faced this year, and what they mean for future data analysis and global policy monitoring, both in terms of the need to harmonise data collection systems and approaches, and for more investment by governments in monitoring displacement situations over time. A full description of IDMC’s accounting is included in the methodological annex. The UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) has also recognised the need for better data on IDPs. At its 47th session in March 2016, it established an expert group and called for a technical report on official statistics for IDPs and refugees to be prepared in time for its 49th session in 2018.266 Importantly, it has also recognised the need for such data to be more interoperable and account INSIDE THE GRID: Overcoming data shortfalls 69