UNGA WEEK SIDE EVENT: Rethinking Data Governance as a Driver for Digital Economic Growth | Comparative perspectives: Africa & Latin America

​Digital transformation is generating unprecedented volumes of data that can improve models and lead to fast growth and development opportunities. However, as seen in previous global growth sprints, in developing countries it is not translated into a corresponding rise in productivity, innovation, or public-sector effectiveness.

​This event reframes data governance from a narrow compliance exercise into a strategic instrument for economic development, regional integration, and citizen protection anchored in a model of trusted, accountable data stewardship.

​The session brings together a debate on digital rights versus economic growth, a core panel on interoperability and cybersecurity informed by a comparative Global South lens, a demonstration of Eval as a working proof-of-concept, and sector-specific breakout workshops designed to produce concrete, stakeholder-specific recommendations.