The paper examines the transition from monitoring the Millennium Development
Goals to monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the implications for
developing countries, and the support that the data revolution could provide. The
indicators agreed for the SDG targets are discussed in terms of data requirements and
the different types of data currently collected. The potential for the data revolution to
strengthen open data and access to data in terms of connectivity is also explored. The
latter is seen as being central to increasing accountability as part of the monitoring
process. The paper looks into the areas that the EU might prioritise and how these
could contribute to the broader Follow-Up and Review frameworkproposed by the UN
Secretary General for consideration by the UN General Assembly, as well as offering
recommendations for EU support to its development partner countries.