Gorontalo Integrates Sectoral and Spatial Data to Strengthen Development Priorities

The Gorontalo Provincial Government is finalising its 2026 regional data inventory as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen evidence-based development planning. At the Gorontalo Regional One Data Forum held on 28–29 July 2026, the government outlined its approach to integrating sectoral and spatial data to pinpoint development priorities amid budget constraints.

Second Assistant to the Gorontalo Provincial Government, Head of Gorontalo’s Office of Communication, Informatics and Statistics (Diskominfotik), departmental secretaries and representatives from 32 regional executive agencies (OPDs) attended the forum as part of One Data Indonesia’s regional implementation.

At the forum, the Head of Diskominfotik, Trizal Entengo, emphasised that all data produced by regional agencies had to be collected, examined and validated before being used or published. He noted that data quality dictated the calibre of the provincial government’s policies, hence every agency should be producing accurate and accountable data.

In addition to finalising the 2026 sectoral data inventory, the forum discussed spatial data management as a critical component of an integrated regional data ecosystem.

Head of Infrastructure and Regional Affairs at Gorontalo’s Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), Yuliana Rivai, said the provincial government was entering a new phase for data management. The emphasis had shifted from system building to ensuring all OPDs produced high-quality, up-to-date, interoperable spatial data that actively informed decision-making, she said.

According to Ms Rivai, the integration of spatial data with statistical and sectoral data enables the government to examine multiple development issues within a single territory simultaneously. For instance, strategic area data can be overlaid with stunting hotspots and areas with high rates of human waste pollution. The resulting mapping helps the government identify priority locations for community-based sanitation facilities, at the same time as supporting stunting reduction targets.

“There is data integration and data collaboration, which delivers significantly better planning than before,” Ms Rivai said.

She added that all agencies were being encouraged to upload spatial data relevant to their respective remits via the designated platform. This data will be integrated into the Gorontalo One Data Portal, known as Pentagon. Eventually the portal will be linked with regional financial data, which will provide an even better resource for the government to identify development priorities.

Head of Spatial Planning at Gorontalo’s Office of Public Works, Spatial Planning, Housing and Residential Areas (Dinas PUPR PKP), Meykowati Isa, said the Regional Spatial Plan (RTRW) was integral to the development of local spatial data. The RTRW 2024–2043, established under Regional Regulation No. 2 of 2024, is now being integrated into the One Data ecosystem.

This initiative is supported and supervised by the Data and Information Centre of the Ministry of Home Affairs and facilitated by SKALA – an Australia–Indonesia partnership program helping the Gorontalo Provincial Government to strengthen data governance in line with One Data Indonesia’s principles.

SKALA Provincial Lead Ahmar Djalil explained that finalising the data involved auditing all data held by the agencies and verifying it against One Data Indonesia standards. Data that meets the criteria is then designated as priority data for cross-departmental use.

With finalisation of the 2026 regional data inventory, the Gorontalo Provincial Government aims to establish a more integrated data ecosystem, enabling the collective use of statistical, sectoral and spatial information to deliver more effective and targeted development planning.