Frequently Asked Questions

Rescue Data Labs is an open data platform focused exclusively on South Sudan. We collect, organize, visualize, and provide downloadable data covering national, state, administrative area, and county-level statistics across 10 topic areas including population, health, education, economy, and more.

Yes. All data on Rescue Data Labs is free to access, explore, and download. Data is published under open licenses such as the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By) and Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). We believe open data is essential for South Sudan's development.

The platform serves researchers, journalists, students, NGOs, businesses, government institutions, development partners, and any citizen interested in understanding South Sudan through data. We design for both expert data users and the general public.

Rescue Data Labs is supported by grants from international development partners, open data foundations, and in-kind contributions from volunteers. Full funding transparency is available on our Funding page.

Data is sourced from official and trusted organizations including the South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, FAO, UNDP, and other UN agencies. Each dataset includes clear attribution to its source.

Data is updated as new information becomes available from our source organizations. Some datasets are updated annually, while others may be updated quarterly or ad-hoc. The "Last Updated" date is shown on each dataset for transparency.

The platform covers South Sudan at three levels: National (country-wide), State (all 10 states and 3 administrative areas), and County (all 78 counties). Future updates will add Payam and Boma levels.

Absolutely. We welcome contributions and corrections. If you have data to share or notice an error, please contact us at info@rescuedatalabs.org or submit an issue on our GitHub repository.

Yes. Our data is published under open licenses specifically to support research and analysis. We ask that you cite the original data source and Rescue Data Labs as the platform. Each dataset page includes citation information.

Yes. Every dataset includes a CSV download option. Charts can be exported as PNG images using the download buttons on each visualization. Future releases will add Excel (XLSX), PDF, and SVG export formats.

Yes. Rescue Data Labs is designed mobile-first, meaning it works well on smartphones and tablets even with slow internet connections. The platform also works as a Progressive Web App (PWA), which can be installed on your device for offline access to previously viewed pages.

Navigate to the Data Explorer page, select a topic, then an indicator, and optionally filter by geography. You can view data as interactive charts (line, bar, area, or ranking), compare multiple states or counties, and download your results as CSV or PNG.

The SDG Tracker monitors South Sudan's progress toward all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It shows overall status (On Track, Moderate Progress, Off Track, or Insufficient Data) for each goal, with detailed progress indicators and trend analysis.

A search API endpoint is available for autocomplete suggestions. A full data API is in development and will be released in a future update. Follow us for announcements.

Visit our Latest Data page regularly, follow us on Twitter (@rescuedatalabs), check the Reports section for new publications, or submit a data request through our contact email.