Event occurred on
April 26, 20236am PDT / 9am EDT / 1pm GMT / 6:30pm IST
Location

Virtual

Digital Public Goods Power the World

April 26, 2023 6am PDT / 9am EDT / 1pm GMT / 6:30pm IST

In the recently launched Accelerate Reportdata.org calls for greater access to digital public goods (DPGs) to drive social and environmental change.  

Globally, digital public goods such as software, data sets, AI models, standards, curriculum/learning content, etc. have been identified as critical for achieving sustainability and scale of national and international digital development. One key dependency: we need a corresponding skilled population that is trained to use and apply these public goods.  

So, how do we get there? How do we apply these dynamic tools and resources to address social challenges? How do creators of DPGs ensure that they are creating tools in concert with others to avoid siloed or duplicative projects? How can social impact organizations early in their data maturity journey begin to leverage DPGs, and where is the workforce to support this? And how do we build this transparent ecosystem of resources with inclusive and equitable values? 

Join Cormekki Whitley, data.org’s Chief Finance and Administration Officer, and a panel of technical and domain experts for a deep dive to tackle these questions and more about digital public goods. This online event will provide background on DPGs, explore the work of those building and leveraging DPGs, and highlight the application of DPGs through financial inclusion and public health/epidemiology use cases. These free and open resources are foundational infrastructure for our emerging data for social impact field. Together, we can make it stronger, more sustainable, and transformative for all.

Speakers

  • Moderator

Cormekki Whitley, Ph.D.

Chief Finance and Administration Officer

data.org

Cormekki Whitley is the Chief Finance and Administration Officer at data.org. As a member of the Executive team, Cormekki provides high-level fiscal oversight, oversees contract administration, and streamlines both in-house personnel and resource systems.

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Olayinka David-West, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, Lagos Business School, Program Lead Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Financial Services initiative

Lagos Business School (LBS)

Olayinka David-West is a Professor of Information Systems at Lagos Business School with almost three decades of experience in the IT and financial services industry and is a passionate advocate for digital transformation and inclusive finance.

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Sebastian Funk, Ph.D.

Professor of Infectious Disease Dynamics

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Sebastian Funk is the Professor of Infectious Disease Dynamics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. His research revolves around statistical methods, often using mathematical models of infectious disease dynamics, applied to questions around public health.

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Heba Shams

Vice President for Global Public Policy & Head of Multilateral Engagement

Mastercard

Heba Shams leads Mastercard’s engagement with the UN system and other multilateral organizations on global public policy issues affecting the payments industry.

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