Vision of the Initiative
In 2020, data.org conceptualised the Capacity Accelerator Network as a first-of-its-kind initiative to create a “Network of Networks” to advance capacity building in the field of data and AI for social impact.

With the initial success of and lessons from its US Data Capacity Accelerator, data.org replicated and contextualised similar models in India and Africa. In India, data.org was joined by partners including J-PAL South Asia (J-PAL SA), Ashoka University, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology – Delhi (IIIT-D), and Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS) Pilani.
In May 2023, data.org and J-PAL SA launched the India Data Capacity Accelerator (IDCA), with support from Wellcome. The India Data Capacity Accelerator aims to create a sustainable and scalable model to strengthen the data capacity of the social sector in the country.
To advance the use of data in the social sector, it is crucial to align efforts, partnerships, and resources to sustainably attract and train aspiring data practitioners with the necessary skills and mindset. The India Data Capacity Accelerator was envisioned as a comprehensive programme to empower purpose-driven data talent who can address critical challenges at the nexus of climate change and health. The goal of the programme is to address the larger ecosystem constraints and systematically transform the generation, management, and use of data for social impact (DSI) in India. As a result, the programme is rooted in the following objectives:
- Setting up DSI diploma programmes to train diverse students and data professionals
- Curating experiential learning opportunities for data talent anchored at social impact and public sector organisations
- Championing inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility when considering access to data education and practical hands-on experience in data
- Solving real-world problems in the fields of climate and health by working across the data value chain
To achieve its goal, IDCA combines interdisciplinary data skills training with fellowships in social impact and public sector organisations. It focuses on three pillars to drive its mission:
- Supply-side: Training a new generation of diverse, purpose-driven data practitioners in data for social impact
- Demand-side: Facilitating and improving the demand, absorption capacity, and opportunities for data talent across social sector organisations like nonprofits and government agencies by matchmaking the right talent to the conceptualised projects
- Ecosystem: Boosting the DSI ecosystem by unlocking new datasets and digital public goods, creating open-source curriculum, data use cases, and templates for data governance (like data use agreements)
The IDCA Model
The IDCA model takes a two-pronged approach of data courses and experiential fellowships to serve as a pathway for aspiring data professionals willing to engage with interdisciplinary problems in climate change and health.
Supply: The talent-building programmes are anchored at leading Indian institutions including Ashoka University, BITS Pilani, and IIIT Delhi, where a select cohort of candidates are trained in specialised data concepts and their applications in the priority interdisciplinary areas of climate change and health. The courses conducted by each of the university partners are delivered online or in hybrid mode, and last about six to 11 months. The coursework covers fundamentals of data, inferential statistics, statistical programming, machine learning, artificial intelligence including deep learning and large language models, and geospatial analysis, and provides an exposure to various climate and health datasets. Each partner implemented their programmes over two cohorts.
Demand: The demand side of the programme is led by J-PAL SA and involves curating experiential learning opportunities for participants to apply their newly acquired data skills in social impact organisations such as NGOs, public bodies, state and national government, research organisations, and social enterprises. The fellowship programmes are designed to provide participants with hands-on experience in using data to address real-world problems associated with the primary thematic focus. These opportunities are scoped out as one-year fellowships or three- to six-month internships with clear goals and use-cases for data-driven systems and data practices within the organisation’s existing area of work. As the learners graduated from the university programmes, a subset had the opportunity to apply the skills gained in social impact contexts through a fellowship or internship on climate or health curated by the J-PAL SA team.
Core Partners
The IDCA model consists of a set of core partners who bring together their expertise, brand positioning, and networks to collectively work on both the supply and demand side of the ecosystem and foster the next generation of purpose-driven data practitioners through curated opportunities in the social sector.

data.org is accelerating the power of data and AI to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. By hosting innovation challenges to surface and scale groundbreaking ideas, and elevating use cases of the most effective tools and strategies, we are building the field of data for social impact. By 2032, we will train one million purpose-driven data practitioners, ensuring there is capacity to drive meaningful, equitable impact.
The Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN), powered by data.org, is building a workforce of purpose-driven data and AI practitioners to unlock the power of data for social impact. With five accelerators based in the United States, Africa, India, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, CAN is globally informed and locally grounded through a network of more than 20 academic partners around the world. data.org leads as the point of connection and as an impact amplifier, by building on the local training hundreds of climate, health, and financial inclusion experts, to engaging and training many thousands globally, achieving scale and sustainability only possible through collaboration.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of over 1,000 affiliated researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty and works across 11 sectors, key being climate, health, education, gender, and social welfare.
J-PAL was launched at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003 and has seven regional offices around the world. J-PAL SA, hosted by the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), Chennai, has built partnerships for the generation of new research and advancement of evidence-informed policy making with 30 Indian state and central government ministries, as well as training partnerships with the governments of Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.
As part of the India Data Capacity Accelerator, J-PAL SA plays the role of an anchor partner to engage with the supply side to select quality talent and demand side of the ecosystem to curate data enabled projects at the intersection of climate and health. J-PAL SA facilitates selection and placement of talented data professionals from supply side partners with leading organisations in the social sector including projects within their network. Through these projects, J-PAL SA also leads creation and dissemination of cutting edge climate and health research datasets and digital public infrastructure and goods in the form of fellowship outputs that can aid similar research and solutioning efforts by the larger ecosystem. J-PAL SA also anchored the curation of the IDCA playbook by bridging supply and demand partner learnings and facilitating the exchange between the partners of the programme.

Ashoka University, set-up in 2014, has swiftly become a leader in interdisciplinary education and research in India. The genesis of Ashoka University was the shared dream of some of India’s leading entrepreneurs who envisioned India’s premier liberal arts and sciences university. Ten years since, with over 200 founders and donors, Ashoka has created a unique and new model of institution-building in India. Serving nearly 3,000 students, including international scholars and students with diverse abilities, Ashoka is dedicated to fostering critical inquiry and global impact. It boasts a distinguished faculty and an influential alumni network. Over the next decade, Ashoka University will continue with its march towards building an inclusive institution of excellence in teaching and research and nurture responsible leaders for India and the world while being a pioneering force for interdisciplinary higher education.
AshokaX is a unique and pioneering learning initiative by Ashoka University designed to extend its world-renowned faculty and dynamic learning experiences to a broader audience. This platform embodies Ashoka University’s dedication to inclusivity, diversity, equity, and innovation, providing accessible education to a wide range of learners. By offering targeted programmes for working professionals and lifelong learners, AshokaX seeks to modernise traditional education models and make high-quality learning more accessible.

A publicly-funded autonomous institution, set-up in 2008 by an act of the Delhi Government, the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-Delhi), is a research-oriented institute with a focus on computer science and allied areas including, health, biology, social sciences and humanities. It offers several interdisciplinary and executive training programmes with components of data science, artificial intelligence, and health offered as bachelors, masters and Ph.D. training by specialised departments including Computational Biology, Computer Science, and Social Sciences and Humanities. It has several centers including the Center of Excellence in Healthcare and Center for Artificial Intelligence for cross-departmental engagement of experts for solving societal challenges. The faculty has joint curriculum delivery experience with other institutes like IIIT-Bangalore and IIT-Delhi. IIIT-Delhi caters to over 2,300 students enrolled in various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and has created provisions to support students from historically marginalised communities including from economically weaker sections of the society and those discriminated on the basis of caste.
IIIT-Delhi has set-up the Technology Innovation Hub (TiH), under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems. This hub is focused on catalyzing state-of-the-art research, development, technology transfers, engagement with industry, and entrepreneurial activities. It is also a lead organisation in the Delhi Science and Technology cluster for Deep Tech (AI/ML) and is addressing some of the hyperlocal problems through research.
Set up in 1964, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani (BITS Pilani), is a leading institute of higher education and a Deemed University offering degree programmes in engineering, sciences, technology, pharmacy, management, and humanities. The university has campuses in Pilani (Rajasthan); Goa; Hyderabad (Telangana); Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Dubai. Through its highly successful and widespread global alumni network spanning various fields, BITS Pilani has made a significant impact on corporations, academia, research, entrepreneurship, arts, and social activism. The institute is backed by the Aditya Birla Group and is one of the first six institutes to be awarded the ‘Institute of Eminence’ status in 2018 by the Government of India. The institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to bring this knowledge to bear on the world’s greatest challenges.
BITS Pilani currently has over 16,000 students enrolled across its India campuses. It also offers an off-campus Work Integrated Learning Programme (WILP) in which working professionals from industry are able to take online classes over weekends and has over 21,000 off-campus students currently. Several data science and AI programmes are offered at BITS Pilani including MTech in data science and engineering, Post Graduate Certificate in AI & ML and MTech in AI & ML. BITS has also set up the Anuradha and Prashanth Palakurthi Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (APPCAIR) with a commitment to conduct research and training in conceptual, implementation, and application aspects of AI and data science. It has also recently launched a joint PhD in data science for global health with One Health Trust.