Empowering Action: Lessons from India’s Data Capacity Accelerator for Climate and Health

Jayprakash Nayak

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Role: Programme Analyst
Current Organisation: Socratus Foundation for Collective Wisdom
Graduated from: IIIT-D

Growing up in the coastal town of Odisha, I witnessed firsthand the devastating impacts of climate change, including Cyclone Fani in 2019, which left communities without electricity or water for days. These experiences deeply influenced my commitment to addressing climate challenges and building resilience in vulnerable regions.

Today, as an Analyst, Socratus Foundation for Collective Wisdom, I focus on integrating ecology, economy, and community perspectives into state-level climate resilience strategies. My work spans three major initiatives: drafting the Climate Manifesto, facilitating Climate Panchayats in all 147 constituencies of Odisha, and co-creating the People’s Climate Atlas of Odisha. The latter initiative, which combines geospatial analysis with community inputs, has been pivotal in guiding hyperlocal climate strategies.

Recognising the need to strengthen my technical expertise, particularly in geospatial mapping and data analytics, I enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Data Science for Health and Climate Change at IIIT-Delhi. The programme’s focus on GIS software applications, programming in Python, and causal inference significantly shaped my interest in working with raster and vector data models, creating interactive visualisations, and understanding the GIS process. This solid foundation enabled me to contribute to the development of the People’s Climate Atlas, where I applied these skills to generate thematic maps combining scientific data with community insights. These outputs are already informing key policy discussions in Odisha.

The programme’s interdisciplinary approach and emphasis on real-world applications were particularly inspiring. It allowed me to connect theoretical knowledge with practical solutions, which I successfully implemented in Odisha’s climate policy and governance initiatives. Some of my ideas for advancing the People’s Climate Atlas are rooted in the lessons I learned during the coursework. The experience not only equipped me with new skills but also deepened my motivation to drive meaningful social change at the state level.

Watch Jayprakash share his learnings from the programme and how he’s applying them to projects with the government of Odisha:

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