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

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Introduction

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Goals and Audience

This playbook is envisioned as a go-to resource for anyone interested in enabling data talent through interdisciplinary curriculum and experiential opportunities focused on solving complex development challenges. If you are a practitioner working in social impact, a funder looking to support promising solutions, an academic involved in curriculum development, or simply an advocate of purposeful use of data and technology, then this playbook is meant for you. The partners involved in the conception of this playbook recognise that unlocking data while investing in human capital is of utmost importance to develop evidence-based policy recommendations, innovative tools that can be tailored to specific local contexts, and solutions to support real-time decision making. 

How to Use this Playbook?

This playbook offers ideas, best practices, resources, and contextual learnings associated with establishing a holistic platform that can nurture purpose-driven data practitioners. It has been designed to serve a diverse range of stakeholders to train the next generation of data scientists, analysts, and practitioners aspiring to work in social impact. The work presented as part of this playbook is all in the context of India and does not prescribe a “one size fits all” approach; instead, the insights and reflections presented should be adapted and recalibrated as per the trends and maturity of the data landscape in a particular region. We do believe that the insights shared here will be beneficial to others working in similar low-and middle-income contexts.

To make the most of this playbook, it is recommended to start with a quick overview of the overall outline to familiarise yourself with the key topics covered in each section. 

Structure of the Playbook

This playbook presents the journey of the India Data Capacity Accelerator (IDCA) programme that was established under Capacity Accelerator Network (CAN), a global initiative led by data.org. The first two sections focus on establishing the operational context of the programme, highlighting the thematic focus and the critical opportunity to position data as a social good in an age of exponential digital transformation that has augmented our capacity to comprehend and address developmental challenges at scale. This is followed by sections on training programmes, a fellowship model, and journeys of some fellows and learners engaged in the programme. In these sections, the emphasis is placed on curation of knowledge resources, curriculum topics, data use-cases and lessons learned as part of implementing the various components of the programme. 

A separate section is dedicated to demonstrating examples of diverse projects pursued by IDCA Fellows. The fellowship and learner journeys showcased in this playbook exemplify the initiative’s objective to foster well-rounded and inclusive emerging leaders, ensuring that candidates from diverse backgrounds are supported in charting out sustainable career pathways in data for social impact. The final two sections are anchored on monitoring and evaluation, and the sustainability of the individual programmes, socialising certain pivotal learnings that have helped in fine-tuning the implementation of the model, and looking forward to synergies that can lead to continual impact of similar initiatives in the future.

Table of Acronyms

ABDMAyushman Bharat Digital Mission
AIArtificial Intelligence
AIIMSAll India Institute of Medical Sciences
APPCAIRAnuradha and Prashanth Palakurthi Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research
ARTPARKArtificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park
AWSAmazon Web Services
BITSBirla Institute of Technology and Sciences
CANCapacity Accelerator Network
CDLCivic Data Labs
CDPContinuous Development Plan
CHORDSClimate and Health Outcomes Research Data Systems
CHVIClimate Health Vulnerability Index
CMGGAChief Minister’s Good Governance Associate
DDMADistrict Disaster Management Authorities
DEIDiversity, Equity, and Inclusion
DIDDirect Inward Dialing
DMAData Maturity Assessment
DSCHData Science for Climate and Health
DSIData for Social Impact
FG-AI4NDMFocus Group on AI for Natural Disaster Management
GEEGoogle Earth Engine
GISGeographic Information System
HEIHigher Education Institution
ICMRIndian Council for Medical Research
IDCAIndia Data Capacity Accelerator
IDEAInclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility
IDS-DRRIntelligent Data Solution for Disaster Risk Reduction
IICInternational Innovation Corps
IIIT-DIndraprastha Institute of Information Technology – Delhi
J-PALAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
J-PAL SAJ-PAL South Asia
LCLearning Coordinator
LMSLearning Management System
MEALMonitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning
NFHSNational Family Health Survey
NGONon-Governmental Organisation
NICNational Informatics Centre
NIH CCHINational Institutes of Health’s Climate Change and Health Initiative
NLPNatural Language Processing
NRSCNational Remote Sensing Centre
OTSIObject Technology Solutions Inc.
PCAPrincipal Component Analysis
PDCProgramme Design Committee
PEDPProfessional Executive Development Programme
PDDPPurpose-driven Data Practitioner
PIIPersonally Identifiable Information
PMParticulate Matter
RCTRandomized Controlled Trial
SDMAState Disaster Management Authorities
SIOSocial Impact Organisations
SMSShort Message Service
STEMScience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
TATeaching Assistant
TiHTechnology Innovation Hub
TPSThroughput Per Second
TSICThe Social Investment Consultancy
UNUnited Nations
UNECEUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe
WASHWater, Sanitation, and Hygiene
WHOWorld Health Organization
WILPWork Integrated Learning Programme
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