CABI’s expertise in data policy and practice has been shared at the 2023 Global Digital Development Forum which focused on locally-led development, climate change and emerging technologies.
Arun Jadhav, Manager – Digital Development, who is based at CABI’s centre in India, delivered a presentation entitled ‘Enabling data access, sharing and reuse’ at the event which attracted more than 3,000 professionals from more than 1,000 organisations around the world.
The event featured a range of keynote speakers from USAID, tech companies, and across the digital development ecosystem to explore a range of issues.
These include those such as the role global tech companies play in locally-led development, what innovative climate tech solutions are available and, with respect to emerging technologies, whether or not the risks of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) outweigh its benefits.
Mr Jadhav in his presentation highlighted the challenges in research and development investments and policies. Here he spoke about research funding to improve livelihoods, maximising research impact, insufficient attention to data sharing and how insufficient consultation hinders digital policy.
He also talked concerning the importance of the FAIR principles for effective data collection, storing and sharing. That is that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
Mr Jadhav further extenuated his points with reference to two in-country case studies – India and Ethiopia.
In this regard, Mr Jadhav warned that the design of investments is historically not robust enough to take data into account. When this happens, he said, future investments that depend on that data are not successful, fail, and are diverted in focus and effort.
He further highlighted how a Data Sharing Toolkit could unlock greater food security in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through better access to information on soil health and agronomy domain.
Mr Jadhav added, “The more data we have about interventions (successful or unsuccessful) and about farmers themselves and their local contexts, the more targeted we can be with intervention design and implementation.
“More available, accessible and usable data across the broader agricultural sector will enable more effective programmatic design, more targeted and effective interventions and policies, and for the private sector can enable more effective products and services for small-scale producers.”
The 2023 Global Digital Development Forum was organized by USAID, Chemonics, IBM, TechChange, Deloitte, DAI, Google, RTI International, Save the Children, Interledger Foundation, Bixal, and Palladium.
Additional information
Main image: CABI’s expertise in data policy and practice has been shared at the 2023 Global Digital Development Forum (Credit: CABI).
2023 Global Development Forum
Find out more about the 2023 Global Development Forum at https://www.digitaldevforum.com/
Digital Development at CABI
Through the creation and application of digital technologies, CABI brings science-based agricultural knowledge to millions of smallholder farmers helping to increase their yields.
Learn more at https://www.cabi.org/what-we-do/digital-development/
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