10 YEARS IN REVIEW: A LETTER FROM OUR DIRECTOR Finding appropriate metrics to summarize a decade of work by and at Data-Pop Alliance is not easy. It could be the number of projects completed (over 100), of our publications (92), of countries where we have worked (over 30), or partners we have collaborated with (countless). It could also be our … Read More
Review of Technology-Based Interventions to Address Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation
The need to end child marriage and FGM with innovative and impactful solutions has never been greater – without accelerated progress to end both of these harmful practices, millions of women and girls across the globe will continue to be harmed. In preventing, reducing and eliminating both child marriage and FGM, digital and technological solutions can play a role – … Read More
Using Facebook Advertising Data to Describe the Socio-Economic Situation of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
While the fighting in the Syrian civil war has mostly stopped, an estimated 5.6 million Syrians remain living in neighboring countries.Of these, an estimated 1.5 million are sheltering in Lebanon. Ongoing efforts by organizations such as UNHCR to support the refugee population are often ineffective in reaching those most in need. According to UNHCR’s 2019 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees … Read More
Links We Like: A Compilation of 40 Editions
Links We Like Turns 40! Technically, Links We Like (LWL) has been around for seven years, and in that time we have produced 40 editions, all of which are compiled here in a downloadable PDF form. LWL began in 2015 as a way for us to take stock of the debates and conversations around the data landscape, as well as … Read More
Capturing the Socioeconomic and Cultural Drivers of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Sierra Leone
This report aims to identify the root causes and consequences of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Sierra Leone and provide evidence that will form the basis for targeted policy recommendations to respond to and prevent this phenomenon. The study adopted a mixed methods convergent parallel design, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to identify and analyse the trends and patterns … Read More
Parallel Worlds: Revealing the Inequity of Access to Urban Spaces in Mexico City Through Mobility Data
The near-ubiquitous use of mobile devices generates mobility data that can paint pictures of urban behavior at unprecedented levels of granularity and complexity. In the current period of intense sociopolitical polarization, mobility data can help reveal which urban spaces serve to attenuate or accentuate socioeconomic divides. If urban spaces served to bridge class divides, people from different socioeconomic groups would … Read More
Replicating Gender Bias from Above: Earth Observation, Machine Learning and SDG 5
With the increased application of Earth Observation (EO) data, combined with the higher spatial and temporal granularity of data and the potential benefits of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, ethical concerns around EO have become more salient. In this science-policy brief, we examine the effects of EO data collected without a gender-inclusive perspective, and how that raw data (or processed by … Read More
Overview and Outlook 2021-2023
Even for the most optimistic, any hopes that 2021 and the first half of 2022 would constitute a decisive upward inflection from recent and old trends should, by now, unfortunately have been put to rest. The past year has been generally more of the same, or worse, as pre-existing fissures and excesses have continued to be exposed and often exacerbated: … Read More
Mental Health and Gender Inequality in the MENA Region: An Analysis of Shock Related Factors within the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
This paper investigates the potential associations between factors that affected households during the pandemic (such as food insecurity) and the gendered mental health inequalities in the MENA region. To analyze these potential associations, the paper used data from the World Health Organization (five-question module to measure mental health and well-being) and the ERF COVID-MENA Monitor Survey panel dataset. The results … Read More
Assessing the Socioeconomic Impact of COVID-19 on Agriculture, Food Security, Livelihood and Food Systems in Liberia
This study carried out by Data-Pop Alliance with guidance from the Food and Agriculture Organization in Liberia and with support from the European Union (EU), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Liberia, provides evidence on the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on agriculture, food security, livelihoods, and food systems in Liberia. By combining the insights emerging from the … Read More
Trust, Regulation, and Human-in-the-Loop AI within the European Region
Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems employ learning algorithms that adapt to their users and environment, with learning either pre-trained or allowed to adapt during deployment. Because AI can optimize its behavior, a unit’s factory model behavior can diverge after release, often at the perceived expense of safety, reliability, and human controllability. Since the Industrial Revolution, trust has ultimately resided in regulatory systems … Read More
World Bank Crisis Risk Finance Analytics Strategic Review, Dissemination, and Technical Design on Big Data and Technology for Financial Resilience
This project was a collaboration between the Global Risk Financing Facility, the Disaster Risk Financing & Insurance Program of the World Bank, the European Space Agency and Data-Pop Alliance. The following publications stem from the collaboration. Crisis Risk Finance Analytics Report The report represents a selection of projects from the Crisis Risk Finance Analytics program (CRFA), as part of the … Read More
Reporting and Registering Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls in São Paulo and Bogotá: A Data-Driven Model (English, Spanish)
Most Gender-Based Violence (GBV) goes underreported. Women who decide not to report incidents of domestic violence, or are unable to do so (via calls, legal complaints, or seeking institutional help), may end up without access to support or legal services. Subsequently, available data on this phenomenon can and should be leveraged to combat VAWG. This project aims to contribute to … Read More
Country Gender Equality Profile for Liberia
The report provides a brief analysis of how the state of gender equality in Liberia remains fragile, and is a topic that requires attention, commitment, and collective endeavor. As part of increasing efforts to break away from this reality and eliminate all forms of gender-based discrimination, the Country Gender Equality Profile (CGEP) represents an important guide to assess the existing situation regarding women’s empowerment and gender … Read More
Overview and Outlook 2020-2022
Last year exposed and exacerbated pre-existing fault lines that had been previously ignored or minimised by those who claimed that 2019 was “the best year in history” only weeks before the pandemic shredded this illusion. Data exposed systemic inequities and structural imbalances when it showed that COVID-19 could severely affect many—even while infecting few—in the poorest regions because of its … Read More
Analyzing the Effect of Time in Migration Measurement Using Georeferenced Digital Trace Data
Georeferenced digital trace data offer unprecedented flexibility in migration estimation. Because of their high temporal granularity, many migration estimates can be generated from the same data set by changing the definition parameters. Yet despite the growing application of digital trace data to migration research, strategies for taking advantage of their temporal granularity remain largely underdeveloped. In this paper, we provide … Read More
Leveraging Big Data Sources to Estimate the Demographic and Economic Impacts and Implications of COVID-19 in Maldives
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented global impact on societies and economies across the world. In the Maldives, while the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases remains relatively low compared to many other countries and the number of deaths is under 50 as of December 14, the socio-economic toll is significant. According to the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and … Read More
Rapid Assessment of Covid-19 Impact and Roadmap for Recovery in Liberia
This report presents the Rapid Assessment of the Socio- economic impact of COVID-19 and the Roadmap for Recovery in Liberia. It has been produced by the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Liberia, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), and Development Partners. Through this exercise, the United Nations (UN), Government and Partners have sought to … Read More
Policy Paper: Using Data to Fight COVID-19 – And Build Back Better
The policy paper looks at how digital technologies and data have been applied to fight the Coronavirus. The paper summarizes main debates and questions around these initiatives to reflect on their usefulness, implications, limitations, risks and their requirements. Furthermore, it explores how the learnings of the first wave of the pandemic could provide an opportunity to use data more efficiently … Read More
Socioeconomic Assessment of the Impacts and Implications of COVID-19 in South Sudan
This paper assesses both the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic and, weaving together the forementioned triple transitions, identifies implications for the donor community, including the UN System. First it looks at macroeconomic and fiscal prospects, noting a dearth of options in the absence of sustained structural changes (Section 2); then at the effects of COVID-19 on human development … Read More
Socioeconomic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 in Equatorial Guinea
This publication compiles extensive work focused on understanding the effects of COVID-19 in Equatorial Guinea and coordinating a response based on 5 pillars: i) putting health first, ii) protecting people through social protection and basic services, iii) promoting social cohesion and community resilience, iv) supporting the macroeconomic response and multilateral collaboration. All with the objective of advancing towards the Sustainable … Read More
Big Data for Good. Can Big Data Illustrate the Challenges Facing Syrian Refugees in Lebanon?
Timely evidence for policymaking has been a consistent objective for UN organizations and member states. The classical data sources needed for official statistics have been expensive, time consuming, leading to delayed outcomes, and in certain cases impossible to access (e.g. images, videos). Today’s connected world offers alternatives and supplementary non-traditional data sources enabled by Information and Communication Technology (Geographic Information … Read More
Digital Technology Shaping Green and Sustainable Lifestyles: Exploring Alipay Ant Forest
Alipay Ant Forest, launched by Ant Financial in 2016, is a green initiative embedded on Alipay’s digital lifestyle platform. This report analyzes Alipay’s Ant Forest trajectory as a green digital innovation that has achieved exponential growth over the past three years. Ir further models the implications that scaling a platform such as Ant Forest could catalyze in additional countries. The analysis … Read More
Mobile phone data for informing public health actions across the COVID-19 pandemic life cycle
The coronavirus 2019–2020 pandemic (COVID-19) poses unprecedented challenges for governments and societies around the world. Non-pharmaceutical interventions have proven to be critical for delaying and containing the COVID-19 pandemic. These include testing and tracing, bans on large gatherings, nonessential business and school and university closures, international and domestic mobility restrictions and physical isolation, and total lockdowns of regions and countries. … Read More
Study for the assessment of DEVCO work in digitalisation in Sub-Saharan Africa
Digitalisation has been a highly strategic area since the turn of the Century. During that time,Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the emergence of many new actors in its digital ecosystems.Ensuring that the development of these systems put humans at the forefront, whilst actively promoting data sovereignty, privacy, and inclusivity, is a matter of great importance. This study presents an assessment of … Read More
Using Misinformation as a Political Weapon: COVID-19 and Bolsonaro in Brazil
With over 30,000 confirmed cases, Brazil is currently the country most affected by COVID-19 in Latin America and ranked 12th worldwide. Despite all evidence, a strong rhetoric undermining risks associated to COVID-19 has been endorsed at the highest levels of the Brazilian government, making President Jair Bolsonaro the leader of the “coronavirus-denial movement”. To support this strategy, different forms of … Read More
Socio-economic, built environment, and mobility conditions associated with crime: A study of multiple cities
Nowadays, 23% of the world population lives in multi-million cities. In these metropolises, criminal activity is much higher and violent than in either small cities or rural areas. Thus, understanding what factors influence urban crime in big cities is a pressing need. Mainstream studies analyse crime records through historical panel data or analysis of historical patterns combined with ecological factor … Read More
Mobile phone data and COVID-19: Missing an opportunity?
This paper describes how mobile phone data can guide government and public health authorities in determining the best course of action to control the COVID-19 pandemic and in assessing the effectiveness of control measures such as physical distancing. It identifies key gaps and reasons why this kind of data is only scarcely used, although their value in similar epidemics has … Read More
The ABCDE of Big Data: Assessing Biases in Call-Detail Records for Development Estimates
CDRs (Call Detail Records) represent an important and largely untapped source of data for the developing world. However, they are not representative of the underlying population. We combine CDRs and census data for Senegal in 2013 to evaluate biases related to estimates of population density. We show that: (i) there are systematic relationships between cell-phone use and socio-economic and geographic … Read More
Overview and Outlook: 2019-2020
Data-Pop Alliance was born 7 years ago out of the recognition that the defining element of the 21st century would be data. Since, phrases such as ”Big Data” and “Data Revolution” have been largely replaced by “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and “Artificial Intelligence”, but the key question remain essentially the same: how can data-infused systems and societies be shaped to foster … Read More
Principes et options pour une stratégie et plan d’actions « données pour le développement » au Togo
Cette Note de Cadrage fait partie de l’assistance technique fournie par le bureau pays du du PNUD (Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement) Togo (CO) par Data-Pop Alliance (DPA) dans ses efforts pour promouvoir la bonne utilisation des données ouvertes et des Big Data pour le développement du Togo, y compris le suivi et la promotion des objectifs de … Read More
Sharing is Caring: Four Key Requirements for Sustainable Private Data Sharing and Use for Public Good
How data are shared and used will determine, to a large extent, the future of democracy and human progress. In this context, the authors of the paper “Sharing is Caring” describe four key requirements that must inform European efforts to ensure that private data are shared and used for the public good in a safe, ethical, and sustainable manner. This … Read More
Women in the gig economy: Paid work, care and flexibility in Kenya and South Africa
This report presents findings from an in-depth study of women’s engagement in the gig economy in Kenya and South Africa, two middle-income countries at the forefront of developments in digitally mediated work in sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to understand the impact of this engagement on workers’ lives, considering the quality of work on offer and its implications for workers’ management … Read More
EmpoderaData: Data literacy assessment and Sustainable Development Goals data gaps
EmpoderaData builds upon the success of the Q-Step paid internship programme from the University of Manchester. The project aims to promote a virtuous cycle of social transformation by fostering data literacy. The purpose of this report is threefold: (1) understand the unmet needs in terms of data literacy skills, (2) recognize to what extent might a data literacy capacity building … Read More
Harnessing Innovative Data and Technology to Measure Development Effectiveness
In this study, the authors discuss and show how new kinds of digital data and analytics methods and tools falling under the umbrella term of Big Data, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, can help measure development effectiveness. Selected case studies provide examples of assessments of the effectiveness of ODA-funded policies and programmes.
Big Data to Address Global Development Challenges (Paper Series)
These 4 research papers were developed in collaboration with and funded by the Agence française de développement (AFD) between 2016 and 2019 under a joint program with Data-Pop Alliance and research partners. The aim was to strengthen the evidence-base for leveraging Big Data to address global development challenges in local contexts. Individually, the papers show specific cases and examples of how … Read More
Book Chapter: “Guide to Mobile Data Analytics in Refugee Scenarios”
This book summarizes the most important findings of the Data for Refugees (D4R) Challenge, which was a non-profit project initiated to improve the conditions of the Syrian refugees in Turkey by providing a database for the scientific community to enable research on urgent problems concerning refugees. The database, based on anonymized mobile call detail records (CDRs) of phone calls and … Read More
Towards a Human Artificial Intelligence for Human Development
This paper discusses the possibility of applying the key principles and tools of current artificial intelligence (AI) to design future human systems in ways that could make them more efficient, fair, responsive, and inclusive.
On the privacy conscientious use of mobile phone data
The breadcrumbs we leave behind when using our mobile phones—who somebody calls, for how long, and from where—contain unprecedented insights about us and our societies. Researchers have compared the recent availability of large-scale behavioral datasets, such as the ones generated by mobile phones, to the invention of the microscope, giving rise to the new field of computational social science.
Resident Population and Population Density in the Maldives
This final report describes the general scope of the project as well as the proposed approach to develop and evaluate socio-economic indicators exploring Big Data sources and methodologies available in the Maldives. In particular, the aim of this document is to present the findings of the work focused on estimating resident population and population density through Mobile Phone Data. The … Read More
Understanding Patterns of Human Mobility At Different Timescales
The main objective of this paper is to discuss whether and how the future of algorithms can be crafted such that their development and deployment—from their design to their use, including control, evaluation, auditing, governance—be based on and foster core democratic values such as accountability, transparency, participation, and collaboration. In doing so, we will focus on algorithms affecting public life … Read More
Understanding the Relationship Between Short and Long Term Mobility
Populations are highly mobile, both in terms of long term movements of individuals relocating their place of residence as well as shorter term mobility such as commuting, seasonal travel and recreational trips. Working with call detail record data from Namibia and Senegal, we study population migration and its link to short term movement. We compare the short term mobility estimates extracted … Read More
Characterizing and Analyzing Urban Dynamics in Bogota (From the Paper Series: “Big Data to Address Global Development Challenges”)
Using open data and mobile phone records, we explore this link with a spatial regression model that analyzes the environmental and the social conditions to which each part of the city is exposed. We found that physical characteristics of the city connected to higher urban diversity better explain the emergence of crime than traditional socio-economic conditions and, together, physical characteristics … Read More
Fair, Transparent and Accountable Algorithmic Decision-making Processes
The combination of increased availability of large amounts of fine-grained human behavioral data and advances in machine learning is presiding over a growing reliance on algorithms to address complex societal problems. Algorithmic decision-making processes might lead to more objective and thus potentially fairer decisions than those made by humans who may be influenced by greed, prejudice, fatigue, or hunger. However, … Read More
Socio-Physical Vulnerability to Flooding in Senegal
Each year thousands of people and millions of dollars in assets are affected by flooding in Senegal; over the next decade, the frequency of such extreme events is expected to increase. However, no publicly available digital flood maps, except for a few aerial photos or post – disaster assessments from UNOSAT, could be found for the country. This report tested … Read More
Mining Case Law to Improve Countries’ Accountability To Universal Periodic Review
The United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process established by the Human Rights Council aiming to monitor and improve the human rights situation in each UN member state. In this study, we hypothesize that leveraging text mining and machine-learning algorithms is a viable strategy for monitoring gender discrimination in sentencing practices of Fiji’s judiciary system, which has … Read More
Leveraging Algorithms for Positive Disruption: On data, democracy, society and statistics
The main objective of this paper is to discuss whether and how the future of algorithms can be crafted such that their development and deployment—from their design to their use, including control, evaluation, auditing, governance—be based on and foster core democratic values such as accountability, transparency, participation, and collaboration. In doing so, we will focus on algorithms affecting public life … Read More
The Tyranny of Data? The Bright and Dark Sides of Data-Driven Decision-Making for Social Good
We focus our attention on social good decision-making algorithms, that is algorithms strongly influencing decision-making and resource optimization of public goods, such as public health, safety, access to finance and fair employment. Through an analysis of specific use cases and approaches, we highlight both the positive opportunities and the potential negative consequences that practitioners should be aware of and address … Read More
Opportunities and Requirements for Leveraging Big Data for Official Statistics and the Sustainable Development Goals in Latin America
Este documento se realizó en el marco de un proyecto apoyado por el Banco Mundial e implementado por Data-Pop Alliance en asociación con el Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística de Colombia – DANE. Data-Pop Alliance es una coalición sobre Big Data y el desarrollo creada conjuntamente por la Iniciativa Humanitaria de Harvard, el MIT Media Lab y el Instituto de … Read More
Book chapter – “The Evaluation of Complex Development Interventions in the Age of Big Data
Recognizing that complexity calls for innovative, conceptual, and methodological solutions, this unique book offers practical guidance to policymakers, managers, and evaluation practitioners on how to design and implement complexity-responsive evaluations that can be undertaken in the real world of time, budget, data, and political constraints. Introductory chapters present comprehensive, non-technical overviews of the most common evaluation tools and methodologies, and … Read More
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