From Community Data to Community Impact - hearing from experts by experience

Community mapping and data processes are increasingly acknowledged as an effective method for generating and leveraging data for more equitable and cost-effective urban development and climate adaptation. Analysis from the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data shows that “every dollar invested in data systems creates an average of $32 in economic benefits”. Evidence from communities, governments and technical organisations around the world validate this assertion, but only where data is used effectively.

During the first part of this session, we will draw on first hand experience from cities in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Zambia and Brazil to identify how community data can accelerate real and tangible change in cities in the Global South, and especially for slum and informal settlement dwellers who often represent the urban majority. What can we learn from the collaborative successes and failures of the past? And, which datasets, models, standards and local production methods can unlock community data's full potential?

In the second half of the session, we will invite other key partners to join the discussion, building on the insights already surfaced to explore the following key questions:

How do we build more enabling environments that turn community data into transformative action?

What local and national institutional arrangements and governance mechanisms are needed to ensure data flows translate into improved lives and livelihoods for informal settlement residents?

What partnership, capacity and resource investments are needed to systemetize community data as an enabler of impactful urban development work?

Where should governments, funders, technical partners (including from the earth observation community) prioritize resources to strengthen the ecosystem that embeds community knowledge in urban development decisions?

This format reflects our conviction that translating data into action not only requires genuine partnership between communities holding place-based knowledge and authorities controlling policy and resources, but also support and expertise from funders, institutions and subject matter experts.

Getting the right data into the right hands at the right time within the right enabling environment is an art and a science. This session seeks to elevate and interrogate best practice and pitfalls AND to identify where and how future investment in skills and knowledge can drive community-centric and data driven urban development decisions.