Digital Development: Leveraging Data Science and Digital Participatory Practice for Development Impact

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This strategic network seeks to analyse and respond to three key trends in international development. First, the strong emphasis on accountability and a move towards gathering large amounts of monitoring and evaluation data. Second, the growth of digitalisation and datafication (ie the use of digital tools, technologies and processes to transform organisations and strategic decision-making to being data-driven). New digital technologies are now being used in development practice in numerous cross-cutting ways. Yet there are risks of multiple digital divides and digital exclusions which have to be counter-acted. Third, there are the issues of digital participation. Datafication and digitazation require capacity-building locally to ensure development efforts remain grounded in the priorities of countries and communities of the global South. These trends combine to form a single challenge: how might these increasingly sophisticated and powerful tools of surveillance and analysis be used to empower the marginalised? Advocates of big data and digitalisation see multiple benefits becoming possible because policies can become more data driven, and hence more accurate in their understanding of the problems they tackle. They see many opportunities to engage citizens directly. But critics warn against numerous risks including loss of privacy and the replication of invisibilities and inequalities along geographical, gender, education and class lines that these trends may enhance, rather than diminish.The primary aim of this network is to bring together leading researchers and practitioners from information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D), Data Science and participatory practice to develop an ambitious and innovative research agenda. Non-academic partners and collaborators, Oxfam Digital, UNICEF, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the global umbrella organisation of mobile phone companies, GSMA, have together pledged over 36 person days to contribute to the co-shaping of this research agenda. They recognise that there is an urgent need for more research and collaboration with academic institutions in this area. We will convene a series of meetings and events in diverse formats to bring together members of the collective under the different priorities we have identified. Altogether some 30 participants will work in four thematic groups: 1: Big Data, "small data" and Data Science to inform progress towards the SDGs2: Participation and value-based design of socio-technological innovation 3: Citizen participation, data science, ICT for peace building. 4: Youth participation and innovative digital methods. Our first aim for these meetings is that they will produce an overarching research agenda and several research programmes as well as research proposals that can be pursued individually or collectively by different members of the collective. The second aim is intensive capacity building. Researchers in partner countries, early career researchers, researchers from different disciplines and those researchers new to research in the global South will all get a chance to expand their research capacity and improve practice.This work fits squarely with all three aspects of compliance with ODA that the ESRC pursues. It is 'for development', because it seeks to solve development challenges faced in the global south over digital development, improving data and participation. It is 'on development', as it entails critical scrutiny of measures which are intended to improve lives and well-being. It is 'as development' as it promotes various forms of individual and institutional capacity building in collaboration with existing and new partners.