Data.org, a nonprofit platform that works to build the field of data science for social good, has announced the winners of a $10 million Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge.
Launched in 2020 by the Rockefeller Foundation and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth as part of a five-year, $50 million initiative, the organization works to strengthen the use of data science to address society’s most urgent challenges and improve the lives of people around the globe. Through the challenge, eight projects were selected based on their potential for impact, replicability, scalability, and practicality.
Recipients include Community Lattice (United States), which will use the funds to provide critical information about environmental conditions and give communities tools they can use to drive revitalization efforts, address potential sources of health issues, and ensure an inclusive recovery; Fundación Capital (Chile, Panamá, and Mozambique), which will combine Mozambique’s largest digital platform for informal workers with an AI-powered virtual assistant to help improve job opportunities and financial outcomes for workers in the country; and Women’s World Banking (U.S. and Switzerland, with partners in Mexico, Nigeria, and India), which will build a technical assistance facility to help expand credit access for low-income female entrepreneurs.
Data.org also announced that the Sydney-based Paul Ramsay Foundation has joined the initiative to support an Australian project led by the Melbourne School of Government that will bring together business, government, academia, unions, and NGOs to explore how data science can help prevent wage theft.
“The challenge was created to kickstart breakthrough data science ideas and also to provide financial support to existing innovative social impact projects,” said data.org executive director Danil Mikhailov. “We have been enormously inspired by the innovative thinking of these projects that implement programs and policies to lift up all segments of society.”
For a complete list of winning projects, see the data.org website.
Source: PND
