Congrats to the latest  cohort of rising data leaders in cities who completed their final week of sessions at the Data Stewards Academy. This summer marked our fourth iteration of the Data Stewards Academy Executive Education Course, with this group focused on the re-use of data for cities to solve public problems. 

Building on a Foundation of Theory 

Over the course of our Executive Education course spanning eight weeks, we covered the following topics: 

• Week 1: Foundations of Data for Social Impact
• Week 2: Defining Data Stewardship
• Week 3: Defining Demand
• Week 4: Mapping Supply
• Week 5: Establishing The Value Proposition
• Week 6: Matching Demand and Supply
• Week 7: Measuring Impact
• Week 8: Institutionalizing Data Re-Use 

In the first five weeks of the course, we introduced data stewards to the theories and tools they need to develop a responsible, sustainable, and systematic data re-use strategy (read more here). In the last three weeks of the course, we built on this foundation to explore different approaches to establishing data collaboratives in practice and institutionalizing data stewardship. Cohort participants also worked to refine their data re-use strategies through their take-home assignments. 

Guest lecturer Jessica Summers, Strategic Planning and Monitoring, Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations, presenting to the Data Stewards Academy Data Re-Use in Cities Course in Week 8

Learning from the Field

As a complement to the theoretical frameworks shared, we continued in the last three weeks of the course to host field visits to established and emerging data collaboratives in the field. We had the opportunity to unpack different methods of assessing impact, and to learn from key actors engaged in fostering data stewardship within their organizations.   

These visits and learning experiences were made possible through the generosity of our guest lecturers. We’re grateful to all of our expert faculty from Weeks 6, 7 and 8 of the course for sharing their time and insights with us: 

• Casey Weston, Senior Manager, Public Policy and Economic Graph, LinkedIn
• Peter Rabley, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, PLACE
• Jacqueline Lu, President & Co-Founder, Helpful Places
• Bapu Vaitla, Digital Data Fellow, Data2X 
• Andrew Collinge, Strategic Advisor, Digital Dubai
• Inder Gopal, CEO, Indian Urban Data Exchange (IUDX) 
• Alison Paprica, Adjunct Professor & Senior Fellow, University of Toronto Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
• Jessica Summers, Planning Officer, Data Analyst & Digital Solutions Architect, Strategic Planning and Monitoring, Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations

Celebrating our Cohort

As we mark the end of the Data Re-Use in Cities course, we’d like to congratulate and thank each member of this amazing cohort! We were lucky to have the opportunity to work closely with this group of data stewards from around the world to learn more about how each of them approaches data re-use in their unique city contexts. 

From sharing different data maturity evaluation strategies to exploring the close connection between data and sustainability to exchanging lessons from building global partnerships, this cohort was eager to share their vast experience with one another to promote a culture of shared learning and collective growth. These lessons complemented the foundational course material to enrich the group’s understanding and enhance the applicability of our lessons. 

While our course sessions have drawn to a close, we are looking forward to our final showcase event in July, where each participant will have the chance to present the data re-use strategy they’ve been developing throughout the course to a jury of fellow course participants, program alumni, guest faculty and experts in the field. We are excited to see how they bring together their learnings from the course with real-world use cases from their cities. 

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To learn more about the course, see the self-directed resource available publicly on the Open Data Policy Lab website. 

If you are interested in learning more about these opportunities, be sure to sign up for the Data Stewards Network Newsletter where you can learn more about the Academy’s future course offerings and receive alerts when applications for additional cohorts open in the future. 

Cover Photo: Adrienne Schmoeker, Course Advisor and Senior Fellow at The GovLab, presenting to the Data Stewards Academy Data Re-Use in Cities Course in Week 8

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