Data for Children Collaborative Supports Global Transformative Initiative to Youth Engagement

Data for Children Collaborative supports The Data Tank’s NextGenData initiative, which focuses on pioneering a new approach to youth engagement in data and service provision.

The NextGenData project is a global, transformative partnership in which youth are not mere bystanders but active participants in shaping data’s role in service provision. Four partner organisations across India, Kyrgyzstan, Tanzania, and Moldova have been selected to run youth assemblies to create dynamic platforms where young people can actively participate in shaping how data is collected and used. Youth assemblies are a form of citizen engagement aimed at asking youth directly about their thoughts and opinions about data reuse.

The Data for Children Collaborative has adapted some of its Responsible Innovation framework suite of tools to build a Workbook for Designing Responsible Youth Participation. This bespoke tool was designed to increase the project partner’s confidence in the ethical delivery of the youth assemblies and the overall approach.     

The NextGenData partners in Berlin, June, 2024. 

An independent ethics panel was formed to further strengthen the design of the youth participation activities. The panel's expertise spans participatory social research and the laws surrounding data protection and ethics.

The project's overall aim is to understand:

How can we build a future where data serves youth and youth guide the use of data?

In early June, the Data for Children team attended the NextGenData Project Summit in Berlin to hear first-hand from the project partners about their innovative approaches to helping young people represent themselves in the decision-making process around using data to improve services. 

The Data Tank is an organisation that works to unlock data’s potential through gathering, accessing and responsibly re-using data across different fields for the benefit of society.