Our Director Alex Hutchison takes stock of what it has been like to set up a (large!) global collaborative team to work on such an important project.

As is the case with most startups, we have ended up finding our feet, figuring out who we are and starting to deliver projects all at the same time. And each one of these things feeds the others during this early evolvement period. One of our first key projects for the Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF, Targeting HIV Interventions for Adolescents, has been instrumental in helping us both to find our feet and also really to cement in our heads who we are.

The goals of this project can only become a reality by having the right people engaged in the project and there are a number diverse skill sets involved in making this project a success. The role of the Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF has been to identify, onboard and manage the diverse teams of people needed to work together in partnership on this project.

The expertise that we have sought to bring into the collaboration are as wide ranging as; sectoral expertise on adolescents, from both a technical and a programming point of view, data analytics skills, data science skills including novel analytic skills like machine learning/ AI/ predictive modeling, geospatial analytics to benchmark machine learning outputs against and other expertise in HIV estimation/ modeling, population segmentation and sampling hidden populations.

So that’s quite a team, right? But wait. How do you make sure you’re doing it all ethically? Who’s going to review your new ethics assessment? And where are you going to store and work on all of that sensitive data? And how are you going to get agreements to share that data amongst the key people that need to work on it.?That’s right, you also need ethical experts to input on project design, ICT platforms and systems infrastructure expertise, as well as lawyers.

So individual and organizational expertise are key, but equally the same can be said for the value of the consortium of organisations. The combination of partners is able to make a stronger case behind requesting access to data sets from governments or organisations, enabling the project to move forward towards its goals.

“If it takes a village to raise a child, then I’d argue that it takes a town of experts to impact a child’s life with actionable insights from a data project.”

If it takes a village to raise a child, then I’d argue that it takes a town of experts to impact a child’s life with actionable insights from a data project. Stay posted as to how this collaborative team progresses with this ambitious but impactful project!