Chris Watson, Vice President of International Development at Premise, shared how the Rolling Retail Census data works and what data is available through the Development Data Partnership. Dr. Patrick Matala, Chief Programme Planning Monitoring Research Evaluation & Knowledge Management at UNICEF Mali, and Sahiti Sarva, Data Lab at the World Bank shared their insights using the data at their organizations.

The Partnership Day gathered tech companies and international organizations to share insights and field stories about their collaborations for public good. At this year’s Partnership Day, we heard from Sophie Schmidt, Founder and Publisher of “Rest of World," to learn how AI trends were being felt on the ground in developing countries, as well as Dr. Jason Hickey, Google’s Head of Research, who introduced AI-supported tools for social good. Monica Allen, Meta’s Director of Public Policy Campaigns and Programmes, also shared Meta’s current and future plans for translating company data into meaningful social and economic insights.

The event also featured project collaborationg from Meta, LinkedIn, Ookla, JBA, EBRD, OECD, IMF, IDB, the World Bank, and others.

The Spring Data Mixer was a unique opportunity for colleagues to meet and engage with data and analytics enthusiasts from across the WBG.

JBA presented an overview of its work and flood maps, highlighting the use cases they have been working on with international development organizations. Colleagues from the IDB and World Bank explained how they utilized flood maps and data for projects aimed at improving road infrastructure resilience in Costa Rica and managing flood risks in Indonesian cities.

Hannah Dormido, graphics reporter and cartographer at the Washington Post,presented how her team transforms data to tell compelling stories. Umar Serajuddin and Divyanshi Wadhwa presented the state of data visualization at the World Bank and how to get involved in the World Bank data visualization community of practice.

Earth Genome presented its groundbreaking Earth Index platform. Earth Index rethinks environmental monitoring by leveraging large AI foundation models to pre-index terabytes of remote sensing data. Regardless of technical background, this approach enables users to create actionable, locally fine-tuned maps of environmental trends through iterative human-in-the-loop training of custom machine-learning models. Earth Index’s practical applications are numerous, from tracking gold mining in the Amazon to uncovering previously unmapped Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the American South.

Reshma Sheoraj and Wolfgang Fengler presented the granular datasets they share with the Data Partnership such as World Emissions Clock, Internet Poverty Index and the World Poverty Clock. In addition, they provided a snapshot of the latest World Consumer Outlook which leverages WDL’s global granular consumer spending forecasts.

This session showcased the collaboration with data science students from George Washington University through the Data Lab’s University Data Fellows Program. Students and World Bank colleagues discussed their collaborative projects covering trade node activity monitoring​, using remote sensing and artificial intelligence and developing a real-time value model focusing on traffic simulation assimilated with remote data.​

Data scientist from across the World Bank presented their work in progress. Presentation included: Measuring Impacts of Extreme Heat in Cities Using Non-Traditional Methods (GFDRR); Using Alternative Data to Measure Impact of Private Sector Management of Protected Areas on Wildlife and People (DEC Research Group); and AI-Supported Household Budget Survey (ITS Technology and Innovation Lab).

In this session, Cynthia Lo and Kevin Xu showcased how to leverage GitHub for projects in international development and presented the GitHub datasets available via the Development Data Partnership. Gabriel Stefanini Vicente demoed the new Data Science Template and demonstrated how to use it in your work.

In this session, Planet presented its satellite data and showed how to leverage it for international development. Planet also showcased use cases, including disaster responses, environment, and many others.

This session brought together people who wanted to share their experience with ChatGPT and generative AI APIs and /or learn from others’ first forays into using AI for international development work.

The Development Data Partnership Day 2023 highlighted how tech companies and international organizations are working together to understand the socio-economic impacts of our most urgent shared challenges – conflict, natural disasters, food security, pandemic, and climate. Chief Economists, Chief Statisticians, and Chief Data Scientists from tech companies and international organizations shared their insights on how they are collaborating for the public good, and Project Teams and Data Partners presented their impact stories to see the collaborations in action.

This session showcased the collaboration with data science students from George Washington University through the Data Lab’s University Data Fellows Program. Students and World Bank colleagues discussed their collaborative projects covering health facilities data, spatial analysis, mapping, and the analysis of infrastructure quality.

In this session, Chris Youngblade and Pete Mickartz from Veraset presented Veraset’s datasets available through the Development Data Partnerships. The Inter-American Development Bank’s Urban Data Scientist Antonio Vazquez and the World Bank’s Data Scientist Samuel Fraiberger discussed how their teams leveraged Veraset data to inform urban development projects and understand human mobility patterns during the pandemic.

In this session, Anu Murgai and Jan Drabek from SpaceKnow presented the data available through the Development Data Partnership. SpaceKnow provides actionable intelligence by fusing satellite imagery data with advanced statistics, machine learning, and industry expertise. SpaceKnow offers Nowcasting Country Packages. Rob Marty (DIME) shared how his team has leveraged SpaceKnow data to analyze traffic trends at border crossings.

In this session, the Data Lab presented the Strategic Briefs developed by the Data Corps with an example of the alternative data sources and methods proposed to monitor the socio-economic impacts of the Türkiye/Syria earthquake. Mario Viola from the Data Privacy Office shared an overview of data privacy at the WBG and available resources. Sahiti Sarva (Data Lab) shared the work of the Heatwaves Data Collaborative.

In this session, Leah Taub and Ryan Furey from Premise presented the sentiment and price monitoring datasets, and shared more about Premise’s Tracking Global Events, and other relevant data products such as Premise’s Global Index. They also showcased how these datasets allow insights for real-time decision making.

In this session, Lab Leads from the ITS Technology and Innovation Lab presented their approach to exploring AI technologies and AI Projects with WBG Corporate & Operations. Holly Krambeck and Gabriel Stefanini Vicente (Data Lab) shared highlights of the use of data goods and alternative data sources in supporting the upcoming Syria Economic Monitor.

The Heatwaves Data Collaborative knits together efforts by international organizations, private firms, and researchers to develop standard datasets and methodologies for identifying and mitigating the urgent socio-economic impacts of heatwaves. During the planning workshop, the Partnership sought workshop participants’ input on problem statements, collaborators, resources, and program governance.

In this session, Data Science Students from George Washington University presented their projects working with Bank colleagues. Projects covered: Urban Delineation Approaches in Pakistan, Decarbonization of Transport, and Future of Globalization.

Join us to learn about Plume Labs’ air pollution data offerings and services. Dr. Jonathan Tan from the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles will also present his work leveraging Plume Labs’ air quality data to map the impact of air pollution.

In this session, Ravi Kumar (DECSR) presented the Data Use and Literacy Program, which delivers various activities to build data literacy and data use capacity. Holly Krambeck (Data Lab) shared a proposal to create a Heatwaves Data Collaborative.

The Development Data Partnership Day 2022 was dedicated to addressing global climate, health, and food security challenges through public-private data science collaboration. Speakers from LinkedIn, Google, Data for Good at Meta, Spectus (formerly Cuebiq), Ookla for Good, and Mapbox shared their latest experiences on data science collaboration for public good, while leadership and colleagues from the IDB, UNDP, IMF, and the World Bank presented project impacts.

In this workshop, Gabriel Stefanini Vicente (Development Data Partnership Data Scientist) presented a hands-on demonstration on navigating and using the Development Data Partnership Documentation and taking advantage of the Partnership’s Project Template to create a code repository and documentation. The workshop highlighted best practices to help your team disseminate, maintain and grow your data science work.

In this session, Lab Lead Rochelle O’Hagan (DECIS) showed us the Development Data Hub (DDH) - the Bank’s official one-stop shop for the latest development data. Lab Lead Minh Cong Nguyen (EMNPV) and Tony Jany Fujs (DECIS) presented The Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), which offers quick access to the WB’s estimates of poverty, inequality, and shared prosperity.

In this session, DIME Lab Lead Maria Jones shared her team’s truly excellent data science reproducibility best practices, including their peer code review process and reproducibility checks. And, Gabriel Stefanini Vicente (DECAT) walked us through the new Data Lab GitHub-based data documentation templates, covering all sorts of cool tricks, including GitHub pages and actions.

In this session, Andrew Stober, Head of Global Public Partnerships at Waze, shared more about the Waze for Cities program and how you can leverage the data for your projects. Gabriel Stefanini Vicente, Data Scientist for the Development Data Partnership, walked us through a tutorial on visualizing Waze alerts.

In this session, Dr. Roudabeh Kishi, the Director of Research and Innovation at Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) presented the data available and case studies. Colleagues Benard Mitto, Jae Kyun Kim, and Miguel De Corral Martin shared how GEMS and FVC have used ACLED data for different projects. Andres Chamorro explained how to access the new ACLED subscription

In this session, Kelsey Mulcahy from Meta’s Data for Good team presented an overview of new survey data available through the Development Data Partnership. Swati Sachdeva (Urban, Resilience and Land Global Practice) and Sreelakshmi Papineni (Africa Gender Innovation Lab) shared how their teams leveraged data to predict COVID-19 contagion risk hotspots and the impact of COVID-19 school closure policies on global gender gaps in business outcomes.

In this session, the Data Lab presented foundational datasets curated to support Ukraine’s response efforts. DIME Lab Lead Maria Jones shared an overview of DIME Analytics, including the services and public resources offered to Bank staff. Environment Lab Lead Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep (Harsh) introduced the sustainable development data resources and services available to Bank staff through the Knowledge, Information & Data Services (KIDS) Helpdesk.

In this session, the Data Corps presented their approach to creating and managing data products that support coordinated Ukraine esponse efforts. Lab Leads Esha Zaveri and Pascal Saura presented the Water Data Portal, a source for water-related open data, including datasets and applications generated or compiled by the Water GP. C. MacKenzie Dove walked us through the Climate Change Knowledge Portal, a hub for climate-related information, data, and tools.

In this session Katherine Macdonald and James Carroll discussed Ookla data and how people worldwide use Ookla’s Speedtest® to measure the quality of their internet connections. Niccolò Comini from the World Bank Digital Development Global Practice shared how his team is working with Ookla’s data in their projects.

In this session, Carlos Sabatino (EAEPV) shared datasets and resources available from the Poverty Global Practice. Lab Leads Sarah Bunker(HGNDR), and Heather G. Moylan (HGNDR) presented the new Gender Data Portal. Finally, Gabriel Stefanini Vicente showed his work-in-progress leveraging mobile location data.

In this session, Edoardo Neerhut and Christopher Beddow from Meta shared Mapillary’s products and image datasets, and use cases for improving urban mobility, monitoring flooding, and surveys post-cyclones/hurricanes and bushfires/wildfires, among others.

In this session, our colleagues from the ITS shared the resources and services available for staff. Manar Eliriqsousi presented the RAD Data Analytics and Visualizations services, and Dany S. Jones showcased the GeoLab’s offerings and support areas.

In this session, Meta’s Data For Good team presented the Climate Change Opinion Survey - a survey that explores public climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy preferences, and behaviors across different countries.

The team also discussed Meta’s Climate Conversations Maps and other climate-related datasets.

In this session, SpaceX presented how Starlink is already changing lives across the globe through access to high-quality broadband in the most rural and unserved areas. Connectivity is a foundation to improve communities and bridge the digital divide, and Starlink has already supported natural disaster recovery responses, education, healthcare, agriculture, and economic development use cases.

Spacelink and SWARM - a recent SpaceX acquisition that focuses on satellite connectivity for remote IoT devices - bring the technology solutions for connectivity no matter where in the world or what the project may be.

In this session, our colleagues from ESRI presented use cases on environmental, economic, and social topics, and MF colleagues showcased how to visualize granular data with ArcGIS Online using Facebook’s Relative Wealth Index.

In this session, our colleagues from the Infrastructure Vice-Presidency presented the new Global Infrastructure Dashboard. Our ITS Technology and Innovation Lab colleagues shared their research on data-driven Web 3.0 technologies.

In this session, Mikel Maron, Michael Dussert, and Kieran Gupta from Mapbox presented what data products are available and how to use them and discussed their community resources.

Colleagues from the World Bank shared their projects using Mapbox data to optimize tourism investments in Sri Lanka, understand policies on road safety in Nairobi, and inform urban strategy in Costa Rica.

In this session, our colleagues from the ITS Technology & Innovation Lab shared their latest projects and resources, as well as their collaboration with the Korea Country Office. Gabriel Stefanini Vicente (DECAT) walked us through best practices and tips for creating data documentation, and the Development Data Partnership team shared the latest catalog of datasets available from Facebook.

In this session, Outlogic discussed how mobility data is collected and presented use cases. Nick Jones shared GFDRR’s work on informing urban analytics through mobility data. Robert Marty from DIME showed how his team has been using mobile location data from Outlogic to evaluate transport projects.

In this session, Karin Kimbrough, Chief Economist at LinkedIn, presented the new measures of green jobs profiles and possible use cases. LinkedIn’s team gave an overview of the available dataset and their applications.

The green jobs datasets are an extension of skill and jobs data currently available in the Partnership Portal - it offers measures of green skills, green talent, green jobs, green skills penetration, etc. The datasets are drawn from the anonymized and aggregated profile information of LinkedIn’s 770+ million members around the world.

In this session, Yohnny Raich, Head of Data Product at WhereIsMyTransport (WIMT), discussed how WIMT collects data in emerging markets and presented the offerings via the Development Data Partnership. Fatima Arroyo-Arroyo, Senior Urban Transport Specialist at the World Bank, will discuss her project collecting and using WIMT data in Freetown, Sierra Leon.

In this session, Andres Chamorro (DECAT) showed how the Global Operations Support Team (GOST) is expanding its geospatial services to include data science support, and Annabelle Vinois (GEMS) presented the latest Geo-Enabling Initiative for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) staff resources and initiatives. And, Aivin Vicquierra Solatorio (DECAT) walked us through his team’s innovative Natural Language Processing products, which will be foundational to supporting governments digitizing their records for the first time.

In this session, Anu Murgai (Vice President for Commercial Solutions), Jared Laxton (Applied Economist), and Jan Drabek (Delivery Engineer) from Spaceknow presented Spaceknow’s nowcasting data and discuss its use cases.

In this session, we learned about the University Data Fellows Program and our collaboration with students from the Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub (DxHub). We also heard from World Bank colleagues who have worked together on projects about: Traceability of Cacao in Colombia - a collaboration with the Climate Change Fund Management Unit (SCCFM), and Simplifying the Identification of School Infrastructure Vulnerability at Scale - a collaboration with the Global Program for Safer Schools (GPSS).

During this workshop, Karen Byrnes and Shruti Jai will tell us more about Atlas AI and the datasets available through the Development Data Partnership. Our colleagues from the World Bank Development Data Group, Siobhan Murray, and Talip Kilic will share their experience working with Atlas AI in the 50X2030 Initiative.

In this meeting, Rochelle O’Hagan from the Development Economics Data Group presented the Development Data Hub 2.0. Natalie Magee ​from the World Food Programme introduced the WFP Innovation Champions Community. And our colleagues from the Human Development Disruptive Tech Initiative​ sought advice for the Digital Toolkit for Human Development.

In this workshop, We discussed how Dask helps PyData users scale up their computations in exploratory data analysis, data engineering, and machine learning workflows. We also talked about challenges when scaling up to a cluster in terms of networking, performance tuning, package management, and data access. Finally, we walked through a number of interesting use cases with Dask, including an end-to-end workflow with geospatial data.

In this meeting, Duncan Omole and Elena Maslyukova from the WBG Library presented the latest data resources available for Bank projects. Nick Jones from GFDRR, and Gaurav Bhardwaj from DECIS introduced a Python for Data Science training course delivered to WB staff and RAS clients. Finally, Holly Kramberk from DECDG pitched the new Data Corps and Data Goods Programs.

Through the Data for Good program, Facebook receives over a million weekly survey responses from users worldwide on COVID-19 topics such as symptoms, behaviors, and vaccine sentiment.

In this workshop with Kelsey Mulcahy from Facebook’s Data for Good team and Stefani Guevara from the Development Data Partnership team to look at the findings from Facebook’s vaccine hesitancy datasets and learn more about using COVID-19 survey data in your projects.

In this meeting, we welcomed our Data Lab Leads for the FY22. Haishan Fu, Director of Development Data Group (DECDG) provided opening remarks, and colleagues from the Data Lab team gave an overview of the Lab’s activities and Lab Lead’s role.

The purpose of this session is to have a technical overview of the infectious disease catalogs and risk assessment tools. The session covers a historical data overview including, data structure and format, event-level summary, temporal and spatial granularity, and common analyses Furthermore, the session will explain the modeled catalog overview including data structure and format, metadata and data dictionary, temporal data, demographic data, and common analyses.

The purpose of this workshop is to introduce infectious disease event catalogs, which are empirical and simulation-derived datasets that can be used to estimate the frequency and severity of past and potential future infectious disease epidemics and pandemics. While event catalogs are widely used in the insurance and actuarial fields and in the study of natural hazards, only recently have the techniques used to create such datasets have been applied to the study of infectious disease, or to associated development challenges.

In this session, Yhonny Raich from WhereIsMyTransport (WIMT) shares how the company is mapping transportation systems around the world by digitalizing network information from every public transport mode, of every operational style, in emerging-market megacities. WIMT has worked in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Europe, and South and Southeast Asia, using a suite of custom tools for collecting and processing mobility data, and following a project management methodology that supports rapid and effective data production.

In this session, Alex Pompe from Facebook Data for Good Team presents the “The Relative Wealth Index.” The dataset predicts the relative standard of living within countries using de-identified connectivity data, satellite imagery, and other nontraditional data sources.

In this session, Alex Pompe and Omari Sefu from Facebook present the datasets available to World Bank staff, and Sreelakshmi Papineni from the Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab explains how her team has been using Facebook’s Gender at Home and Future of Business Surveys to inform World Bank’s projects.

In this session, Oscar Wahltinez and Aurora Cheung from Google’s Covid-19 Open-Data team present the largest Covid-19 epidemiological database available in addition to a powerful set of expansive covariates. The dataset includes open-sourced data with a permissive license (enabling commercial use) relating to vaccinations, epidemiology, hospitalizations, demographics, economy, geography, health, mobility, government response, weather, and more. Moreover, the data merge daily time-series from hundreds of data sources at a fine spatial resolution, containing over 20,000 locations and using a consistent set of region keys.

In this session, Kartheek Kandikuppa (World Bank ITS) and Maksim Pecherskiy (World Bank DEC Analytics & Tools) share what we need to know before we start working with Databricks.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with more than 740 million members, 14 million jobs, and 5 million companies across 200 countries and territories around the world.

During the event, join our LinkedIn colleagues to learn about the LinkedIn data available through the Partnership, see case studies of its use in peer institutions, and discuss its application to projects as part of the Development Data Partnership.

During this event our DEC colleagues, Florina Pirlea and Divyanshi Wadhwa, lead core members of the SDG Atlas team, will give an overview of the SDG Atlas and walk us through the process involved in the making of the Atlas, starting from ideation to the end product.

Following this, Maarten Lambrechts, a member of the data visualization team behind the SDG Atlas 2020, will share insights from the process and technology used to manage and build the Atlas. He will talk about drafting story outlines, writing and editing text collaboratively, sketching visualizations, managing and wrangling data in R, and finally building stories and scrolly visualizations with React, D3, Adobe Illustrator, and Mapbox.

During the workshop, our Digital Development GP colleagues will share their work on broadband coverage and economic impact assessment conducted in Ukraine through merging multiple private and public data sources such as Ookla data on speed tests and Government’s data on penetration rates. The sessions will cover various aspects such as comparability and compatibility of data, data visualization, and catching anomalies.

The Data Lab supports learning about both the digital world and each other through books. Every quarter, we organize a speed dating book fair, to help staff find their perfect book match.

Edoardo Neerhut and Christopher Beddow from Mapillary will tell us about the resources and features available to the World Bank staff through the Development Data Partnership. They will also talk about Mapillary’s applications for road surveys and assessment, as well as disaster risk reductions, and OpenStreetMap integrations. And our colleague, Sarah Antos will tell us how her team has been using Mapillary in their projects.

Learn how to work with private sector data available through the Development Data Partnership. This session will cover: how to explore data partners and data opportunities, how to submit a proposal, where to find data documentation, code snippets, and data schemas, and more.

We kicked off the Data Lab Leads 2021 meeting series by inviting guest speaker and fellow colleague Joy Aoun to our first board meeting of the new year in January. Joy has been innovating up a storm on finding ways to quickly inform damage and needs assessments in places that are difficult to reach. Drawing upon social media, news, remote sensing, and other sources, her team has developed methods that may help improve regular project supervision. We also discussed onboarding the next tranche of Lab Leads, followed by a round-robin.

In this meeting, Riccardo de Marchi Trevisan and Calvin Kwon from ESRI presented ESRI Living Atlas and show us the geospatial tools available for bank staff. The team behind the SDG Atlas 2020 Data Visualizations also presented their insights and details about their work.

In this meeting, our colleague Dixi Mengote-Quah presented the work of the SD Remote Sensing Working Group. This was followed by a presentation of the resources and datasets available to work on COVID-19 related projects. Finally, Lab Leads discussed the concept note preview for World Bank Data Lab.

In this meeting, the roadmap from the Data Lab was presented including what’s coming, the organization and structure as well as the round-up of Year 1 activities. Lab Leads also discussed the transition from SD to a World Bank DataLab.

In this meeting, the Development Data Partnership team presented the mobile location data inventory. This was followed by an Introduction to remote supervision technology initiative.

In this meeting, we hosted a special clinic for the health global practice on COVID-19 location-based indicators. We had Bill Hoffman (World Economic Forum), Javier de la Torre (Carto), Alex Pompe (Facebook), Mikel Maron (MapBox), Bo Young Park, and Charlotte Stanton (Google), and Kalev Leetrau (GDELT) present solutions to address the problem, followed by a Round Robin of World Bank colleagues presenting their solutions.

In this meeting, we had a lightning talk from our colleagues at DIME who presented their work and projects. This was followed by a clinic for the team of ProBlue, which was seeking advisory on digital innovation in ocean space.

In this meeting, we learned about the WBG Library and the resources available to staff. This was followed by an overview of the Lab’s Who-Does-What directory.

The Data Lab supports learning about both the digital world and each other through books. Every quarter, we organize a speed dating book fair, to help staff find their perfect book match.

In this meeting, we learned about the Ag Observatory including an overview of its work and support to the Bank. This was followed by a lightning talk from our colleagues working with LSMS (Living Standards Measurement Study).

Cathy O’Neil author of Weapons of Math Destruction presentation at the World Bank.

In this meeting, our colleagues at GEMS (Geo-Enabling Initiative for Monitoring and Supervision) presented their work and how they are supporting the Bank’s work. This was followed by a presentation of the GFDRR Lab where we learned about their projects and the use of diverse technologies.

In this meeting, we learned about the ITS Tech & Innovation Lab’s work and its role in the Lab. Our colleagues from Disruptive KIDS (Knowledge, Information, and Data Science) also presented their work, and we went through the Lab Lead Survey Results and the Lab Lead Connector Role.

The Data Lab supports learning about both the digital world and each other through books. Every quarter, we organize a speed dating book fair, to help staff find their perfect book match.

In this meeting, we discussed the Data Lab work and the rationale for its creation, as well as the Lab Activities, Resources, and Lab Leads roles.

In this session, Anthony Cintron Roman, the Director of Data Architecture at Microsoft’s AI for Good Research Lab, presented the Lab’s areas of work, projects, and collaboration opportunities.

The AI for Good Research Lab is a philanthropic team of data scientists and researchers dedicated to using AI, Machine Learning, and statistical modeling to tackle some today’s greatest challenges.​​

In this technical session, Gabriel Stefanini Vicente (Development Data Partnership) introduced a new data infrastructure using Dask on AWS to execute the data ingestion pipeline and apply geospatial indexing to instrumentalize mobile location data and facilitate its usage. The session also covered best practices and examples for executing large geospatial operations.

In this technical session, Alex Chunet, European Space Agency (ESA) Representative to the World Bank, explained how the ESA has been working with international organizations to better integrate earth observation tools and technologies in development operations. World Bank teams have access to the EO Clinic initiative and receive support to develop and prototype earth observation products and services.

In this evelopment Data Partnership event, participants learn how IDB, UNICEF, and the WHO are using ESRI GIS technology to supporting COVID-19 response and recovery.

Through the Development Data Partnership, World Bank staff have free access to Twitter’s Enterprise API platform, which offers real-time and historical social data. During this workshop, Twitter staff helped staff get started.

Learn how the team used geospatial data to improve the delivery of social assistance programs in Tunisia. The event is jointly organized by Social Protection & Jobs Global Practice, ITS Technology and Innovation Lab, and the WB Data Lab as part of the LearnDTech Initiative.

Meet our summer intern Afeefah Khazi-Syed, biological engineering major at MIT, as she presents her research on analyzing physical access to health facilities. She hopes her work can inform decisions on how to allocate scarce resources towards placement of mobile health services. Afeefah’s work, which includes open-source code that Bank staff can use to replicate her results, utilizes data from Facebook and MapBox, acquired through the Development Data Partnership (datapartnership.org).

The Development Data Partnership has partnered with four mobility data providers to acquire smartphone GPS data across many emerging economies. These data have applications for understanding population movement during the pandemic, supporting client advisory on topics such as social distancing measures, placement of mobilie testing facilities, and estimating economic activity. At the workshop, participants learned about these data providers, the data transformations undertaken by the Partnership team to make analytics easier, the data documentation system, and recent work on COVID-19 indicators.

COVID-19 and the on-going locust plague pose high risks to food security. Colleagues from the Agriculture Global Practice ask, “What are the available data and digital tools with potential to monitor food prices and help mitigate food supply chain disruptions?” Speakers from the IMF, FAO, the IFC, Premise, and Indigo share their resources and ideas to help address this challenge.

A Social Development GP team used alternative data (Twitter, Instagram, news media, Facebook, Google, Premise, etc.) to boost their COVID-19 social impact monitoring. Their work helped rapidly inform decision makers and identify rising public concerns, with a large population sample at a very low cost. Talk topics includesed: monitoring conversations via social media and online news; crowdsourcing citizen information via online surveys; comparing results across different data collection efforts; and integrating with other big data efforts, such as mobility analytics.

Health colleagues asked the Lab to organize an “emergency” clinic to help them narrow down a set of indicators to support social distancing policy formulation. To get started, we invited external partners from Google, Facebook, MapBox, Unacast, and Carto to share the latest progress globally, as well as colleagues from DEC, GFDRR, Poverty, and FCVs to share progress on the Bank’s efforts. With this firehose of a session, we herded cats to mitigate duplication of effort and set a foundation for collaboration.

At the request of our FCV colleagues, the Lab organized a clinic on the link between air quality and COVID-19 outcomes. We invited speakers from the Environment GP, the European Space Agency, and Climacell to share resources and best practices.

GDELT, an open-licesne repository of real time local news data, is being used to track sentiment towards COVID-19 policies and challenges. The program’s founder, Kalev Leetrau, introduces how to access the many resources avaialble through the platform.

Ookla, part of the Development Data Partnership, is one of the world’s largest providers of global Internet connectivity intelligence data. The workshop started with an introduction to the Ookla platofrm and was followed by a clinic with three Bank team who had submitted proposals to work with Ookla data.

We are very excited to introduce our newest Development Data Partnership member, Indigo. Through Indigo’s Atlas platform, users can access high-resolution, real-time data on crop location and health, impact of weather on crops, and more. During this introductory workshop, we learned about and discussed how we can make the most of this new platform.

The Lab organized a Data Clinic for our DIME colleagues, to discuss on-going and proposed use of mobile device data for COVID-19 analytics. Guest speakers include colleagues from Cuebiq and Flowminder, as well as Bank staff sharing ideas and new initiatives.

The Lab organized a Data Clinic with our Health GP colleagues and Lab memebrs to learn about: (1) WB Health GP priorities for addressing COVID-19 and planned analytical work; (2) Data resources available to Bank staff through the Development Data Partnership (Facebook, Google Health Trends, and MapBox); and (3) Preliminary big data analytics being undertaken by Bank colleagues on different aspects of COVID-19 response.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) training is part of a series of events organized by Development Data Partnership for IT staff and data scientists. The course covered new Amazon tools to make it easier and faster to organize and analyze very large, unstructured data. Training materials include self-paced, step-by-step hands-on lab activities. To access lab materials, please request permission from datalab@worldbank.org to access via GitHub.

The Lab organized a Data Clinic (first of its kind) with our Agriculture GP colleagues to brainstorm ideas for tracking and predicting locust swarms, drawing upon the many data resources we have in the Bank. In addition to our Agriculture GP colleagues, colleagues from Climate Change GP, Environment GP, FCV GP, ITS GeoLab, Geospatial Operations and Support Team, DEC Analytics and Tools, DEC Development Data Hub, Development Data Partnership, and WBG Library joined us at the clinic. Together, we defined a clear set of challenges related to the current locust crisis, and we identified analytical methods and resources for addressing these challenges.

Spice up your next mission with modern data collection methods. First, learn how to capture street view images(spoiler alert - it’s easy) and then how to use these images to support project monitoring (even in FCVs), RAP development, DRM risk assessments, road safety assessments, and more. Then, learn how your colleagues are training clients to collect geo-tagged data for project monitoring. The session will wrap up with a show-and-tell table, with a selection of data collection tools and apps you can try (sub-text: come in person - it’ll be informative + fun)!

You’re almost out of BB, and your project’s gotta move. You need analytical support, but can only afford one person – do you choose the experienced economist, the hotshot data scientist, or the savvy geospatial specialist? What is the difference, anyway? Come find out in this friendly smackdown, where colleagues show off their professional pride as they tackle the same development challenge from different perspectives. Be prepared for the surprise ending.

The European Space Agency (ESA) supports on-call, prequalified geospatial firms ready to support your project on all manner of satellite-imagery and remote sensing activities. Support, valued at <= US$45,000, will be provided to qualified applicants. Apply through the Development Data Partnership (datapartnership.org).

You’ve heard about big data and AI. Now be empowered to use them. How? Find out in this engaging Tech Talk, where you will participate in a live BOT or NOT Turing test, followed by discussions with Kalev Leetrau (RealClear Media Group), who created the world’s largest open news database (GDELT), and Joe Flasher (Amazon Web Services), who will introduce the Amazon Sustainable Data Program – an unprecedented collection of open data directly relevant to Bank work. Also, colleagues from the ITS Innovation and Technology Lab and the DEC Data Analytics and Tools team will help you connect with Bank AI talent to use these modern data in your projects.

Climacell combines traditional weather sensor data with non-traditional sources to derive up-to-the minute, real time micro weather and air quality mapping and forecasts. There service is used primarily by utilities and transportation companies, like Uber and Ford, and airlines, such as JetBlue, United, and Delta. The workshop focused on the Bank’s response to the locust crisis in east Africa as a case study, but discussion and questions covered all manner of challenges – transport, agriculture, industry, etc.

Dr. Soderberg discussed the challenges and opportunities of Open Science and how the Center for Open Science is providing training and guidance to organizations on data sharing/reuse, and adding rigor to data analysis.

Every World Bank project begins with data, but not every project takes advantage of the open and proprietary data sources available to all staff. Learn how to level up your project data acquisition strategy in this lightning talk + game show mash-up.

Through the Development Data Partnership with Facebook, staff can now access anonymized Facebook data products. Facebook colleagues introduced these new resources, and staff who have been using them presented their work on gender, energy, and disaster risk management projects.

The use of data to design and monitor Bank operations isn’t new, but technologies are quickly transforming the efficiency and efficacy of our data practices, as well as the risks. No staff or client should be left behind – join our inaugural interactive Tech Talk to find out what we need to know, how we’ll learn, and, critically, how we will be supported through the revolution.

Staff were treated to a presentation on how US federal government attracts talented mid-career tech talent to do a “tour of service” to help modernize public services, followed by a visit to the US Digital Service office, across from the White House.