Arthan, a social company, recently hosted a Fireside Chat Session – Data Talent for Social Good to raise awareness of the impact sector’s data professional need.
Priyank Hirani, Associate Director, Capacity Accelerator Network at Data.Org, spoke during the discussion, which was moderated by Satyam Vyas, Founder and CEO of Arthan and Climate Asia. The virtual event took place on September 28, 2022.
According to a survey titled ‘Workforce Wanted: Data Talent for Social Impact,’ published by data.org in collaboration with the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and Dalberg, around half of social influence organisations are ignorant of the exponential impact of data consumption on their work.
Another UNESCO report found that 107 out of 114 nations have fewer women than men graduating with STEM degrees, with only 26% of women working in data and AI.
“At Data.Org, we believe in a future where everyone can utilise data to tackle society’s toughest concerns.” And we discovered that there isn’t much information available globally concerning the data talent landscape. We polled 30+ experts, read 90 articles and studies, and investigated 200 data science talent programs to learn how to train the data talent workforce for social impact.”
Priyank Hirani, the report’s creator, stated,
“It is critical to integrate data science into India’s present education system.” This would further instil data science values across all disciplines, and if this talent decides to work in the Impact domain, it would be the finest possible outcome.”
Satyam Vyas went on to say,
“Across industries, there is a basic gender data gap, and the effects are negative and even deadly, shedding light on the gender gap. Through representation and diversity in data talent across the board, historical discrimination based on caste and race can be bridged. Malicious algorithms and reinforced prejudice in the data space must be exposed, and the IDEA principle must be enforced in the data space.”
Priyank said,
According to statistics presented during the session, women are 17% more likely than men to be killed in car accidents, 47% more likely to be seriously injured, and 17% more likely to be moderately hurt.
This is because male anatomical dummies are used in crash tests.
“We have J-PAL South Asia as our partner in India, and they are working with us in creating opportunities in terms of data fellowships for people to have short term and long-term engagements with non-profits, government partners, They will be curating the opportunities and matching them.”
Priyank said in response to a question from the audience about enhancing data skills and getting a foot in the social impact space.
