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On July 8, 2021, an enthusiastic group gathered virtually to celebrate the launch of Social Lens’ Virtual Learning Labs. The launch witnessed a rather riveting conversation around the Good Data Collective which enables non-profit organizations to strengthen their relationship with data and helps them in integrating data and technology into organizational growth. The discussion was facilitated by Vijaya Balaji, founder and CEO of Social Lens along with the panelists, Dr. Sarika Kulkarni, Founder of RAAH Foundation, Dr. Atul Gandhi, COO of EdelGive and Ashutosh Sundaram, Deputy General Manager at Great Learning.
We were also joined by our partners for the Virtual Learning Labs – Sowmya Moni, Co- Director, Women in Big data, India Chapter; Kaushik Moitra, Partner at Bharucha and Partners and Prasana Sundaram, Principal Founder at Augmented Understanding.
“ I think in today’s world, there are only two things that initiate greed; money and data.” – Dr. Atul Gandhi, EdelGive
A couple of years ago, The Economist made headlines for the claim that “Oil is no longer the most valuable resource in the world, it’s data”. The idea behind using data to drive decision making, develop organisations and enhance profits is not a new one. Ashutosh Sundaram, Great Learning, pointed out that larger organisations especially in the corporate sector have been integrating data management and data driven decision making for a long time. However, in the social sector, we tend to limit data advancement to just the M&E department and that is where the problem lies. Data use should be made accessible to the entire organisation.
Dr. Sarika Kulkarni, RAAH Foundation, highlighted that focusing on efficiency of data is complicated, especially if the organisation is in its early stage. When social problems become so intertwined with the operations, it becomes difficult to focus on the data points but it is important to remember that an organisational structure is primarily about people and it’s processes. Technology is just an enabler that helps organisations optimise their goals.
People tend to have a fear of integrating technology into work. In the 18th century, automation anxiety was seen during the Industrial Revolution and it is now being witnessed with the hesitancy around Artificial Intelligence. This has caused a reluctance of people in organisations to adopt data and technology. The panel shed light on this resistance and how identifying early adopters – those who are able to adapt to new technology and training them for peer mentoring is an effective way to address that. An inclusive approach to data facilitates the larger acceptance of it. The coronavirus pandemic has seen a new wave of data and technology adoption in many parts of the country. We’re more data dependent and many organisations have used this to scale up their capacity. Optimising resources has become possible and this has even trickled down to empowering field researchers and setting a process in place.
Data is a powerful tool to tell stories and transform a non-profit organisation and this incredibly insightful panel discussion was a great start to our journey of pursuing and promoting the use of good data practices and methods via our Good Data Collective and the Virtual Learning Labs.
The Virtual Learning Labs are an initiative by Social Lens to support organisations in their journey towards addressing challenges in data management and becoming more data-driven. This series brings together specially curated, open-access, digitally-enabled, sessions that aim to address key issues faced by the social sector. These sessions are hosted either live on zoom or posted on our YouTube channel. Our inaugural session can be accessed here. And for more information and updates, please follow us on Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
~ Social Lens Pvt. Ltd. is a for-purpose consulting firm working in the development sector to empower changemakers and drive impact.~
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