Opportunities for Decision Support in the Open Data Era

Framing the challenges: when I'm

finished….• The ocean will have risen 165.5 nano meters

• 17,126 metric tons of carbon will have been

emitted

• Slash and burn agriculture will increase by

24,026,484 M2

• 2,843 people will have moved from a rural area

to a city

• 4,000 new humans will join us

• To meet demand to 2030:

• Increase 15% yield/year

• Increase 3.2% , GDP/BTU/year

The Nature of the problems….

"Wicked problem" --- a problem that is

difficult or impossible to solve because of

incomplete, contradictory, and changing

requirements that are often difficult to

recognize. Moreover, because of complex

interdependencies, the effort to solve one

aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or

create other problems.

As problems have become more complex

so has the science of solutions.

Individu

als Teams Partners

hip

Interdisciplin

ary Enterpri

se

The next evolution is networks of

problem solvers

• Nimble

• Responsive

• Integrative

• Collaborative

• Change Actors

• Risk Preferred

• Open

NETWORKS OF

NETWORKS

Strategic Partnerships

GCFSI activities focus on three megatrends (MT) and two cross-

cutting themes, build decision support tools and foster student

engagement

MT1: Population Growth, Climate

Change and Pressure on the Land

MT2: Rapid Urbanization and Transformation of

Food Systems

MT3: Evolution in Skills Required by

Food Systems

Information and Communication Technology for Development

Gender

Global Center for

Food Systems Innovation

Core objectives for GCFSI:1. Improve data quality and access and provide decision support tools to promote evidence-based decision

making in food systems.

2. Accelerate the creation, testing and scaling up of transformative innovations in global food systems.

3. Create a multidisciplinary network that shares knowledge, builds mutual capacity for food systems

innovation, and engages students to foster a new generation of development practitioners and scholars.

Decision Support & Informatics Knowledge Management Student Engagement

On January 5, 2015 GCFSI launched its second RFA for

innovation grants, with three levels of funding

• The RFA is open to universities, government or private laboratories or research organizations, for-profit and non-profit companies, and even individuals

• Grants process managed by CRDF Global (Washington, D.C.)

• Opportunity for USAID Mission input during application review process

• Three types of grants (total approx. $3.2 million):

• Early Stage Innovation Grants (up to $100,000)

• Innovation Evaluation Grants (up to $250,000)

• Innovation Scalability Grants (up to $500,000 with 1:1 $ match required)

• Geographic focus:

• FTF Focus Countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia

• STIP Focus Countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Philippines, Uganda

Decision Support and Informatics

Objectives

• Leverage data and analytics to promote and support

evidence-based food system policy and investments • A systems analysis unit that will conceptualize problems, critically

evaluate complex systems and alternative approaches, and analyze

data to improve decision making.

• It will engage stakeholders and external partners to better define

development problems in order to understand the goals, objectives,

constraints, inputs, outcomes, and possible impacts.

• It will engage in relevant research to develop analysis and decision

support systems that will be essential for evaluating the economic,

social, and/or environmental dimensions of development problems.

Another core function of the Center is to offer Decision

Support and Informatics (DSI) services to USAID and

other stakeholdersDSI provides three major services: (1) easy one-stop Web access to many large development datasets, (2) tools for Web-based visualization and data analysis, and (3) custom applications requested by users.

Hypothesis VerificationMap of Ag Storage Opportunities in Malawi

Spatial VisualizationAid Density Heat Map, Tanzania

ResearchUrbanization and Diet Transformation

1) Datasets include over 10,000 development and policy indicators, drawn from sources such as World Bank, UN, FAO, university, and USAID (e.g., FTFMS reporting data).

2) Tools for data mapping/visualization (including on USAID program activities and impacts), and for basic statistical and trend analysis.

3) Provision of customized DSI applications, funded through GCFSI core budget or user budget depending on the complexity of the application.

WARNING

GEEK

CONTENT

AHEAD

The reluctant but fated hero….

The true believer and guru…

The sidekick….

The traitor….

An overpowering enemy…

The lynchpin, however, isn’t any of

these folks…

Its this guy!

Data

The Decision Pyramid

Data isn’t really that useful…

• Collect

• Filter

• Standardize

• Integrate

• Democratize

Data

Information

Data

• Research

• Analysis

• Articulation

• Pattern and process detection

• Modeling

Information

Information IS useful as the basis for:

Data

Knowledge

• Translation

• Knowledge Flow

• Education

• Communication

• Internalization

Knowledge doesn’t help unless…

Knowledge

Knowledge

Decision Making

Efforts Underway

Issues

• Big data and open data cant be ends in

themselves, they have to be kinetic

• The root of making them kinetic is only partially

addressed in open data systems and culture, but

to attach the big challenges we need 1,000,000

new users

• Strong collaborative networks are needed to

speed the adoption of open culture

• Open does not equal free, there are embedded

costs that have to be addressed

Opportunities

• Creating open and problem driven analytical

tools to increase data usage

• Working within networks to accelerate open and

evidence driven solutions

• Long term systems level analysis

• Three dimensional data analysis

• Risk assessment

• User centered design will be the next wave of

tool development

• Networks of institutions that look at problems

differently

Square Brain Round Problem- Open cultures

and collaborative problem solving is not for

everyone-- yet