The Africa Data Hub celebrated milestones including the deployment of six data tools and the hosting of 126 datasets during its Nairobi meeting. The value of face-to-face collaboration was emphasised as partners shared projects. The group was inspired for the future by the experience.
In August 2023, Africa Data Hub celebrated a major turning point in its journey by having its partner organisations’ team members meet in person for the first time. Parterns had numerous virtual get-togethers, but we’ve never been able to have everyone present at the same time and location.
The Orodata Science team was unable to attend the last attempt by ADH to gather everyone together in November 2022 because of issues with their visas. An attempt was made again in July 2023, and this time Nairobi was selected, which proved to be an excellent choice.
In the initial days of our collaboration, we devoted time to reviewing the work we had completed at the Africa Data Hub. By asking, “What is one accomplishment in ADH that you are most proud of this year?” set a happy and cooperative tone for these discussions and worked incredibly well as an icebreaker. In our two years of existence, we have accomplished a number of notable things, including:
- Deploying six interactive data tools
- Hosting 126 datasets in our data repository including 12 high-value datasets that we collected ourselves
- Facilitating 80 training and capacity-building events for newsrooms and journalists from all over the continent
- Developed two online training courses
- Supporting the publication of 97 data news stories
- Publishing a research report that analysed 1810 news stories about COVID-19 from African newsrooms over two years
This occasion encouraged a group recognition of the accomplishments made thus far, fostering appreciation, modesty and and hope for the coming years.
Also, each partner organization’s upcoming initiatives were talked about. Though we are immensely grateful for the smooth way that virtual technology enables us to accomplish our impact, nothing juxtaposes to being together in person. By taking advantage of this chance to deepen the connections we have and make new contacts, we can build a more solid foundation for our future endeavours. We are anxious for the next Africa Data Hub season and are extremely enthusiastic.
Originally published on Africa Data Hub.
