This week many world leaders came together in New York City for the GODAN Summit to examine progress that has been made and challenges that remain in the global fight to end hunger. The U.S. Department of State’s Special Representative for Global Food Security, Dr. Nancy Stetson, joined the conference to talk about new innovations in food security and the use of data.
Increasing the use of open data to solve the major challenges of food insecurity is one key reason the United States became a founding member of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) network. The GODAN network seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutrition data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. This initiative focuses on building high-level policy as well as public and private institutional support for open data. The network encourages collaboration and cooperation among existing agriculture and open data activities, without duplication, and brings together all stakeholders to work on long-standing global problems. GODAN, which now has 354 partners, is open to public and private entities including donors, international organizations and businesses.
This week’s Summit is important particularly as we have seen an increased emphasis on technology as a critical component of the global effort to end hunger. The use of open data tools to fight hunger is at the forefront of the work of the State Department’s Office of Global Food Security... It is clear that open data can promote sustainable development by improving the access to information that leads to economic opportunities for the hungry. Evidence also demonstrates that open data allows for greater innovation and better decision making. We have seen this as groups such as farmers, farmer organizations, researchers, extension experts, policy makers, governments, as well as other private sector and civil society stakeholders have made use of this data to make decisions. This information is also useful for taking a strategic approach to the road to 2030, given open access to research and the publication of data can help identify where food insecurity and nutritional challenges exist.
The United States is harnessing open data and technology, to support Feed the Future, a U.S. Government global hunger and food security initiative. The progress of Feed the Future and other initiatives shows, with the right approach, the U.S. Government and its partners can help empower food insecure families to find a path from poverty to prosperity. For example, in Fiscal Year 2015, Feed the Future helped more than nine million farmers gain access to new tools or technologies like high-yielding seeds, fertilizer application tools, as well as better soil conservation and water management practices. It also created opportunities for rural-urban development linkages.
As GODAN comes to a close, it is important that we all continue to look for ways to increase our collaboration and partnership to make existing data more widely available. This is why we are excited to support initiatives like Project 8, an effort to house newly opened data. Spearheaded by a non-profit organization called the Demand Institute, Project 8 is a free cloud-based collaboration platform where researchers and practitioners can share, analyze, and discuss open data. The prototype includes data from collaborating organizations such as the World Food Program (WFP), The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI and is focused food and agriculture data. Project 8 is an exciting opportunity to bring together existing open data for governments, practitioners and NGOs to help us all make a more comprehensive analysis of evolving human needs.
Access to more information can lead to more informed decision making, increased innovation, and deeper understanding of the challenges we must navigate. As we continue to work with our partners around the world toward solutions to help #endhunger increasing open data on food security, nutrition, and agriculture will be critical to our ability to set goals, generate plans, and measure our collective progress.
About the Authors: Julia Duncan and Robert Domaingue serve in the Office of Global Food Security at the U.S. Department of State.
For more information:
Read other DipNote blog entries on global food security issues.
View highlights from the GODAN Summit.
Follow the conversation online by following the #EndHunger hashtag.
Learn more about the U.S. Government's Feed the Future Initiative.
Read about the Project 8 collaboration platform.
Learn more about the work of the State Department's Office of Global Food Security.urity