Global Nutrition Dashboard

Challenge presented by Action contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger)

Background

At the December 2018 Emergency Data Science workshop, Action Against Hunger Canada (Action contre La Faim, ACF) presented a challenge to develop a new Global Nutrition Dashboard, part of the new SMART+ toolkit ACF is developing to streamline the collection, management, and interpretation of nutritional assessment data in emergencies. During the workshop, a multi-disciplinary team of designers, epidemiologists, GIS specialists, nutrition specialists, ethics and governance specialists, computer and data scientists, and software developers worked together to provide feedback and guidance to ACF on their challenge. The working group consisted of representatives from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Groundswell Projects, ACF, Université de Sherbrooke, McMaster University, ImmerLearn Inc., CartONG, University of Toronto, and York University.

"It was a great pleasure to attend the international workshop hosted by Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research (DIGHR) and the Lassonde School of Engineering (LSE) at York University in December 2018. The workshop was very well organized and brought together a diverse group of experts working in both non-profit and private sectors. The theme of the workshop facilitated a strong synergy between data science experts and humanitarian actors with the aim to advance decision making for humanitarian response through optimal use of data.

As a researcher and a humanitarian actor who is spearheading the use of technology and innovation in the field of nutrition assessments, attending the workshop proved to be an invaluable platform for presenting the data challenge (SMARTplus) and receiving tailored feedback from IT experts. In addition, I have gained valuable insights on the technological advancements in other humanitarian sectors as well as relevant data science tools and processes that ensure product viability and success.

The event also provided an opportunity for building a strong professional network that has proved to be useful in my current work on innovation. In fact, as a result of the event, Action Against Hunger Canada is currently working with one of the IT companies that were represented at the workshop."
Jana Daher, ACF

Progress

  • The workshop provided a venue for ACF to present their data-related challenge and receive tailored feedback from IT experts, as well as to learn about other technological advancements in the humanitarian sector and about relevant data science tools and processes for product viability and success from industry experts. The design presentation from Pivotal Act by Aly Blenkin specifically encouraged ACF to take a design-centric approach to their challenge.
  • During the workshop, ACF also developed connections with York University researchers, which led to development of new research grant applications. ACF remains keen to explore big data-related questions with researchers as the flow of SMART+ data starts to come in over the next one to two years.
  • April 2019: ACF completes an exploration of technical design options for the components of the SMART+ toolkit and launches work to build these tools with external donor support over the next three years.

Read More

Full Challenge Statement
See Challenge Presentation here
See Working Group Solution Pres here