In the context of the Geneva Trialogue, the European research project Crowd4SDG held a hybrid workshop on March 17th called « Closing the gap between institutions and citizen science generated data and solutions ».
The Learning Planet Institute, Université Paris Cité and their associate partners of the consortium Crowd4SDG* gathered institutional members and finalists of the most promising projects to provide the projects with concrete feedback. During this one-day workshop, the group gave an update on the progress of the Crowd4SDG project, emphasizing its mission: to launch youth-led crowdsourcing projects that track progress towards the SDGs and generate local innovations for the SDGs.
Participants brainstormed to identify the gaps between institutional data and data generated by citizen science. They discussed how the gaps can be bridged by sharing knowledge, creating synergies and potential partnerships, particularly in the field of water and sanitation.
A community mobilized around climate issues and gender inequalities
The two finalists « WOMER » and « DONATE WATER » also shared their observations on the challenges and opportunities they faced while implementing their projects. The group as a whole identified some challenges that need to be tackled, notably around:
* Aligning SDG methodologies with how data is collected.
* Confidence in citizen science data built from scratch versus existing data.
* Institutional resistance to data quality, design and other forms of implementation.
* Linkages between NSOs and citizen science initiatives.
The GEAR Cycle
Initiatives organized by Crowd4SDG follow a robust innovation cycle called GEAR (gather, evaluate, accelerate, refine) over six months for each period. The second cycle started as of August 2021 aims to tackle climate and gender issues. Five teams completed a challenge-based innovation workshop hosted by IdeaSquare at CERN. The Geneva Trialogue marked the end of this second GEAR cycle where the two finalists presented their projects and received substantial opportunities for subsequent development.
Crowd4SDG partners are now preparing for the final cycle, which will begin in the coming months.
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*The Crowd4SDG consortium (UNIGE/Citizen CyberLab, CERN, CSIC/IIIA, Politecnico di Milano, UNITAR, Universite Paris Cité/Learning Planet Institute) promotes citizen science aimed at the SDGs, focusing on Climate Action. The goal of this EU funded project is to assess the usefulness of practical innovations developed by the teams, and research and investigate how AI applications can enhance and provide effective monitoring of SDG targets and indicators by citizens.
