Tech for Good: Leveraging open data to advance the SDGs

artificial intelligence

By Satender Rana

For India to journey towards the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, it must leverage ever-increasing advancements in data, technology, and Artificial Intelligence. This has significant implications for Social Purpose Organisations (SPOs), which can accelerate impact in fields where it is most critical, such as national development and social progress. But to do so, they need to reassess the way data is collected, accessed, and applied.

Open data platforms, which democratise data for the public, allow for research insights to reach the people who can make a difference. This helps SPOs to implement data-driven decision-making at every step and use data to synthesise their on-ground activities. When data is used efficiently, it can help streamline compliance and boost optimisation of resources, impact measurement, and transparency in operations. As regulations evolve into increasingly complex beasts, SPOs must embrace tech as a vital lever to achieve organisational goals under the larger framework of the SDGs.

Understanding the Regulatory Environment

The work of SPOs comes under the ambit of several regulations, for example, the Corporate Social Responsibility Act (CSR)and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA). Organisations are required to report compliance under CSR, which is encouraging data-driven approaches to tracking, since failure results in strict penalties. However, this puts the onus on the implementing agencies to collect and supply relevant data for reporting and compliance.

DPDPA, introduced two years ago, outlines how personal data is to be collected, stored, and accessed, with penalties for non-compliance. A study conducted by the Centre for Data Science and Social Impact (CDSSI) at the Indian School of Development Management found that 43% of organisations lack awareness of the DPDPA despite handling a significant amount of beneficiary data. This puts SPOs at risk of litigation in case of non-compliance. SPOs must orient their leadership and data teams to DPDPA through simple compliance toolkits that outline best practices, optimise data use, and provide guidance on emerging regulatory requirements.

The CDSSI study reveals that data collection and monitoring are driven by compliance needs. This means data is being gathered, but not always used effectively. This is because legislation currently deals with the use of data for compliance, but not necessarily decision-making. SPOs must proactively build robust data governance policies and invest in the human capital and necessary infrastructure to harness data and AI tools for decision-making.

The Role of AI Tools

Only 12% of SPOs have automated data collection processes. This underscores that data collection is still mostly manual, which makes it prone to human error, data loss, and inefficiency. Many SPOs lack essential infrastructure and tools to enable seamless data collection and management. Due to resource constraints, fewer than 25% of SPOs use advanced tools, despite benefits such as real-time data insights and improved reliability.

Further, the presence of skilled staff plays a critical role in establishing better data mechanisms at the organisational level. Therefore, data-related training becomes a foundational component to support and enable data capability. However, only 33% of SPOs invest in data-related training (mostly those with an annual expenditure above INR 5 crores). This means that while smaller SPOs recognise the value of data, they struggle to implement systems or build staff capabilities, due to a lack of funding. Currently, only a fraction of funders invest in data infrastructure and data-related training of their partner organisations.

Financially-constrained SPOs are neither able to afford infrastructure nor build human capital. This is a missed opportunity, and puts them at risk of penalty. By contrast, organisations that are adopting open data practices are able to streamline their compliance reporting and enhance transparency for funders and regulators. Funders must support SPOs with strategic investments in both hardware and human capital to address gaps in turning data into insights and strengthening internal data management systems.

The Way Forward

According to a study by GivingTuesday’s Generosity AI Working Group, AI use by SPOs in India is still in its infancy. 85% of the organisations that are not yet using AI already collect data, which reflects a great opportunity to integrate AI readiness into existing practices. Over one in three SPOs have data sharing agreements with other organisations, which indicates a willingness to collaborate and exchange data. However, only half of these have a formal organisational data use policy. This implies the need to build governance frameworks for responsible AI adoption.

Online data platforms have a critical role to play here. They use Large Language Models (LLMs), which allow SPOs to search for relevant and targeted data. Many even support regional languages, enhancing accessibility. SPOs can further build their AI capabilities by harnessing unstructured data for decision-making. Online platforms, such as ISDM DataShakti, can also establish parallel technology platforms where SPOs, researchers, and technologists co-develop domain-specific Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) models using unstructured data. These domain-specific genAI, trained on data from public sources, would empower SPOs with real-time and context-aware SPO queries grounded in evidence.

To improve AI preparedness and tech adoption for the social sector, regulators and private institutions must nurture open data platforms and incentivise their usage. The ecosystem must come together to collaborate on new tools and increase knowledge-sharing to get India’s social sector closer to achieving SDG targets.

(Satender Rana, Project Lead – ISDM DataShakti, Indian School of Development Management – ISDM.)