Catalyzing collaboration in the global data community: Lessons from Festival de Datos 2023

For Festival de Datos 2023 attendee, Marisa Miodosky, a gender data and gender equality policy specialist based in Buenos Aires, the festival brought opportunities for fruitful collaboration, demonstrating the transformative power of bringing diverse data-driven practitioners together. 

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on data to drive decision-making and progress, the demand for data professionals to collaborate and share knowledge has never been more critical. I am a passionate advocate for data and strongly believe that data can be a powerful tool for good and to achieve justice, if used effectively. During the Festival de Datos I was able to connect with like-minded individuals who are using data to transform the world, and share my experience with Equal Measures 2030 using data for activism in support of gender equality.

The process of securing a speaking slot or presentation for major conferences can be challenging, more so when your session proposal is merged with others. However, in the case of Festival de Datos, this ultimately led to the creation of valuable new connections with colleagues from Latin America. Together we were able to engage with representatives from statistics offices as well as gender data advocates and debate the legitimacy and limitations of data for this cause. When it comes to gender data and analysis proper measurement is difficult and expensive, meaning collaboration is essential to ensure no one is left behind. Connecting through events such as this is key for fostering collaboration opportunities.