Virtual data literacy training on social accountability
On 14, 15,16 and 17 of June 2021, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) conducted a four-day training under the topic of “Data Literacy Training on Social Accountability”. Due to the pandemic outbreak, the half-day training was conducted virtually via Zoom video conferencing platform and was joined by 16 participants from different institutions. Participants are Civil Society Organizations (CSO) staff working on social accountability.
The key goal of conducting regular Data Literacy Training on Social Accountability is to provide participants with basic skills in data-driven storytelling. This will enable them to reach a wider audience by enhancing the use of data-driven stories and simplified language. They will also be able to promote informed decision-making with regards to social accountability and public policy in Cambodia more strongly.
During the training participants were trained to locate relevant data for their work, growing their critical thinking skills and organizational processes. They were also encouraged to pose questions, develop lines of inquiry and find answers through both calculations performed on aggregate data and visualized data. On finishing the training, participants had a greater facility in transforming data findings into information, organizing data stories, and writing them.
The training was opened by Mr. Thy Try, Executive Director of ODC, and Mr. Bishnu Sapkota, Chief of Party for the Innovations for Social Accountability in Cambodia (ISAC). After the opening remarks, participants introduce themselves to each other in order to network, learn, work with each other. The ODC team also shared the expectations of the knowledge that all participants would gain after the training, especially an understanding of the concept of open data and the role of data in evidence-based decision-making, as well as skills to identify sources of data information and analyze data-driven storytelling.
Subsequently, the training began been started with a pre-test to evaluate the understanding of the data of our participants. Following this, Mr. Sam An Mardy, Senior Web Development and IT Officer of ODC started his training by reviewing the ‘Intersection of Data, Stories, and Policy’. The team continued with ‘Understanding of Data’ by Mr. Ban Chanpalla, Social Development Researcher-Editor of ODC. Both presentations shared foundational information for further discussion in the coming days.
Mr. Vong Pisith, Senior Data Research & GIS Officer of ODC, continued the training with some practical exercises in online breakout rooms. The first day concluded with Mr. Loch Kalyan, Data Research and GIS Specialist, recapping key parts of the training.
On 15 of June, the second day of the training, Mr. Kalyan welcomed the participants with an exercise on data finding based on the prior day’s lessons. Then, Mr. Pisith introduced the approach of ‘Interviewing Your Data’ in a step-by-step presentation. Since this session is significantly crucial for the whole training, this included hands-on training and exercises through the end of the day.
On 16 of June, the third day of the training, Mr. Vong Pisith introduced the ‘Data Story Recipe Lab’ a process of humanizing data & simplifying numbers in order to present data in a more compelling and engaging way, particularly by centering human activity. Similar to the previous session, Mr. Pisith assigned the participants to breakout rooms to test their new knowledge in learning exercises. This day concluded with a presentation on Khmer Optical Character Recognition by Mr. Ban Chanphalla.
On 17 of June, the last day of the training, Mr. Sam An Mardy explained ways to organize a data story, particularly the anatomy of a data story. One of the important elements from this session is the story structure options. At the end of day four training, all of the participants conferred on their ‘take-aways’ in an open discussion session and completed a Post-Test to further evaluate their understanding.
From this four-day training, we can see a clear improvement in student understanding of Data Literacy, as demonstrated in particular via their Pre and Post-Testing results. Overall, the participants expressed satisfaction with their training due to the potential it has to strengthen their academic and working effectiveness.
