Tata Trusts & MoHUA Launch India’s First Data-Focused Capacity Building Program For CDO

In a recently organised event, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs launched and an on-line training programme for City Data Officers (CDOs) of 100 Smart.

The CDO Training Programme, which is offered by MoHUA in partnership with Tata Trusts, is a six-week guided e-learning course called 'Enabling Data-Driven Decision Making in Urban Local Bodies'.

It is specially designed for City Data Officers (CDOs) appointed in the 100 Smart Cities and exposes CDOs to basic and advanced tools for data collection, analysis and visualisation. It will enable CDOs to understand the principles of effective data-driven governance and show how to create actionable data policy frameworks using a use-case approach to enable practical learning and application.

Since 2016, Tata Trusts, through its Data-Driven Governance (DDG) portfolio, has actively worked towards establishing the need and relevance of data reliant decision making for urban and rural local governments.

"Our efforts in this training programme hope to build a cadre of enabled and efficient resources within the structure, such that, civilians and the administration can truly benefit from the accountability, systemic advances and digitization of government services that come along with residing in SMART cities,” said Dr Poornima Dore, Head, Data-Driven Governance, Tata Trusts.

She also said on LinkedIn that it is a proud moment as Course Director as they begin the programme from 10th Nov 2020.

This is India’s first data-focused capacity building program for City Data Officers (CDOs) and has been designed to make CDOs “datasmart” and enable them to leverage the power of data-driven governance to help them enable better quality decision-making for each city.

Other initiatives launched at the event were the Nurturing Neighborhoods Challenge focusing on shaping cities for young children and their families and Data Maturity Assessment Framework to evaluate data ecosystems of cities.

While Nurturing Neighborhoods Challenge is a 3-year initiative to support cities to develop, pilot, and scale solutions that enhance the quality of life of young children, the Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF) - cycle-2 will support cities in the creation of 'culture of data' under the DataSmart Cities initiative of the smart cities Mission.