14 Data4Good projects

In 2023, 57 CorrelAid volunteers were or are active in 14 projects with 7 partner organisations. Three projects were completed in 2023. From data visualisation, impact measurement and open source to natural language processing: you have advanced Data4Good and made the potential of data and data analysis for a good cause a little more accessible!

Organisations we have worked with: Citizens For Europe, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation Germany, Offener Kanal Merseburg - Querfurt e.V., In safe hands e.V., Datenguide, Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe.

We would like to thank 

• the representatives of the partner organisations for their excellent cooperation in the projects
• all volunteers who were active in projects for their time and commitment
• the volunteers who applied but were unable to get a place

You are great! <3

 

Two rounds of R learning

In two rounds of our data course "R Learning by and for civil society", 19 participants each learned about the statistical programming language R and how to use data in a practical way to ensure the quality of their programmes, steer them and legitimise them externally. We were supported by the German Foundation for Commitment and Volunteering. A big thank you especially to the volunteer tutors who made our data course possible in the first place!

 

CorrelTalk and book club

The CorrelTalk podcast team has recorded two episodes for you again this year! How does openparliament.tv promote transparency and trust? How does data support child protection in sport? There are answers to these and many more questions in the podcast, listen in and look forward to new episodes in the coming year!

Our book club, which takes place online every fortnight, read a large number of books in 2023. These include AI Superpowers - China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee and Atlas of AI - Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence by Kate Crawford. The book club is looking forward to new members in the new year! If you are interested, please contact us by email at bookclub@correlaid.org.

CorrelAid in the media and publications

CorrelAid was also represented in the media this year. Frie spoke on the Radio CityLab Berlin podcast about data and data analysis, open data and open source and the resulting impact on civil society. Current CorrelAid data projects were shared and presented.

The Civic Data Lab was also discussed and presented in detail in the Süddeutsche Zeitung dossier on the digital revolution. The focus was on how data is used to create added social value and how the project is implemented.

 

Numerous workshops

Whether for other foundations and non-profits, in our Open Online Data Meetup, in our local chapters, e.g. with the "Weekly Visualisations" series in Austria, the lectures and workshops of the LC Konstanz for the city of Konstanz and neuland21, or with the Inside Data Bodensee event series with cyberLAGO e.V., our workshops and our educational work are almost everywhere. We are already looking forward to many more in the new year!

New website and digitalisation

Over the course of the year, we worked intensively on the relaunch of the website with a new design and improved CMS. The project database and educational resources can now be accessed via the website, as can the event calendar, podcast and blog. In addition, various administrative processes have been digitised throughout the year, such as the membership application.

Girls' Day: Your entry into data science

On Girls' Day, women from various fields reported on their path to their studies, employment, setting up a company, freelance work and their doctoral thesis at university. In small groups, our volunteers answered the many questions from young girls.

 

Retreat Weimar

In March, our volunteers from all over Europe met for a retreat in Weimar. Three days were dedicated to the future of CorrelAid - but also, of course, to simply enjoying time together in one place!

 

100xDigital Community Convention 

In March, we attended the conference on digitalisation in volunteering, the 100xDigital - Community Convention 2023, organised by the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering. The focus was on topics such as data competence, strategy, security, data collection and data analysis in addition to digitalisation for organisations that have had little contact with it to date.

Needs analysis

The needs analysis, which was carried out by Neuland and funded by aqtivator gGmbH and the Schöpflin Foundation, was finalised in March. The concept of the data incubator, for which aqtivator is seeking funding, was evaluated.

We were able to gain the following insights:
Basic data skills are often lacking among civil society actors, an organisation's level of data maturity is crucial for an offer, institutional change and a holistic approach in organisations is essential.

 

re:publica

On 6 June, CorrelAid was represented at this year's re:publica with the MeetUp "Data for #CASH - Data for Good?". In an exchange format, we were able to familiarise participants with the work of CorrelAid. We reported on Data4Good projects, "R Learning" and the public discourse around open data and made new contacts with non-profit organisations.

 

Data dialogue in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Stiftung in June 

The second data dialogue in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Stiftung was a success with 35 participants from the CorrelAid community and three of the foundation's research groups. The data enthusiasts from the CorrelAid community met to develop solutions to the data challenges of three Bertelsmann project teams. The teams worked on improving quality measurement in early childhood education, developing and operationalising indicators for sustainability in municipalities and opening up open data to map municipal infrastructure using the example of pharmacies.

Open data in civil society - CorrelAid Open Data

As a small organisation, we may not have as much data to publish to begin with. However, as an organisation that champions the potential of data for civil society, we also want to lead by example. That's why we've made the metadata of some of our Data4Good projects (21 out of 96) publicly available!

Ethics committee

The CorrelAid Ethics Committee has published a questionnaire and an accompanying document. These are intended to help with the evaluation of Data4Good project ideas. There were also changes to the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct, which were adopted at the General Assembly at the end of the year. Many thanks to the Ethics Committee for their great work and advice for the projects in 2023!

4 years of the mentoring programme

Every year, we successfully connect around 60 to 100 data enthusiasts from our network as mentors and mentees. We are entering our 4th year of the CorrelAid mentoring programme!

Launch of the fundraising campaign

Our fundraising campaign to increase our own funds was launched in October. The planning was done by the board, office and volunteers (Camille and Patrizia 🙌). The current target is 5,000 to 10,000 euros.

 

CorrelCon

In November, we invited the CorrelAid community to Magdeburg for a weekend full of talks, workshops and community care. We had a fantastic time together. First time in person in a long time.

Kickoff CDL

The Civic Data Lab (CDL) started its implementation phase. The Civic Data Lab supports organised and non-organised civil society actors in better achieving public welfare goals through the use of data. At CorrelAid, we at the Civic Data Lab are primarily responsible for setting up and managing a community of practice and supporting the data projects that are implemented together with civil society actors. 

transform_d-summit

Funded by the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering (DSEE), CorrelAid will design, create and implement a new, entry-level data literacy course as part of the transform_d programme by the end of 2024. In the new course, we want to deepen and strengthen the ability to handle data and create a basic course that will benefit people and organisations with little experience in particular.

Data dialogue with the Bertelsmann Stiftung in December

In December, four different teams from the Bertelsmann Stiftung presented their project ideas in Munich. We then came together in smaller groups and discussed conceptual and technical solutions to the problems and challenges. 

This involved the following topics: White List hospital search, SDG indicators from the Centre for Sustainable Communities, family and education: thinking politics from the child's perspective and the introduction of a chatbot for the Bertelsmann Stiftung.