Please note this website is being phased out.
The Global Data Facility is the new World Bank-hosted innovative global funding instrument for the world’s most critical data impact opportunities. For the latest updates, visit our new website at www.worldbank.org/global-data-facility.
About the Data Innovation Fund
In August 2014, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked an Independent Expert Advisory Group to make concrete recommendations on bringing about a data revolution in sustainable development. Data innovation was one of the four areas of consultation identified by the group, along with a recognition that few mechanisms were in place to fund data innovations that explored newer methods of data collection, curation, and management. Collaboration between the private and public sectors was seen as critical to achieving this goal.
In 2016, the World Bank Development Data Group (DECDG) established the Data Innovation Fund (DIF) as a key component of the Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building III (TFSCB-III) to support innovative collaborations for data production, dissemination, and use. In a partnership with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), the fund was open to three rounds of proposals (between 2016 and 2018) from a variety of sectors and disciplines, calling for innovative solutions to a diverse set of problems identified by governments or other key actors. Each of the funded interventions benefited low- and lower-middle-income countries and were linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Given the World Bank’s interest in replicability and scalability, the DIF results and lessons learned were designed to be readily adapted to other operations, regions, and sectors. The Bank was particularly interested in projects that resulted in data or methods being produced more quickly, at lower cost, and/or at a higher resolution or granularity, towards addressing critical data gaps. Ultimately, the goal of DIF was to encourage collaboration, experimentation, learning, and capacity development in the field of sustainable development data. DIF closed in early 2021.
Financing Partners
The funding for DIF was made available from the World Bank’s Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building III (TFSCB-III), financed by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland, and the Governments of Canada and Korea.
Contact us
Email: data@worldbank.org
Social media: https://twitter.com/worldbank, https://twitter.com/Data4SDGs, #data4sdgs
