On November 13, 2017, Bikas Udhyami's Nepal in Data Initiative with the technical assistance of the Central Bureau of Statistics will be organizing a special Nepal in Data evening. The theme of the evening is 'Connecting Nepal's Development Dots' to signify the importance of connecting different datapoints to gain a better understanding of Nepal's Development. During the evening, the Nepal in Data Initiative will be launching a series of videos demystifying different aspects of Nepal’s development by explaining them on the basis of official data in an easy to understand manner.
Bikas Udhyami is a social innovation hub establised in July, 2016 and led by young Nepali professionals who share an entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to doing development differently. Its Nepal in Data Initiatiative has been working to increase the availability and accessibility of data and statistics on Nepal via its www.nepalindata.com portal, which it launched in January 2017 and provides access to more than 1700 data and statistics across 12 different sections related to Nepal's development. However, the Initiative believes that making data open and easily accesible is not enough and people also need to be able to understand data in order to be able to use it. In Nepal, demand for data especially data in open format still is limited and data literacy i.e. the ability to derive meaningful information from data still is low. Therefore, the Nepal in Data Initiative has been working to enhance data literacy through the daily production of infographics, sharing of data related news and resources via its portal and social media and through interaction programs with various stakeholders including government, students and media.
To generate more public interest around data and enhance people’s understanding of key issues related to Nepal’s development based on data, the Nepal in Data Initiative with the Central Bureau of Statistics has developed the videos on contemporary development issues. The videos are inspired by the videos of Hans Rosling, world renowned statistician and founder of the Gapminder Foundation from Sweden, who sadly passed away earlier this year. The Nepal in Data Evening will feature a guest lecture by Gapminder on 'Factfulness: the relaxing habit of basing your world views on facts'. Both the development of the videos and the organization of the event have been made possible through the 'Data for Development in Nepal Program implemented by The Asia Foundation in Partnership with Development Initiatives with funding from the UK Department for International Development to improve the sharing and use of data as evidence for development in Nepal. After the event, the Nepal in Data initiative intends to further promote the videos and use them for training purposes and outreach across Nepal.
The 'Nepal in Data Evening: Connecting Nepal's Development Dots' event will be held on November 13, from 14:00 to 17:15 followed by a dinner reception and a free concert at Ashok Hall, Patan. To attend the event, register here (participation is free).
