The Decolonizing Data Institute is a collaborative and co-creating space that is a work-in-progress. Many collaborators will be invited into this space to co-create direction, vision, mutuality and accountability. Rooted in community and creating an ethical community of practice, a group of organizations and advisors have come together to initiate this work and convene community conversations to inform the path forward: the Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF), Social Economy Through Social Inclusion (SETSI), Afro Caribbean Business Network (ACBN), Jensen Group, Dr Shelly Price, and capitalW.
Our Vision
“I am a prisoner of hope. We are more connected than ever before; we have more knowledge and there are solutions if we work together. We cannot abandon hope, and there is no hope if we do not act.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
At the Decolonizing Data Institute we are prisoners of hope. We believe the ethical gatherers and stewards of data will co-construct a world that thrives on genuine innovation, flourishes through a community of practice that rises to overcome the challenges that have an impact on all of us.
We believe that:
- Data is abundant, data is a tool for prosperity and economic dynamism, data is a national currency, data is power, love, and must be sacrosanct. But data has been weaponized and wielded by the privileged, used as a force to marginalize, isolate and reinforce policy inaction, and societal negligence toward vulnerable distinct groups on the periphery of the economic and social sectors.
- Working together to create an ethical community of practice, we will repair and address this deficit and enrich our communities and society as a result.
- Dismantling the oppressive forces of data colonialism enacts solidarity, sovereignty and subsequently equitable solutions for many pervasive societal challenges.