Data is playing an ever-growing role in international development.  But what lens can we use to analyse the impact of data on development? The emerging field of “data justice” offers some valuable …

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VICTORIA FALLS: A major international summit focusing on digital technology and agricultural data will take place in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from March 1 to 4. Organised by the Committee on Sustainability Assessment, the event will bring together policymakers, researchers, technology experts, private sector leaders and farmers to explore how digital systems can improve agricultural outcomes. …

A new academic study has used IATI data to map the global aid system at an unprecedented scale.

WorldPop releases new open, high-resolution global population and urbanisation data to support better decision-making for health, cities and sustainable development.

What counts as a city? New research shows how population data shapes UN-endorsed DEGURBA urban classifications, and why accurate settlement data matters.

IATI Data is a dataset that describes international aid finances and results, ensuring transparency and collaboration. All data is published to the IATI Standard under open licenses. Data is available...

WorldPop’s first automated census-mapping workshop in Malawi trained NSO staff in geospatial tools to support a modern, accurate and cost-efficient 2028 census.

WorldPop recently completed its first workshop on automated census mapping in Malawi, a milestone for the joint FCDO-funded project with the Malawi National Statistics Office (NSO) ahead of their 2028 national census. Led by Dr Sarchil Qader and Dr Aubrey Steingrabber over two intensive weeks, 22 NSO colleagues and 4 students from the University of Malawi learned to use WorldPop’s geospatial tools and methods to help plan and map enumeration areas (EAs) more efficiently than ever before. During the workshop staff were introduced to tools such as the preEA software and the Enumeration Effort Metric, which help automate EA delineation and provide estimates for the effort required to survey each census Enumeration Area. At the final-day presentations, participants demonstrated how this approach can improve accuracy, reduce costs and overcome many of the logistical challenges faced in earlier censuses. Dr Aubrey Steingraber leads a workshop. The move towards automated mapping responds to a real challenge: for the 2028 census, Malawi’s NSO has indicated that full pre-census household listing (which used to rely on manual, resource-intensive enumeration) may no longer be feasible due to funding constraints. Instead, the plan is to lean on a data-driven, geospatial and machine-learning approach, integrating existing census information and recently collected household listing through national surveys with satellite-derived features and building footprint data to estimate population distribution across the country. WorldPop brings a track record of supporting national censuses worldwide with high-resolution gridded population data and tools that convert that data into operational census infrastructure. The Malawi workshop represents a critical first step: not just training, but building local capacity for a modern, cost-efficient census methodology that could be adopted by other countries facing similar constraints. Looking ahead, once the pilot EAs produced using the preEA tool have been validated on the ground by the NSO, WorldPop will refine the model and support full integration into census planning. If successful, this approach will help ensure that Malawi’s population counts remain accurate and inclusive, and that decision-makers have the best possible data to guide development, resource allocation, and service provision. This workshop shows how innovative geospatial methods, paired with local capacity-building, can transform how census operations are planned – making them more efficient, scalable, and sustainable. For Malawi, and potentially many other countries, the future of census mapping is now more digital and data-rich than ever. ### Learn more * FCDO Malawi project * WorldPop Brings Cutting-Edge Mapping Technology to Support Malawi’s 2028 Census * Field Testing preEAs in the Democratic Republic of Congo * A First Digital Census * Exploring the automatic pre-Enumeration Areas Tool for surveys on forced displacement (Refugees) * Benin adopts WorldPop’s ‘preEA’ tool to conduct its first modern, digitised census __ __ __ __ __

WorldPop joined CARICOM leaders in Curaçao to advance people-centred statistics and strengthen regional partnerships supporting resilience and sustainable development.

How can you put the idea of data justice into practice? This short presentation outlines a conceptual model of data justice and shows how it can be applied, drawing from the open-access journal paper, “Datafication, Development and Marginalised Urban Communities: An Applied Data Justice Framework”

This blog explores why data alone isn’t enough; what matters is turning it into usable insights. In agriculture, where decisions have lasting impacts, user-friendly tools help farmers and policymakers...