The Ghana Statistical Service Data Science Team has won the 2023 United Nations Datathon.
The team was made up of Simon Tichutab Onilimor, Laurent Smeets, Peter Yeltulme Mwinlaaru, Ahmed Salim Adam and Femke Van den Bos.
The 2023 Datathon is a data hackathon which took place from November3-6 in conjunction with the Festival de Datos in Uruguay.
Participants were invited to submit and present data science innovation and solutions to the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Addressing critical challenges in achieving SDGs, the GSS team proposed three impactful solutions to the United Nations.
Firstly, they suggested localizing SDG indicators by leveraging both census data and non-traditional data sources.
Secondly, the team introduced the novel Access to Information Index (A.I.I), aiming to address the widespread issue of limited information at the local level and restricted access to existing data.
Lastly, they presented an interactive tool designed to make the A.I.I adjustable and adaptable.
Winners were chosen out of over 400 teams from all over the world.
The Ghana Statistical Service Data Science Team won first place, as well as “Best Youth Team”; “Best Visualisation”; “Best Presentation”; and “Best Team for sub-Saharan Africa”.