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Delta Ace

Enabling data driven decision-making in urban local bodies

Delta Ace is a capacity building initiative that envisions strengthening governance systems by enabling decision makers to leverage data for citizen-centric development.  It falls under Tata Trusts’ Data Driven Governance (DDG) portfolio, which has been actively engaged in building impetus towards data-reliant decision-making for local governments, both in rural and urban geographies. The initiative has been conceived to encourage decision makers & stakeholders, to view data as a resource, whose quality and accessibility can define a governance system’s capacity to deliver on development goals.

“Enabling Data Driven Decision-Making in Urban Local Bodies” is a capacity building program, being launched under this initiative, to enable India’s first 100 City Data Officers (CDO) lead the vision of DataSmart Cities.

Over the years, the Tata Trusts have partnered actively with the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The Trusts’ City Data for India Initiative, conducted in partnership with Tata Consultancy Services, was responsible for deputing India’s first CDO within Pune Municipal Corporation. Since then, CDO nominations have become an integral part of the Smart Cities HR guidelines and official deputation has happened in 100 Smart Cities.

The Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF) and DataSmart Cities Strategy documents were outcomes of collaborative discussions that the Trusts participated in, as part of the Working Group steered by SCM. As Smart Cities outline roadmaps for becoming DataSmart, there is a need to build capacities for officials within urban local bodies (ULBs) and municipalities to carry the mandate forward.

‘Enabling Data Driven Decision-Making in Urban Local Bodies’, within Delta Ace initiative, is a six-week guided e-learning programme developed by Tata Trusts in response to this felt need. The course is jointly certified with the Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA.

The course has been designed to equip CDOs with an understanding of Urban Data Driven Governance frameworks, tools and techniques. The course is spread over 4 modules and takes a practitioner’s approach, supplementing theoretical understanding with use-cases to emphasise the application of concepts.

After the training of the first batch of 100 CDOs, the Trusts will oversee the transition of the course from an instructor-driven to a self-paced structure, on the Ministry’s National Urban Learning Platform (NULP) portal. The intent is that it may be used as a base by SCM to continue providing knowledge sources and enabling decision makers within urban local governments to leverage data to deliver enhanced governance services to the citizens.

Related Knowledge Pieces

Open Data for Urban India: Framework & implementation Guidelines

Case studies – Best Practices in Efficient use of Urban Data for solution- building

This page is archived post completion of the programme.

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