The project is exploring how data institutions and AI applications could make a difference on climate-induced migration, empowering local organizations & communities. In a large scale, we aim to co-design a framework allowing data institutions to develop the safe, fair, and equitable sharing of data while empowering individuals and communities to assert their data rights.

1. Data institutions for climate-induced
migration: Scanning the local data
ecosystem in Lake Chad Basin
IASC 2023, Nairobi
June 23, 2023
1. Who we are
2. The data institution
project
3. Fieldwork in Cameroon
4. The Framework
5. Next steps
6. Our project team
By
Thomas Mboa & Lama Saouma

2. 1. Who we are
2

3. Global, Multistakeholder,
Expert-based
❖ Founded in 2020 with 15 Members
today GPAI has 29 Members
❖ 189 Experts, 22 Observers
▪ Multi stakeholder and
multidisciplinary
▪ Bridge the gap between theory
and practice
▪ Diversity

4. What we do
4

5. Data for AI Climate action Global Health
Governance &
Human Rights
● Data institutions
● Data Justice
● PETs
● Government data
● Co-generated
data rights
● Climate and AI
● Biodiversity and
AI
● AI & Compute
● Industry booklets
● Drug discovery
● Pandemic
Resilience
● Regulatory
diplomacy in AI
● State of AI in Africa
● Social media
governance
● Discoverability
● Diversity
● Regulatory
sandboxes
● RAI deployment &
challenge fund
Four programs

6. Objective
● The project is exploring how data
institutions and AI applications could make
a difference on climate-induced migration,
empowering local organizations &
communities.
● In a large scale, we aim to co-design a
framework allowing data institutions to
develop the safe, fair, and equitable
sharing of data while empowering
individuals and communities to assert their
data rights.
6
Fieldwork
Co-design of
the Framework
Operationalization
2. The data institution project

7. Lake Chad Basin Region
● Floods
● Droughts
● Food insecurity
● Farmers-herders conflict
● Rise of terrorist groups
● One of Africa’s largest
freshwater bodies has
shrunk by 90%
● “One of the worst
crises in the world”
● Over 3.2 million
people displaced

9. 9
Designing Trustworthy Data Institutions
Blueprint for Climate-induced Migration in Lake Chad Basin
Case Study: Scanning the Local Data
Ecosystem in Cameroon
3. Fieldwork in
Cameroon

10. Fieldwork in Cameroon
(October -november 2022)
Methodology
● Consult with IOM &
UNHCR
● Conduct guided interviews
with local organisations &
key informants
● Perform first analysis and
reporting
Opportunities and next
steps
Findings
● Actors and dynamics in
the data ecosystem
● Gaps and Challenges
● Opportunities
03
01 02

11. Actors in the climate migration data ecosystem in Cameroon
Design of data
collection tools
● Funding
agencies;
● International
organizations;
Data collection
in the field
● Local non
governmental
organizations;
● Governmental
Data institutions
Data
processing and
storage
● Funding
agencies;
● International
organizations;
Use for AI and
analytics
● Funding
agencies;
● international
organizations;
Data access
and protection
● Funding
agencies;
● international
organizations;
Some funding agencies and
international organizations
Governmental
organizations
Some Local
non-governmental
organizations

12. 12
On availability of climate
migration data
● Climate and migration data
are traditionally collected by
different entities
● Data collections tools for
migration data don’t include
questions on climate migration
● It it very difficult to identify
climate migrants because the
majority are internally
displaced
● Very few dedicated and
coordinated efforts to collect
data on different aspects of
climate migration, hence very
few datasets or databases
● Aside from data collection,
local organizations do not
participate in the value chain
● Local orgs and communities
do not participate in the
design of data collections
tools; latter is provided by
funding iNGOs
● They don’t have access to the
database they helped
populate
● Local knowledge strategies to
overcome climate change by
affected communities not
captured
● Local orgs depend on
contracts by intl. funders
for the financial sustainability
of local actors
● Once the funding stops, it’s
difficult to sustain data
collection activities
● No coordination between
different local non-profit
organizations and with
governmental organizations
On participation of local
orgs and communities in
the data value chain
On sustainability of data
collection activities &
feasibility of data
collaborations
Gaps and Challenges

13. 4. The Trustworthy Data Institution
Framework (TDIF)
13
The Trustworthy Data Institutional Framework (TDIF) is a
description of capacities and values needed by any
organization stewarding data, in order to build a safe
ecosystem of data exchange.
❖ Principle 1: Inclusive community
❖ Principle 2: Sustainable infrastructures
❖ Principle 3: Increased openness
❖ Principle 4: Data as a public good
❖ Principle 5: Data Ethics

14. 14
Step 1
● Become familiar with the
TDIF pillars
● Use the TDI-Maturity tool to assess
your organization.
● The evaluation tool is a grid of Four
(4) Key Indicators with their
variables and Five (5) Maturity
Levels
● Key Indicators : Governance,
Rules , Community, Shared
resources
● Maturity Levels : Unaware,
Emerging, Learning ,Developing,
Mastering
● Take action to move your
organization to the next level
Step 2 Step 3
How to use the TDIF?

15. The TDIF-Maturity tool

16. 5. Next steps
16
❖ Testing the Framework
❖ Automation

17. 5. Our project team
17
Lama Saouma,
AI Initiatives Lead at CEIMIA
and co-lead of the research on
Data Institutions for Climate
Migration in Lake Chad Basin
(lama.saouma@ceimia.org ).
Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou,
Researcher in Residence at CEIMIA
and co-lead of the research on Data
Institutions for Climate Migration in
Lake Chad Basin
(thomas.nkoudou@ceimia.org).
Local organizations
❖ National Institute of Statistics Cameroon
(https://ins-cameroun.cm/)
❖ Secretariat Technique IOM-UNHCR at Ministry of foreign
Affairs of Cameroon (https://www.diplocam.cm/index.php/fr/ )
❖ Initiative pour la prévention de la radicalisation et l'extrémisme
violents en Afrique (IPREVA)
❖ Service pour le développement inclusif (SDI)
❖ AIDER (Association des Ingénieurs pour le Développement
Rurale)
❖ Cellule d’Appui au Développement local Participatif Intégré
(CADEPI)

18. Thanks