ODI Fridays: Using data to support citizen-centric sustainable urban development in Tanzania

watch the lecture here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQYdksc8W44&list=PL6DDzoHu1cx1ozmghXXCgzwHF8Ln8Tlv8&index=4&t=0s This talk will present a PhD research project, which is looking at how communities employ data-driven approaches to address urban sustainability issues in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Over the past year, Roza Vasileva, PhD Candidate at the University of Nottingham, has conducted expert interviews with 25 representatives from various stakeholder groups of the Tanzanian data ecosystem: government, donor institutions, local community organisations, start-ups, international experts and academia. This project aims to understand what processes take place on the ground when people try to take advantage of data and technology to transform Dar es Salaam into a ‘smarter city’, and what the challenges are. This PhD research is funded by Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training in My Life in Data and supported by the Open Data Institute. The Horizon Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) is based at The University of Nottingham and is supported by a £9.3 million investment from Research Councils UK, The University of Nottingham and over 30 industry partners. About the speaker Roza Vasileva is a PhD candidate in Digital Economy with a focus on using data for citizen-centric smart cities at the Horizon Center for Doctoral Training, University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Roza has been an Open Data and Urban Innovations Consultant to the World Bank since 2012 and supported Open Government Data and Digital Government projects in over a dozen countries including Tanzania, Mauritius, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. As part of this work, she conducted and co-authored Open Data Readiness Assessments (ODRA) following the World Bank standard diagnostic methodology. Her research area includes using data especially open government data and citizen-generated urban data for designing citizen-centric smart sustainable cities. Currently she is conducting field work in Tanzania and Kenya looking at the data-driven community initiatives and how they are contributing towards smart urban transformation. She earned her undergraduate degree in Public Relations from Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia in St. Petersburg and a dual master’s degree in Public Administration and International Affairs at Maxwell School of Syracuse University as a Fulbright Scholar.