At IDW2025, a group of speakers from around the world spoke on ‘Bridging Data Gaps with Citizen Science for People and Policy‘. Although communities have long been studied within research and had data collected about them, there is growing recognition that communities should have a voice in the data produced on them and the policies made downstream. Carolynne Hultquist, Co-Chair of the CODATA Task Group, set the stage on challenges and opportunities of incorporating Citizen Science in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the global movement towards meaningful engagement in citizen data. Countries around the world are recognizing the value of involving communities within the official statistical process and learning approaches to address concerns on data quality, standards, and ethics in this new paradigm.
If you are interested in finding out more, come and join the session on Citizen Science, SDGs and FAIR data at the RDA Virtual Plenary on Thursday 19th March 2026 (07:00 – 08:30 UTC)!
Citizen-generated data for progress on the SDGs
The Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data and its implementation – Haoyi Chen, United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)
“Nothing about us without us.” The UNSD Collaborative on Citizen Data aims to empower citizens and turn them into agents of change. The impacts of empowering communities opens dialogue with public institutions, respects marginalized voices, and expands the power of data production to citizens. Citizen contributions to data are increasingly recognized as critical to societal wellbeing and in support of the ‘leave no one behind’ principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data has been developed to address challenges in defining citizen data, roles that citizen and national statistical offices can play in data processes, and action points for the sustainable production and use of citizen data. Key responsibilities of National Statistical Offices include supporting on quality standards/methodologies, building capacity and fostering partnerships, raising awareness on the potential of citizen data, as well as promoting its integration into official statistics. Ensuring the voices of communities are heard can help to address intersectional marginalization, hold institutions accountable, and ensure that data remain relevant and impactful.
Citizen science/citizen-generated data towards inclusive impact at local and global level – Maryam Rabbie, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
SDG 4 aims to ensure inclusive, equitable, quality education for all, yet access remains a major challenge. UNESCO identifies distance as a major access barrier for many primary and secondary learners, with the IIEP Education Policy Toolkit noting that schools should ideally be within 3 kilometers of children’s homes. Through My School Today, SDGs Today demonstrates the transformative role of citizen science in shaping policy. The initiative engages students, communities, governments, and other stakeholders in geo-referencing schools and education facilities across Africa, contributing to a living, up-to-date map of school locations. The initiative collaborates with education ministries and national statistical offices to complement and strengthen official data sources, demonstrating how citizen-generated data can help bridge information gaps and create more responsive, evidence-based education policies.
Regional landscapes of citizen-generated data
The session was made up of short talks from Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America on the use of citizen data for monitoring the SDGs. Some countries are leading efforts to prioritize inclusive community participation in monitoring through intentional engagement and subsequent civic outcomes with action to support progress.
Latin America & the Caribbean – Amanda Mayte Vilchez (Cornell University, USA) & Karen Soacha-Godoy (EMBIMOS Research Group (ICM-CSIC, Spain) | (Iberoamerican Participatory Science Network (RICAP)
In the Latin America and Caribbean region, data generated through participatory science projects have informed, either directly or indirectly, indicators related to twelve of the seventeen SDGs, highlighting both the diversity of data produced and the strong potential of these initiatives to help address critical data gaps. . Among these, SDG 15 (Life on Land) was the most frequently informed, reflecting the strong presence of biodiversity-focused participatory studies. SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 5 (Gender Equality) are all well represented across multiple indicators.
A central critique of the data used to inform SDG indicators is the underrepresentation of minority groups, who often remain invisible in national-level statistics. In the Latin America and Caribbean region approximately 75% of the mapped initiatives involved vulnerable and historically marginalized populations. Among the most frequent communities involved were rural (27%), Indigenous (16%), farmers (12%), and fishing communities (5%), as well as women, youth, Afro-descendant populations, and older adults. The particular attention given to marginalized communities by participatory initiatives reveals citizen-generated data capacity to address this challenge in data production for SDG monitoring in the region.
Finally, it is important to highlight the initiatives designed to address community information needs. Among the initiatives analyzed, 42% generate action-oriented data, meaning they are conceived not only to produce information but also to ensure that this data is relevant, responsive, and capable of supporting tangible, real-world change within communities in the region. Producing information with them and for them.
Asia – Yaqian Wu (University College London, UK)
Priorities in Asia focus on SDGs, SDG 6 on water quality monitoring and access to water resources, SDG 3 with a focus on air pollution and health impact assessment, SDG 11 for urban planning and informal settlements, SDG 13 on climate action and disaster response, and SDG 16 on governance accountability.
There are challenges with data standardisation, representativeness and inclusiveness, institutional absorption paths, and financial sustainability. Regional efforts could support Asian countries to formally embed citizen data in official SDG indicator reporting.
Oceania – Carolynne Hultquist (University of Canterbury, NZ)
Projects in the region have a strong environmental focus, especially related to capturing large-scale negative changes alongside human impact. Priority areas involve SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities on 11.5 Reduce the adverse effects of disasters and 11.6 Reduce the environmental impact of cities; SDG 13.3 Climate Action with emphasis on build knowledge and capacity; SDG 14 Life Below Water on 14.1 – Reduce Marine Pollution: marine litter and 14.8 to Increase scientific knowledge, research, and technology for ocean health and marine wildlife monitoring; and SDG 15 Life on Land on 15.2 end deforestation and restore Degraded Forests and 15.8 to prevent invasive alien species on land and water ecosystems.
Communities in the region grapple with issues on managing data ethically with appropriate cultural considerations. One of these considerations is data sovereignty, particularly for indigenous groups, as a principle of maintaining control, ownership, and usage of data. Many communities are concerned about potential misuse.
Africa – Kehinde Baruwa, & Peter Elias (Co-Chair CODATA Task Group; University of Lagos, Nigeria) & Oluwatimilehin Adenike Shonowo (University of Glasgow)
Across Africa, communities are increasingly generating their own data to fill gaps in official statistics and support local decision-making. An earlier study mapped 53 citizen science initiatives showing the growing role of participatory data in sustainable development. A more recent study examines additional initiatives advancing SDGs 5, 6, 11, 13, and 15 across Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, and Tanzania.
These initiatives engage youth, women, and residents of informal settlements and rural areas to monitor issues such as urban environments, water quality, gender and health barriers, climate resilience, and ecosystem restoration. While they generate valuable data for advocacy and planning, challenges remain around validation, institutional collaboration, and long-term sustainability. Strengthening partnerships with National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and academic institutions is therefore key to integrating citizen-generated data into national decision-making and SDG reporting.
How Citizen Science is Shaping Progress for SDGs Oluwatimilehin Adenike Shonowo presented on behalf of Dilek Fraisl (Senior Research Scholar, IIASA & Managing Director, CSGP)
Ghana has become the first country to integrate existing citizen science data on marine plastic litter into their official statistics, as well as SDG monitoring and reporting. The results have been used in Ghana’s Voluntary National Review of the SDGs, and reported on the UN SDG Global Database for SDG 14.1.1 on Marine Litter. The results are also informing the integrated coastal and marine management policy in Ghana, currently under development. The initiative has helped to bridge local data collection efforts with global monitoring processes and policy agendas by leveraging the SDG framework.
“Nothing about us without us”
A motivation of organisations in implementing the Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data is to highlight the voice of communities that are often left out or left behind. There is recognition of the importance of representation in reporting, especially on marginalized and vulnerable populations. Some countries are leading efforts to prioritize inclusive community participation in monitoring through intentional engagement and subsequent civic outcomes with action to support progress on the SDGs.
Our CODATA Task Group supports this global movement toward meaningful citizen engagement in data. There are local and regional needs which need to be addressed differently in some cases, but there is also a lot of commonality. We have a lot to learn from each other.
In the 2025-2027 iteration of our Task Group we are providing guidance to work between data and policy frameworks to further WorldFAIR+ with the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) approach in the context of citizen data in alignment with CARE principles and the Copenhagen Framework. We aim to make progress towards interdisciplinary standards for citizen data and metadata across scales to have actionable globally comparable data for the SDGs. The Task Group is partnering with the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP) Air Quality Community of Practice (CoP) for a case study for SDG 11.6.2: Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g., PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted). We are committed to using our networks to continue to highlight and promote the use of citizen data to make progress on the SDGs.