Mission and objectives
The task group on Citizen Generated Data for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to advance the use of citizen data to meet the reporting needs of the UN 2030 Agenda, with a focus on SDG indicators related to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), and other global policy frameworks such as the Sendai Framework and the post-2020 biodiversity monitoring framework. We build on our engagements with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) to provide guidance on the quality, ethics, characteristics, and sustainability of citizen-generated data, and support the usefulness of “The Copenhagen Framework for Citizen Data” to enable communities and national statistical offices to integrate citizen data into official SDG monitoring.
Our task group is working to further WorldFAIR+ for citizen science. We need interdisciplinary standards for data and metadata across scales to have actionable globally comparable data for the SDGs. Our collaborations support the development of the Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) framework in the context of citizen science for communities and data policy recommendations for National Statistical Offices (NSOs) using citizen-generated data to facilitate global monitoring of the SDGs. Our work with the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP) aims to bring air quality monitoring through citizen science in line with WorldFAIR+.
We highlight the underrecognized strengths of citizen-generated data, advancing data science toward greater interoperability and reusability. We contribute exemplars on the use of citizen science data with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to highlight how citizen data has been integrated into official reporting. These cases demonstrate the value and fitness-for-use of citizen-generated data for UN agencies and NSOs in addressing cross-domain global challenges.
Significance
Monitoring progress toward the SDGs relies on 234 indicators reported by national statistical offices, but significant data gaps remain. Many indicators require accessible, timely, and reliable disaggregated data to reveal geographic, gender, socio-cultural, and other inequalities; levels of detail that conventional scientific approaches often cannot provide. For some indicators, data collection methods are still being developed. Communities can provide their voice and help fill these gaps by contributing high-resolution, locally disaggregated data.
Impact
We advance the global use of citizen science data by demonstrating its value for UN agencies and NSOs, developing a framework grounded in FAIR and CARE principles, and highlighting its underrecognized strengths for interoperable and reusable data science. We emphasize that communities are uniquely positioned to generate local data on global challenges. Evidence continues to show that citizens can contribute high-quality, policy-relevant data, and our aim is to promote practices that enable the inclusion of citizen data in official SDG monitoring and policymaking from local to global scales. We highlight that meaningful community participation in research design, analysis, and validation brings invaluable local perspectives, critical for building societies that are inclusive, resilient, and strongly connected to science.
Our work builds capacity across sectors, documents the social and civic contributions of volunteers, and maps activities to reveal how communities fill official data gaps. Through close collaboration with the UNSD on the Copenhagen Framework and by sharing lessons that bridge community-driven and policy-driven approaches, we strengthen the integration of citizen data into SDG monitoring and promote meaningful community participation in evidence-based decision-making.
Planned activities and outputs for 2025-2027
- Active contribution to the continued development of policy through the The Copenhagen Framework for Citizen Data with the UNSD
- Develop Cross-Domain Interoperability Framework (CDIF) extension for citizen science in partnership with CODATA experts
- Apply CDIF citizen science extension in partnership with CSGP and UNSD to global air quality data for SDG 11.6.2
- Highlight exemplars of use of citizen science data
- Host international webinars to highlight the value of citizen science data
Contacts
Co-chairs:
- Carolynne Hultquist, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
- Peter Elias, Department of Geography, University of Lagos, Nigeria
The TG Secretary:
- Oluwatimilehin Adenike Shonowo, University of Glasgow
Page last updated: 2025-12-18