Across all international organisations, data is hard to find and rarely coordinated, search tools are limited in their range, and resources are often focused on single issues. Users have not had a platform from which to browse the full repository of data that exists. The aim of GVADATA, of which the Graduate Institute is an active member, is to radically transform this.
Since February 2016, the Geneva Data Book and online Geneva Data Portal provide users with an up-to-date and evolving guide to data created by International Geneva. For the first time, United Nations agencies, international organisations and NGOs have united their data in one collective portal. This portal does not house or standardise data; instead, it facilitates meaningful analysis by providing users with navigational tools to compare and locate existing data sources across data silos.
The Geneva Data Portal allows users to search across information platforms by using variables such as Global Goals, thematic areas, organisations and type of information. Databases, reports, factsheets, maps, country profiles, infographics, photos, videos and more data formats are included. Information is also customised to suit certain users as new resources have been designed for the media, academia and speechwriters. The value of Geneva Data is its power to cut through different fields and thematic areas and to mobilise all actors of International Geneva.
The design and creation of this tool has fostered collaboration while respecting the diversity of approaches to present information. Open access to data is crucial for the expansion of innovation required to meet the challenges of tomorrow. This is especially important in order to achieve progress toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
More specifically, the profile page of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies lists the Institute’s research clusters. Clicking on a cluster gives access to a page that provides a link to the list of all the cluster-related publications identified in the Graduate Institute Repository.