Community Led Data Collection
Why Does Data Collection Matter?
- Identifies emerging issues and showcases successes
- Visualizes the needs of our community members
- Supports an urban Indigenous story telling approach
- Highlights the essential work carried out by Friendship Centres
How can data be used to benefit Friendship Centres?
- Helps identify priorities, bridge gaps in programming, and set targets
- Holds the government accountable
- To develop action plans that are relevant to the needs of community members
- To respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
What is Community Led Data Collection?
Community-led data collection is an initiative to build data capacity and expertise within the Friendship Centre Movement, champion the value of data collection and bring data experts from within the movement together to develop the national data strategy.
Purpose
- Secure sustainable funding for developing data collection capacity in the movement
- Hire and support data dedicated staff
- Develop data expertise in the movement
- Champion the value of data collection to both staff and community
- Bring data experts from within the movement together to share their knowledge
Building Data Capacity
Data management impacts an entire organization. Hiring data dedicated staff will provide centres with the capacity to effectively record and report, improve data management, and providing the executive with the right data at the right time leading to data driven decisions.
Developing Data Expertise
It is necessary for Executive Directors and Board members to be knowledgeable about data to make strategic decisions about how to develop their Centres data capacity and how to use data. NAFC is working towards providing executives and frontline workers training and supports to feel confident and competent when it comes to working with data.
Championing Data Collection
Our goal is to invite data champions to share their stories at gatherings, create dedicated avenues for success stories to be shared broadly across the movement and provide centres with materials to share with their communities about the importance of data collection.
Sharing Expertise
NAFC will bring data experts from the Friendship Centre Movement together to continually develop the data strategy that ensures the data we collect and the data-related decisions we make are in line with our vision, mission and values. The data strategy will also guide us from where we are now to becoming urban Indigenous information leaders.
