Training & Professional Education
Leveraging AidData's expertise and resources to empower data-driven professionals
Overview
Our training employs a hybrid (blended virtual and in-person) model that combines foundational online courses delivered through William & Mary’s Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation with in-person workshops and policy dialogues. Our courses provide a flexible learning pathway and deep engagement with subject matter experts from around the world. In-person sessions are country- and region-specific for targeted professional development.
Aligned with AidData's commitment to actionable research and evidence-based insights, as well as William & Mary’s over 300-year history as a premier university for learning and research, our courses blend academic research with practical methodologies. Tailored to address complex global challenges, the curriculum provides a comprehensive skillset for meaningful engagement with data, including verification, basic programming, analysis, and visualization.
Training themes include:
• International Development Finance for Policymakers
• Economics and Data Journalism
• ESG Risks in Development Finance
Questions about the courses? Interested in partnering?
Online course
Navigating global development finance
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AidData's new interactive online course provides an in-depth and data-driven exploration of global development finance. Ideal for journalists and civil society members, the course provides learners with opportunities for practical engagement with AidData datasets and tools across four modules.
Graduates of the course will receive course completion credentials administered through William & Mary's Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation.
- Module 1: Data Foundations
- Module 2: Data Journalism
- Module 3: Critical Data Analysis and Visualization
- Module 4: Models of International Development Finance and Credit Provision
Interested in the course? Contact Sethu Nguna, Training and Instructional Design Manager, at snguna@aiddata.org with questions.
Expertise that empowers
Data-to-policy curriculum
AidData data and tools are incorporated to empower policymakers, analysts, and journalists with the skills to transform data into insights and actionable decisions in the Global South and Global North.
Experienced subject matter experts
AidData researchers and educators bring intensive teaching experience at William & Mary, along with extensive real world experience applying learning in policy and civil society contexts.
Innovative strategies
Hybrid and technology-based delivery is used to ensure learners can effectively interpret data and implement solutions in real-world scenarios.
Applied professional development for policy makers
A decade-plus history of delivering trainings, workshops, and professional development experiences
AidData researchers have delivered customized learning experiences to policymakers, analysts, program managers, specialists, and development practitioners at public and private sector organizations, including the Agence Française de Développement, the Asian Development Bank, the Center for Excellence in Journalism (Pakistan), the Global Environment Facility, the Green Climate Fund, the Gates Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Qatar Fund for Development, ReNAPRI, USAID, the U.S. Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce, the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office, the Young African Leaders Initiative, and the World Bank.
Data-driven journalism in international affairs
Leveraging AidData's track record of delivering data journalism courses at William & Mary at the graduate and undergraduate levels
AidData’s research on the global reach and impact of Chinese development finance is a go-to resource for the U.S. government, multilateral organizations, foundations, and the world’s media. Journalists depend on the AidData team to contextualize and interpret the data and underlying project information. AidData staff have taught data journalism as credit-bearing courses at the graduate and undergraduate level at William & Mary. In December 2022, AidData staff co-led a week-long, in-person Economics and Data Journalism training course for Pakistani journalists, designed to enhance the quality of data-informed economics reporting by Pakistan’s media.
AidData's data journalism courses help learners explore the critical role that media plays in explaining foreign policy, development finance, international development, and global events. The need for reporting that uses sound data and evidence is greater now than ever before. Yet, few journalists possess the technical skills or background to make sense of raw data. AidData's data journalism courses provide students with both theoretical and practical information and story-telling tools to shape complex subject matter into compelling, publishable, multi-media stories.
