A webinar scheduled for March 4th will inform deans, directors, and other leaders in both the fields of agriculture and nutrition about the GODAN initiative.

This 20-30 minute introduction to GODAN is intended is intended as an introduction to the organization and the concept of open data, highlighting the world wide effort and the opportunities GODAN affords as a global partnership.

It will include a 15 minute overview of GODAN with time for questions.

The presenter is Johannes Keizer (FAO), Strategic Partnerships Lead in the GODAN Secretariat. GODAN was initiated in 2014 by the USDA and DFID (Department for International Development, UK). From the beginning, international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Bank have joined in this important effort.

Currently, GODAN has more than 200 partners. GODAN partners are convinced that making data available, with open licences and in machine readable format, will greatly enhance not only research in agriculture and nutrition, but also possibilities for creating services that will directly support the needs of decision makers, farmers and consumers.

GODAN is both an advocacy group and a think tank Advocacy to increase awareness among governments and institutions about the necessity to engage and invest in open data, and a think tank to catalyse discussions about problems needing solutions: such as data gaps, uncertainties about data rights, or questions about necessary standards. The webinar will focus on GODAN accomplishments in the last 15 months and why participation of U.S. land-grant universities is essential.

Please join your colleagues across the country to learn about this important effort and how you can become a partner.

JOIN THE WEBINAR ON MARCH 4th – http://fao.adobeconnect.com/godanusain/

GODAN Secretariat contact for more information – Johannes.keizer@fao.org

If you know that administrators from your institution will be joining the webinar, please send a quick email back to Mary Ochs, Cornell University, at mao4@cornell.edu to RSVP for your institution.