Yet within these challenges lies a unique opportunity. Data and analytics can help organizations achieve greater impact with limited resources. Many non-profit organizations already possess deep humanitarian expertise, operational reach, and strong analytical intuition. What they often need is support to strengthen their existing capabilities through advanced data analytics methods, targeted learning opportunities, and access to suitable digital infrastructure.

Analytics for a Better World

Such progress depends on more than technology or funding alone. It requires the development and renewal of knowledge and skills that enable organizations to make data work for their mission. The Analytics for a Better World initiative embodies this collaborative and educational approach, connecting scientific insight with humanitarian action to make advanced analytics both accessible and impactful.

Optimalisation Models

Education lies at the heart of this mission. The ABW education programs, including the Accelerator, open-access learning materials, and Massive Open Online Courses, help NGOs worldwide strengthen their knowledge and confidence to apply data-driven methods effectively. These educational efforts are complemented by an expanding ABW open-source toolkit, a growing collection of practical and easy-to-use tools for humanitarian geospatial analytics, including optimization models that support equitable access to essential services and improve the distribution of food and other vital resources.

Zero Hunger Lab

When applied effectively, data-driven methods can transform outcomes. Optimizing logistics and planning through analytics has enabled humanitarian organizations to serve more people at lower cost and to respond faster and more equitably to crises. Examples from past projects by the Analytics for a Better World Institute and its collaborators include The Ocean Cleanup, which optimized ship routes through data analytics and halved operational costs, and the World Food Programme, which, in collaboration with the Zero Hunger Lab, saved hundreds of millions of dollars, enough to feed millions of additional people.

In this inaugural lecture, Gromicho will discuss how analytics can strengthen the non-profit sector and how the Analytics for a Better World Chair contributes to that goal by advancing research, developing open-source tools, and expanding educational opportunities to democratize access to data and analytics.

'Let this period of constraint and peril become one of renewal, a step toward a data-empowered social sector where analytics enhances fairness, resilience, and sustainability. Truly, analytics for a better world.' says Gromicho. 

Prof. dr. J. A. S. Gromicho, professor ORTEC 'Analytics for a better world': From Data to Impact: Empowering NGOs with Analytics. 

The inaugural lecture can be followed here live.