On Thursday, October 24th, Mexico City hosted the Awards Ceremony for the 2024 Datathon: Care Economy,  an inspiring event led by Citizen Commissioner María del Carmen Nava Polina and the Open State team at INFOCDMX, with GIFT as a key organizing partner. The event showcased innovative projects and ideas contributing to the development of a care economy system in the city.

A Space for Collaboration and Innovation

In her opening remarks, Commissioner Nava Polina thanked the participating teams and emphasized the importance of open data in fostering collaborative and creative solutions in the care sector. Originating from the Open Data City Network, this Datathon aims to promote the use and reuse of open data to develop technological tools that address public challenges.

The Commissioner emphasized: “The idea is to use and reuse open data to create innovative projects and applications that solve social issues. This Datathon focuses on the care economy, integrating gender perspectives, human rights, and transparency”. She also highlighted the need to make social co-responsibility visible to reduce vulnerabilities and advance substantive equality.

Challenges and Opportunities in Mexico

María del Carmen Nava also pointed out that Mexico ranks 73rd globally in open data and leads the Latin American region. Despite its challenges, Mexico City is the best-positioned federal entity in managing open data. She also pointed out that caregiving responsibilities directly impact 25 million women in the country who cannot join the labor force due to this, according to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics (INEGI).

In Mexico City, three million people receive some form of care, creating significant challenges that this Datathon aimed to address with solutions that could be transformed into comprehensive public policies.

Highlighted Projects

Six projects were presented, developed using 140 open data sets  focusing on improving the care economy through gender and human rights perspectives. The jury, composed of experts from institutions such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Project on Organization, Development, Education and Research (PODER), and Codeando México, selected the following winners:

• First Place: “Urban Gardens for a Community Care Network.” This project proposes transforming underutilized urban spaces into community centers that provide care for the elderly.
• Second Place: “Who Cares for the Caregivers?” Focused on the feminization of caregiving and gender-based violence in underserved areas, this project linked transportation infrastructure to gender violence prevention centers, calculating the time and effort required for women in vulnerable situations to access help.
• Third Place: “Chilango Care Index.” A web-based interactive map measuring the state of care services at the neighborhood level, with a focus on mobility and the physical condition of public infrastructure such as streets, sidewalks, parks, and community centers.

Other projects included digital tools such as the:

• Mapita: A platform providing real-time access to care services, including availability, costs, and quality.
• CUIDAMOS App: A system that rewards those that perform caregiving tasks by engaging businesses, civil society, and the government to provide incentives for caregivers.
• Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Suicide Distribution: A study exploring the relationship between access to healthcare services, economic dependency, and suicide patterns in Mexico City.

Next Steps

Commissioner María del Carmen concluded the event by announcing a Post Datathon, where collaborations will be sought with strategic partners such as UN Women, INEGI, and local authorities to support the  implementation of these projects in public policies.

Access more information on the ceremony and Datathon projects here.