Leave No Group Behind: Building a Human-Centered, Digitally Enabled Future

Through the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Vilas Dhar is working to ensure that philanthropic causes get access to the same level of data literacy that already exists in the private sector. Dhar sits down with Scale’s Head of UK Deployments, Jules de Boinville, to share an overview of the data-driven work his organization has performed around social justice causes and climate change. He discusses joint research with the University of Chicago, which centers on examining economic outcomes as a function of education quality across the U.S. Dhar also covers the foundation’s efforts supporting Workforce Wanted, an effort to focus the group of 3.5 million data scientists on low- and middle-income countries, and machine learning coursework for Native Americans in the Dakotas who built a plant recognizer that incorporates their indigenous language and history. Dhar thinks back to exposing his grandfather in India to various modern technologies as an impetus to ensure that technology benefits everyone, not just the educated, wealthy, or privileged. Dhar has held many senior-level positions in several nonprofits seeking to build a more just world, including The Next Mile Project and the Berggruen Institute, and is on the board of directors of The Christensen Fund and the Network of International Donors.