4.2 Compile a feasible shared FAIR goal

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Why should I do this?

To prioritize elements of FAIR that have the most impact for your investment. As the implementation of FAIR is only part of your overall project, and as each project will have different levels of expertise and resources to implement the principles, it is essential to consider what is feasible within your investment.

In this activity

In this activity you will:

• Summarize key takeaways from the workshop, creating a table of priorities that outline what each FAIR principle means for the project.
• Work with stakeholders to validate the most impactful FAIR elements, balancing aspirations with resources.
• Present the draft project FAIR goal or aligning principles to the Program Officer for feedback and to assess feasibility in terms of resources and project alignment.
• Refine and document the agreed FAIR goal or aligning principles in a format that guides future activities and can be referenced throughout the project.

Instructions

1) If you are a Program Officer (PO), you may want to share this page directly with your grantee, so they can act on it.

 

2) Use the workbook (and supporting factsheet) for Step 4 here. We recommend using the same document throughout this step, so you have a single document that captures all your workings.

 

3) Based on the insights from the workshop, create a table and draft some principles that apply to your investment. These will become the project FAIR aligning principles or FAIR goal. Depending on your project’s needs, you may choose to focus on one particular FAIR principle more than others, based on the likely impact and alignment to your investment goals.

 

4) Review this table with your PO and other key stakeholders to assess what is feasible for your investment. This may include discussions on where best to allocate resources, time and expertise. You can do this by assessing how each element of FAIR relates to your data problem statement and intention statement (Step 1).

 

5) Document the revised principles in a table in the worksheet.

 

6) Share it with all relevant parties (internal and external) to set expectations on FAIR for the investment.

 

7) You will also need to include this in your FAIR data strategy (Step 5).

Use this Microsoft Word template to (continue to) document your findings.

Use the same document throughout this step, so you have a single Word file that captures all your workings.

Knowing how your project incorporates FAIR can be especially useful to fellow researchers who may want to utilize the project data outputs in their own work.

Investment types

Overview AgriConnect: a digital solutions investment AgroThrive: a policy and advocacy investment NGBT: a field research investment

Investment types

©Gates Archive/Mansi Midha

Every investment project is unique

The application of the six steps will vary accordingly. To provide examples that align with your project, common characteristics of AgDev investments were researched and three ‘investment types’ were developed.

©Gates Archive/Alissa Everett

AgriConnect: Compiling a feasible shared FAIR goal and project aligning principles

AgriConnect’s digital solution aims to revolutionize smallholder farming through precision farming technologies and a ‘one-stop shop’ data source.

©Gates Archive/Thomas Omondi

AgroThrive: Compiling a feasible shared FAIR goal and project aligning principles

AgroThrive’s transformative project in Datapur is designed to improve the agricultural ecosystem, focusing on policy enhancement, infrastructure development, and technological advancements to support smallholder farmers.

©Gates Archive/Esther Mbabazi

NGBT: Compiling a feasible shared FAIR goal and project aligning principles

Objective:
To establish a feasible and actionable FAIR goal that supports NGBT’s climate-resilient barley research, focusing on data accessibility, ethical considerations, and scientific reuse.

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Process:

 

Thematic consolidation of workshop insights:

The lead grantee organizes the workshop insights into priority themes, addressing key FAIR principles while respecting ethical considerations:

 

• Findable: Creating a catalog for scientific datasets, accessible by researchers.
• Accessible: Ensuring access protocols that protect sensitive genetic data.
• Interoperable: Compliance with global agricultural and genetic data standards.
• Reusable: Ethical guidelines to protect smallholder data, ensuring it can be reused responsibly.

Drafting the Shared FAIR goal:
A draft FAIR goal is created, emphasizing ethical data sharing practices while enhancing research usability:

“NGBT’s research data will be findable and accessible to researchers through a centralized catalog, interoperable with global standards, and reusable under ethical guidelines to ensure the protection of smallholder data.”

 

Finalization and Program Officer review:
The draft FAIR goal is reviewed with the program officer to confirm alignment with project goals, resources, and ethical standards. Adjustments are made as needed before the goal is finalized.

 

Outcome:
NGBT’s shared FAIR goal is now an approved document, establishing the ethical and practical standards for data management, accessibility, and reusability across the project.

For planning and implementation of projects and programs, data sharing among various stakeholders is very key and also prior to data sharing, data quality issues on FAIR are paramount.

Workshop participant

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