Course in Spotlight:
Storytelling with Data
for Development Professionals
Master the art of data storytelling by turning complex data into clear, impactful narratives. Learn how to blend data, visuals, and storytelling to communicate effectively and drive change in the social sector.
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8 weeks | 6-10 hours/week
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100% online
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Curated by 8+ instructors
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Hands-on learnings
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Scholarships available
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Personalised feedback & support
Course Director
Janvi Gandhi Kanakia
Head, impactEd
Janvi graduated with a PhD in International and Intercultural Studies as an Erasmus Scholar from Spain in 2016. Since then, she has had diverse and rich experiences in academia, consulting, and non-profit experience working across sectors. Having started as a data analyst to now overseeing data and funding architecture in organisations, Janvi has come a long way in the world of telling stories with data.
Course Instructor
Amrita Sharma
Ex-Director, Center for Migration and Labour Solutions, Aajeevika Bureau
In a career spanning over 20 plus years, Amrita has led high impact development interventions, straddling diverse fields of data and research, strategic planning and communication and fundraising. She has partnered with prestigious institutions such as Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Azim Premji University, Bangalore, to offer tailor-made courses for development practitioners, helping sharpen their skill-sets for greater impact.
Co-Instructors
Akhila Kosaraju
Founder, What If Design
To elevate the climate movement, Akhila helps startups and entrepreneurs create environmentally responsible products. A gold medalist in architecture from IIT-KGP and with a background in digital product and digital visual design, Akhila focuses on telling stories with design.
Charu Pathak
Head, impactX (Research and Data division at impactDash)
Charu leads the Research and Data division at impactDash, bringing extensive cross-sector experience. As a TISS Mumbai graduate and alumnus, she emphasises the power of storytelling with data, advocating for simplifying complex information into actionable insights to drive evidence-based decisions.
Mahesh Kamble
Assistant Professor, Jamshetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
Having a massive store of grassroots experiences, Professor Kamble has worked extensively in Disaster Management with NGOs and the Government, alongside teaching courses in TISS, Mumbai, since 2006. He has directed several programmes and initiatives aimed at food security, homelessness, urban poverty, dalit issues, livelihood, governance & policy advocacy.
Moumi Das
Data Scientist, impactAI, impactDash
With a background in Economics from Presidency University, Kolkata, and analytics from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Moumi has a strong hold on quantitative analysis. Having worked with numerous social organisations and labor rights groups, she leads a new initiative at impactDash building transparent and open data repositories.
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Reetika Revathy Subramanian
Senior Research Associate, School of Global Development, University of East Anglia
Reetika completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies and has spent over a decade working as a journalist and researcher in India. She studies and writes on gender-based violence, labour migration, and climate adaptation. She hosts the Climate Brides podcast and is the co-author of the multilingual comic book 'Raindrop in the Drought: Godavari Dange'.
Guest Speakers
Abhishek Bhardwaj
Social Impact Consultant
Abhishek Bhardwaj is a data-driven professional specializing in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) with a proven track record in transforming complex data into actionable insights for impactful decision-making. With expertise in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, he effectively leads program evaluations and stakeholder engagement to drive strategic, community-centered outcomes across diverse sectors.
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Sharmista Chaudhury
Head of Communications, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation
Sharmista Chaudhury is an award-winning journalist who has made significant strides in strategic communications within the philanthropy space. She started her career in journalism at Bloomberg India (UTVi formerly) and The Week magazine. She then taught journalism internationally, as a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Oregon and Old Dominion University, Virginia. In India, she has worked at the intersection of development and communications since 2016 and currently leads communications at the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation.
Dr. Vipul Mudgal
Director and Chief Executive of Common Cause
A journalist and academic in India, the UK, and South East Asia for over 30 years, working with leading media houses like Hindustan Times, India Today, BBC World Service and Asia Times, Dr. Mudgal chose the path of activism. He has won many prestigious international awards and fellowships in the past. He currently presides as the Director of an NGO called "Common Cause" and heads a team that publishes an annual report titled 'The Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR)'.
Meet Our Team:
Storytelling with Data
for Development Professionals
Course Details:
Storytelling with Data
for Development Professionals
Who is this course for ?
Specially designed for professionals interested in the social impact/social sector, the course primarily caters to
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individuals and companies working in the social sphere and related organisation
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mid career professionals willing to switch to the social sector
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early career professionals and students looking to gain skills and knowledge on #1 skill for the future
What will you gain ?
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Learning from the masters in the field and designed by development practitioners, the course will be tailored to participants looking to focus on ‘skills and knowledge’ and not on theories.
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Our focus is to synthesize our learnings on ‘storytelling with data’ for development professionals and empower you with hands-on learning techniques.
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You will be able to draw from your practical experiences of experienced practitioners.
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There's peer-to-peer learning with a free, state-of-the-art community platform available for interaction.
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You will receive a certificate of completion.
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Bonus (and really what sets us apart): Every participant will be paired with a mentor after completing the course!
What is the time commitment needed?
Participants will be required to devote 6-10 hours of their week for a period of 8 weeks. You will receive 10+ hours of self-paced content on critical topics of the course along with a written document that has annotated bibliographies and information.
How is the course structured?
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Classes: The Course Material is spaced across the span of 8 weeks. Classes are presented in a multimedia format combining text, videos, infographics, and slideshows. The course content is contemporary, relevant and focused.
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Office Hours: You will have an opportunity to collaborate with your instructors and peers in real-time on Fridays. You can bring all your Q&As along with any questions that come up.
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Guest Sessions: Every week, there will be a guest speaker who will introduce you to a unique perspective and disseminate their skills and time to coach you. This is curated by the course leader for your benefit.
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1-on-1 Mentorship: A unique mentorship experience is offered to every participant wherein every individual will be paired with a personal mentor once the course ends.
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Community: We believe this to be the biggest strength of the program! By hand picking a diverse, yet streamlined cohort, we guarantee a supportive and enriching experience based on peer-to-peer learning from lived experiences.
Course Syllabus:
Storytelling with Data
for Development Professionals
Week 1
Curious about how a bedtime assignment is now a professional necessity?
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This is the question we aim to answer in the first week:
With a focus on enhancing communication and impact through the integration of data, narrative, and visuals, the lectures will highlight the importance of ensuring data quality and integrity.
Week 2
Being an author AND a statistician - WHAT?
Well it's not that difficult anymore! The lectures will help participants with articulating a story using data, loud and clear. From the Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic test to the traditional storyboarding methods, the second week will mostly deal with the technicalities of storytelling, data collection and its presentation.
Week 3
Come on now, you surely can’t SHOW a story, can you?
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In the third week, we will tell you that you can! The lectures will delve into the nuances of effective data visualisation, identifying gaps in common practices and proposing improved strategies through examples from life. The participants will engage in building their own narrative around the data.
Week 4
Maps, infographics, let’s get you some skills for storytelling!
The concepts of data visualisation will be discussed in further depth laying a special focus on the use of maps, in the fourth week. We will also highlight the advancements in the field of data visualisations by introducing softwares and tools that participants can use to design high quality info-graphics/charts.
Week 5
But then you must be wondering, who do I share my story with?
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In the fifth week, the lectures will explore how data storytelling can effectively engage policy stakeholders to drive change in government initiatives, drawing on experiences from successful development interventions to enhance our own advocacy efforts.
Week 6
Excited to know how these skills apply in diverse professions?
The sixth week will primarily inform participants about storytelling practices that make a story more powerful and more effective in engaging and informing opinions. We will hear from guest lecturers on Storytelling in Journalism and Development photography: the art of storytelling via photographs. We will also focus on stakeholder interaction and impact communication during the week.
Week 7
Can’t wait to see how Storytelling can change your work path?
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We have that planned too! One week of quiet time for the participants to reflect on how they can influence their work with the help of the skills gathered over the last six weeks. The participants will work on their respective personal projects along with their mentors in the seventh week of the course.
Week 8
We want to hear your story too!
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The end of the course will be marked by a final presentation by each participant of the project that they have worked on over the prior week.
Application Process
Schedule a call with us here if you’d like to know more about the process or the scholarships and financial aid.
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Apply in 10 minutes
Tell us about your motivation to join the program and, if you need support, make a scholarship request.
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Decision and scholarship
We review applications within 48 hours and notify you of admissions and scholarship decisions.
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Enroll
Pay in full or in installments and secure your spot for the upcoming cohort.
Course Fee:
Storytelling with Data
for Development Professionals
For Indian Nationals
INR 24999
For Other Nationals
US$ 299
Scholarship and financial aid
Selected applicants can receive scholarships based on merit or need. Have a scholarship from elsewhere? impactEd will match it.
Pay in installments
You can pay the course fee in easy installments.
4-Week money-back guarantee
If you're less than 4 weeks in and are not happy, we'll refund you 100% of the course fee.
About impactEd
impactEd is a capacity building arm of ImpactDash that believes in upskilling and advancing knowledge amongst professionals interested in the social sector. It aims to bring to the table the latest methodologies and skill sets that are being globally funded and promoted. It hopes to release state-of-the-art virtual courses in order to bridge the gap between the social sector and the rest of the world.
