The Project — Global Majority Data Project

Phase 1

Proof of Concept

$500K

Currently raising

Phase 1 establishes the technical foundation. The goal is to transform 60 Decibels' survey archives into a structured, machine-readable, and semantically searchable dataset, validate the AI models that will power insight generation, and deliver a working prototype through Signal.

Because the underlying data already exists at scale, Phase 1 is primarily a data-engineering and model-validation effort — not a new data-collection build.

Key activities

Data engineering and cleaning: consolidate millions of survey records into a unified schema
Metadata enrichment: integrate auxiliary data (country, region, gender, sector, product type) and apply automated classification
Ontology and taxonomy design: develop hierarchical tagging connecting qualitative themes to quantitative indicators
NLP pipeline development: text embeddings, clustering, and semantic indexing for robust search and retrieval
Model experimentation: benchmark NLP and LLM architectures for summarization, clustering, and semantic similarity
Prototype interface in Signal: functional API and front-end for querying by topic, geography, or demographic
Validation: compare AI-generated outputs against expert human coding
Privacy and governance: automated PII detection/redaction, access controls, audit logging
Partner pilots: co-design queries and evaluate usability with early research and philanthropic partners

If Phase 1 succeeds, we will have created the first system that makes it possible to search and understand the lived experiences of hundreds of thousands of people across the Global Majority — scaling to millions as ingestion and governance mature.

Signal platform — example company impact dashboard

Signal by 60 Decibels — the platform foundation for the Listening Engine

Phase 2

Expansion and Pathfinding

$1.5M

With the core system proven, Phase 2 focuses on understanding how the data creates the most value — for users, partners, and the broader ecosystem.

Engage early users and partners to pilot the platform and refine usability
Map which insights are most valuable to different audiences
Enrich the data with new metadata and linkages (geospatial, climate, demographic)
Test access and business models balancing open access with sustainability
Define the technical roadmap for broader rollout

Phase 3

Scale and Integration

Future

Phase 3 expands reach, deepens integration, and ensures long-term sustainability.

Scale toward one million respondents annually
Launch integrated platform access through Signal and connected tools
Develop advanced analytics and predictive capabilities
Formalize governance and sustainability frameworks
Expand the collaboration ecosystem with global institutions, universities, and multilaterals

Partnerships

Designed as a collaborative effort.

60 Decibels brings the data, domain expertise, and platform infrastructure. Partners accelerate performance, peer review, adoption, and help ensure the resource is governed as a public good.

AI research and data-science institutions

To co-develop NLP pipelines and advance ethical model development for underrepresented populations.

Technology and cloud infrastructure partners

To support large-scale data storage, computation, and API deployment.

Impact-oriented investors and foundations

To champion ethical, human-grounded data resources and explore how this dataset informs better capital allocation.

Policy, research, and media collaborators

To use insights to inform public dialogue on inclusion, resilience, and wellbeing.

Next steps.

60 Decibels is inviting partners and funders to join in building Phases 1–2 of the Global Majority Data Project.

With $2M in non-dilutive funding, we will stand up the searchable data and AI foundation, validate outputs against human coding and partner use cases, and launch a governed, privacy-preserving interface for early users.

Together, we can build a new kind of data infrastructure — one that listens, learns, and ensures that the next generation of AI understands the world as it truly is.

Building the infrastructure for a new kind of understanding.