Explainer · Plain-language
The Care Principles: Definition, Meaning & Examples | CASRAI
The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance are a set of people- and purpose-oriented principles — Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics — published in 2019 by the Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA). They are designed to sit alongside the FAIR data principles, adding the relational and rights dimensions that FAIR leaves out.
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What the letters mean
Collective benefit: data ecosystems should be designed so that Indigenous Peoples derive benefit from data. Authority to control: Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests in their data must be recognised, and their authority to control that data empowered. Responsibility: those working with Indigenous data have a responsibility to share how it supports Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and collective benefit. Ethics: Indigenous Peoples’ rights and wellbeing should be the primary concern across the data life cycle.
Who created them
The CARE Principles were developed by the Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA) together with the Research Data Alliance International Indigenous Data Sovereignty Interest Group, and were formally published in 2019 (Carroll et al., Data Science Journal). They build on the broader Indigenous data sovereignty movement and instruments such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
CARE and FAIR together
FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) is concerned with the technical, machine-actionable qualities of data. CARE adds the missing relational layer: who benefits, who decides, and under what ethical conditions data is used. GIDA frames them as complementary — "be FAIR and CARE" — so that openness is balanced against the rights of the peoples the data concerns.
Applying CARE in practice
In practice CARE means engaging Indigenous communities as governance partners, documenting provenance and consent, applying labels such as Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Biocultural (BC) Labels (Local Contexts), and recognising that data may be FAIR while access is appropriately restricted. "As open as possible, as closed as necessary" applies with explicit attention to community authority.
Key facts
At a glance
- Acronym: Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics
- Published: 2019 (Carroll et al., Data Science Journal)
- Steward: Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA)
- Relation: Complements FAIR (technical) with people + purpose
- Roots: Indigenous data sovereignty movement; UNDRIP
- Tooling: Aligns with Local Contexts TK + BC Labels
Common misconceptions
What people often get wrong
Often heard: CARE replaces the FAIR principles.
Actually: No — CARE complements FAIR. FAIR addresses machine-actionability; CARE adds collective benefit, authority, responsibility, and ethics. GIDA promotes "be FAIR and CARE".
Often heard: CARE means Indigenous data must always be open.
Actually: No — CARE centres Indigenous authority to control. Data may be findable and well-described while access is governed by the relevant community.
Often heard: CARE only applies to a single country.
Actually: No — it is an international framework developed for Indigenous Peoples globally, with national networks (e.g. US, Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada) adapting it locally.
Going deeper
