The Benefits of the Virtual Observatory to Underserved Communities

The Virtual Observatory (VO) is a global ecosystem of interoperating services that connect worldwide data archives. The VO is implemented in all major astronomy archives through common interfaces developed by the 22 members of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA). It was founded in 2002, and the latest members, the SKA Observatory and the Kazakhstan Virtual Observatory, joined in 2022.  The VO offers access to data on FAIR principles and from its inception has supported Open Science. The VO acts a democratizing influence in astronomy: it provides equal access to worldwide public data sets to under-served communities as to large data centers, and enables international participation in scientific research and education. Thus astronomers from many different communities are positioned to participate in the big science questions emerging in astronomy in the 2020s, such as the interpretation of transient sources that will be measured in forthcoming missions such as Rubin. In addition, the IVOA has signed an MoU with the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD). Under this MoU,  IVOA members took part in "Astronomy from Archival Data" which involved Educational Activities for Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate Students organized by Dr Priya Hasan. The IVOA plans  to participate in future such educational events.  The presentation describes how new communities may participate in Virtual Observatory science and educational activities. These include practices for developing VO-compliant data centers and archives, and education and training of developers and end users.