Creating Impact with Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition (Kenya)

Creating Impact with Open Data in Agricluture & Nutrition

(Kenya)

Mr. Casper SitembaDirector, Intergovernmental Relations &

GODAN Lead,Office of the Deputy President

Republic of Kenya

“Open” Culture in Kenya• The culture of ‘open’ was initially pioneered by the Ministry of ICT

and the ICT Board in June 2011, when Kenya became the Second Country in Africa to build an OpenData Portal and subsequently join OGP in 2011.

• The Portal was an expression of the New Constitution (promulgated on August 4, 2010) that underpinned the rights of citizens, especially in accessing information but also in accessing timely & quality services from providers (including Government);

• The Current administration, in its plans for 2013 – 2017 anchored a pillar of ‘openness’ (Uwazi), in the manner that it conducts its affairs and how it delivers services to citizens;

• The Government is also currently working on the Freedom of Information Bill that will seek to articulate the vision of the Constitution on fundamental freedoms relating to right to information.

Drivers of Data: Kenya1. Legislative drivers: include laws, policies, and other legal frameworks,

2. Political drivers: include the political will rooted in the understanding of the concept of open data,

3. Technical drivers: include availability of internet and other virtual spaces, technical capacity, and

4. Public demand drivers from data users such as government departments, think tanks, academic institutions, CSOs etc

‘Open’ culture in policy & law'Access to Information in Kenya

• Article 1 of the Constitution gives the people of Kenya the sovereign power, which in effect emphasizes citizen participation. Additionally, articles 34 and 35 lay out the framework to access information and the means through which that access is possible. However, Kenya is yet to ratify the Access to Information Bill

• Communication sector policies by Government leading to growth in the information, communication and technology (ICT) sector. According to the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), Kenya now has over 35 million mobile phone subscribers, 21.2 million internet users and 1.4m broadband subscribers.

Open Data in Kenya

• In 2011, the Kenyan Government became the second African country to make government data freely available to the public.

• The Kenyan Open Data Initiative (KODI) is a national government program that focuses on opening up national and local data.

The goal of the Initiative is to make core government development, demographic, statistical and expenditure data available in a useful digital

format for researchers, policymakers, ICT developers and the general public.

Open Data - Available Information on AG & Nutrition:• Census 1989, 1999, 2009• 2005/06 household poverty survey data• Education and health facilities (GIS)• Sector data• County level fact sheets• Public expenditures data

*Users can register desired dataset for GoK to respond to demand!

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics supply 63% of primary data sets

Sampled public information sought

Urban Population Rural Population

Source: Zacharia Chileswa

Agricultural Transformation• The era of open data inaugurated by the then President Kibaki and continued

investment by the current administration has provided developers, researchers and farmers, unprecedented access to information on Agriculture;

• “What gets measured, gets done” – The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has performance contracts that ensure innovation in Agricultural services are a priority and drive its planning & engagement;

• Ministry of Lands is digitizing all lands records making information on land, easily accessible and available.

• Government has also mapped soils in Kenya, making it easier for farmers to plant the right crops, procure the right fertilizers – “SMART Farming” etc

• Investments in technology infrastructure in rural areas and a deliberate drive to reduce cost of data further informing the need to encourage farmers to access/use data for agricultural decision making;

Case Studies: Market Information System – State Department of Agriculture (AMIS)

•AMIS provides market information to farmers, to make better informed choices on getting better prices for their commodities.

• http://amis.co.ke/

Case Studies: (iCow)

• iCow provides farmers with tips, gestation calendar and information to enhance productivity via subscription SMS.• http://icow.co.ke/

Case Studies: (Digital Shamba)

• M-shamba provides a market place to match crop problem as well as telemedicine facilities for farmers to identify crop disease and purchase solutions via mobile money. (M-Pesa)

• http://digitalshamba.co.ke/

Case Studies: (M-Farm)

•Enables farmers to plan ahead using data and information to plan wisely – 16,000 farmers.•• http://www.mfarm.co.ke/

Case Studies: (M-Farm)

“I love Kenya because you feel you are home anywhere you go.”

- Jamila Mohamed

Potential of Open Data in Ag & Nutrition• it can........• Lower the age of Farmers from the current 60 years old, with more young populations finding agriculture a career of choice;

• Improvement of traditional sources for agriculture and nutrition infomediaries. Extension workers becoming more agile through mobile phone, but also young innovators harnessing web/mobile to provide similar services;

• Increase in productivity and incomes for farmers: reducing costs by eliminating middlemen, getting right medication for crops/animals;

• Access right nutrition information by persons, especially in rural areas leading to improvement of livelihoods.

What we have learned: Creating Impact!1. Promote sector and cross sector specific initiatives such as GODAN and Global Partnership on Sustainable Dev Data

2. Develop and champion the capacity to drive transformation across government e.g. Agricultural Transformation initiative. ( By Deputy President-Kenya)

3.Formulate policies, regulations and laws to support use of data to transform service delivery.

4. Champion inclusive multi-stakeholder data ecosystems to leverage Govt, CSOs, private Sector & Academia data ( Kenya Partnership on Sustainable Development Data).

-Harnessing The Data Revolution for Sustainable Development

-Championed by Deputy President William Ruto-Core is the Agriculture Pillar that convenes Govt, Private Sector, CSOs and thinktanks in the Ag Sector to promote a culture of usage and sharing of data-Currently have situation room on mitigation of El Nino rains to farmers http://youtu.be/pusY3w6bzP8

KENYA PARTNERSHIP ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DATA

Thank You

The future is no longer defined,

it can only be OPEN!