Open Data in Africa, ICEDEG 2015

Open Data in Africa

François van SchalkwykICEDEG, Quito, 08 April 2015

Impact

• Governance: increased transparency of institutions leading to improvements in accountability

• Economic: job creation and innovation; data as a resource

• Social: increased sense of participation and empowerment; accountability as a driver of improved service delivery

• Evidence? • Dark side…

Context

5 stars of open data scheme

𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = Open definition +impactcontext

Open Definition: “A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it –subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.” http://opendefinition.org/#sthash.h042nQvT.dpuf

ODDC Open Data 10-point Evaluation 8 principles of Open Government Data McKinsey

1 Does the data exist? Data must be complete Data must be accessible

2 Is it available online in digital form? Data must be primary Data must be machine readable

3 Is the data machine readable? Data must be timely Data accessible free or at negligible cost

4 Is the data available in bulk? Data must be accessible Data must be license-free

5 Is the dataset available free of charge? Data must be machine readable

6 Is the data openly licensed? Access must be non-discriminatory

7 Is the dataset up-to-date? Data formats must be non-proprietary

8 Is the publication of the dataset sustainable? Data must be license-free

9 Was it easy to find information on the dataset?

10 Are linked data URIs provided?

IMPACT Development Transparency & accountability Economic

CONTEXT Developing countries National Economic domains (transport, healthcare, etc.)

Problematising the definition

Open data in Africa

• Africa is not a country• Linguistic/colonial-cultural clusters:

Anglophone, Lusophone, Francophone• Regional clusters: East, West, South, North• Economic zones: ECOWAS, SADC, etc.

Open data challenges in Africa

• Government inertia• Easier to “sell” the economic benefits of open data to government• Poor levels of co-ordination between government ministries• Disconnect between data supply and demand• Importation of definitions and standards into local contexts versus

the aspirational benefits of globally accepted definitions and standards

• Poor understanding of the differences between open data, big data and crowd-sourced data – each has unique benefits and challenges

• Limited expertise and/or access to expertise wrt data • Low levels of data literacy• Low levels of internet access

From notes taken at the UN Economic Commission for Africa ‘Open Data Revolution’ meeting, Addis Ababa, 27 March 2015

Leveraging change

• African NGOs often do not enjoy social backing + funding is most often from international donors (Neubert 2015)

• The public sphere is a critical space for civil society activities• The media lacks independence in many African countries• Without strong social backing and freedom of the press,

NGOs need to rely on independent public institutions (e.g. judiciary) to leverage change in government

• And to ensure/enforce open government practice, including the release of open data, strong institutions are required

• Example: “Iron fist in a velvet glove” – Section 27• Therefore, there is a possible positive correlation between

strong institutions and open government/open data – see following slide

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78 78

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CORRUPTION INSTITUTIONS TECH READINESS OPEN GOV OD READINESS, IMPLEMENTATION & IMPACT

Ghana Kenya Nigeria South Africa Tanzania Ecuador UK

Data sources

Transparency International World Economic Forum World Justice Project Worldwide Web Foundation

Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 Global Competitiveness Index 2014-15: Institutions

Global Competitiveness Index 2014-15: Tech Readiness

Open Government Index 2015 Open Data Barometer 2014

https://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/

http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/

http://worldjusticeproject.org/open-government-index

http://barometer.opendataresearch.org/index.html

End. Thank you.

François van [email protected]@francois_fvs2