aidinfo.org

What Nepal’s open data movement can learn from East Africa

Cordelia — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:40:02 +0000

Reflections on the Open Nepal Launch, June 2013

By Karen Rono: Analyst, Development Initiatives Africa Hub

The Open Nepal data portal launch took place in Kathmandu Nepal, in the first week of June, a key event of Open Nepal week. Open Nepal promised a week of ‘open data for development’ events and workshops, held in collaboration with the Open Nepal partners, Open Aid Partnership and World Bank Institute and supported by Development Initiatives. Open Nepal is a collaborative initiatives, aiming to provide improved access to information on various development elements such as aid, budgets, service provision and population and helps civil society use this data to promote and advocate for more inclusive and effective development.

As part of Development Initiatives’ work on reducing poverty through improving access to information, we have been playing a key part in promoting civil society conversations about open data for development in East Africa. I have been closely involved with the KODI initiative here in Kenya. I felt Open Nepal week was a real opportunity for cross-learning about open data initiatives, and to meet and share ideas with like-minded organisations in Nepal.

In this blog, I want to share my main learnings and takeaways from the Open Nepal Portal launch and look at what can be applied to the Open Data for Development context here in the developing East African countries where I work (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania).

The relevance of open data for developing countries

The key things that strike me as the basic economic and development similarities between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Nepal are:

All these countries are regarded to be of low human development in terms of Human Development Indicators
They all have more than 60% of their population depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, this agriculture is small scale and not mechanised.
More than 60% of the inhabitants live in rural areas, and of the proportion that lives in urban areas, the majority live in the slum areas; and
All these countries have more than 25% of their population living on less than 1.25USD per day, and a large proportion living in vulnerable conditions.

Besides income poverty, multidimensional poverty exists in these countries- there is limited access to health facilities, good schools, proper sanitation, clean drinking water and electricity.

Increasingly, the lack of necessary skills, abilities or materials means that the need for budget holders to obtain efficient access to information on aid and other resources, to interpret it and apply it appropriately to drive development policy has become a real factor in developing countries. Limited access to information means that civil society stakeholders and community leaders do not have the necessary data to make well-informed decisions that can improve people’s lives.

The Open Nepal initiative therefore provides a useful example of how we address access to information and the skills of those who need it, particularly in developing countries. The initiative aims to increase access, use and analysis of information, which is then used to inform decision-making and demand better services from governments.

Legislation for open data is necessary- but not sufficient- to create a healthy ecosystem

A proper legislative framework, in the form of a Freedom of Information (FOI) law, is important for Open data initiatives to take root. FOI informs individuals of their right to access information and their governments have the duty to make information available and accessible. Nepal, Uganda and Tanzania all have Freedom of Information (FOI) Acts. Kenya however does not have an FOI and yet has a strong open data movement, suggesting that a FOI Act is necessary but not sufficient for open data movements to succeed. I would also suggest that while legislation can be a means to the end, it is also not enough on its own.

Besides a legal framework, an ‘open data ecosystem’- where open data stakeholders (CSO, government, donors, NGOs, INGOs, media, academia and citizens) can build an enabling environment together, is essential. This means all these interests need to work together to enrich the open data initiative. The table below demonstrates the East Africa open data ecosystem- and gives us an understanding of what is important for an open data initiative to thrive and make information accessible and more importantly usable to multiple stakeholders:

Open Data for Development: The Ecosystem in East Africa and Nepal

The key to making it work: East Africa learnings for Open Nepal

The open data movement in East Africa is further ahead, than in Nepal, and our ecosystem is gradually building strength and capacity. A key learning from our perspective is that duplication often occurs in the EA region on open data platforms- with various stakeholders creating portals to make their data available. This can mean individual initiatives do not reach their full potential. The Open Nepal portal is not only a good initiative to make information accessible, it means that this duplication can be avoided- by creating an avenue for stakeholders to identify collaboration opportunities and not duplicate efforts.

Nepal is now in a good position; the open data movement is still new, and thus there is an opportunity to engage all stakeholders in the initiative and build a more collaborative effort through the Open Nepal portal. It was exciting to see these discussions about collaboration were already beginning at the Launch week. My East African colleagues and I will look forward to seeing how the Open Nepal movement develops.

The post What Nepal’s open data movement can learn from East Africa appeared first on aidinfo.org.

Open Nepal project launches

Becky Carley — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:16:26 +0000

The Open Nepal initiative was launched today at the Radisson Hotel in Kathmandu, to an audience of government officials, donor agencies, civil society and the media. Dr Chiranjibi Nepal, Principal Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, was the keynote speaker, and the Open Nepal Data Portal was launched by Bibhusan Bista, CEO of Young Innovations. Open Nepal aims to be a platform for open development by providing improved access to information on aid, budgets, service provision and population, with support to access and use such information. In her concluding remarks, Victoria Room of the aidinfo team at Development Initiatives commented on how exciting it is to see the good progress being made with Open Nepal. But she noted that there is a lot more work to be done. We are living in exciting times, she said, where data is becoming real time and more and more data is being made available all the time. Capitalising on this potential, however, is not automatic – it needs skills and tools to make it a reality. Some more quotes from the event: Dr Chiranjibi Nepal, Principal Advisor at the Ministry of Finance: "Openness is the only tool that can increase the wealth of nations. Openness can uplift countries, uplift people, uplift the poor.” “We believe in knowledge. Knowledge is information. Knowledge is wealth. When we share information, we are sharing wealth." "We are talking about open data, but aid transparency is not yet adequate in Nepal. The challenge to Nepal is budget transparency, so people know where the government is spending money." "I would like to say to the team behind Open Nepal that this is a good initiative, and we are in support. For people who want to be open, the Government of Nepal is always there to help you." Bibhusan Bista, CEO of Young Innovations: “Open data is all about participation from top to bottom.” “Open Nepal is more than a technical platform, it’s an opportunity for wider reach and participation.” Taranath Dahal, Chairperson of Freedom Forum: “Open data has emerged as a critical issue recently across the globe. Information is a source of power, yet people’s access to that information is very limited.” “For people to benefit from information, it needs to be simplified and disseminated widely.” Open Nepal coordinator, Pavitra Rana: “We want development to be more inclusive and more effective. For this to happen, the development process needs to be more open.” Simon Parrish, of Development Initiatives: “The principle behind Open Development is that development processes should be open to all parties concerned in a way that guarantees transparency, open participation and communication, and integrity in decision-making. It is about all stakeholders having the information and resources that they need to hold governments, donors, and service delivery organisations (etc.) accountable and to make well-informed decisions to improve their lives.” Photos from the event are available online at http://opennepal.net/photo-gallery There is also a Storify from the event, collating Twitter activity from around the launch.

The post Open Nepal project launches appeared first on aidinfo.org.

Open Nepal Week continues with data literacy bootcamp in Kathmandu

Tom Berry — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:13:21 +0000

Over 100 Nepali journalists, hackers and representatives of civil society took a crash course in data scraping, analysis and visualisation at a data literacy bootcamp this week. The event, held in Kathmandu, was run by the World Bank Institute and the Open Aid Partnership and formed part of Open Nepal Week. The Bootcamp generated lots of activity on Twitter, which has been collated on Storify, including links to many of the presentations given and tools discussed over the two day event. Open Nepal Week continues with a Hackathon on Wednesday (5th June) and the official launch of Open Nepal on Thursday (6th), which includes formally opening the open data portal – opendatanepal.org.

: Open Nepal

Open Nepal is a collaborative platform to promote the availability of better data and provides tools, skills and support to help those in the development ecosystem to access, analyse and use data for more inclusive and effective development. It includes work on an open data platform, awareness raising, capacity development, support to selected open development case studies, and impact research. It is delivered by a coalition of partners – Freedom Forum, Young Innovations, the NGO Federation of Nepal and the aidinfo programme at Development Initiatives.

The post Open Nepal Week continues with data literacy bootcamp in Kathmandu appeared first on aidinfo.org.

Open Nepal Week kicks off with a focus on the media

Becky Carley — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:16:25 +0000

And we’re off. Open Nepal Week got going yesterday with a Media Leaders Roundtable event. Representatives were there from many of Nepal’s major media houses, for presentations and discussion on open data and data journalism, facilitated by the World Bank Institute and the Open Aid Partnership. Later in the week, the Institute will also be leading a two-day Data Literacy Bootcamp, followed by a Hackathon delivered by Open Nepal partners, with Young Innovations in the lead. Finally, the week culminates on Thursday with the official launch of Open Nepal, at which the open data portal – opendatanepal.org – will formally opened to the public. The Media Roundtable event brought together an audience of senior level media stakeholders – owners, senior editors, leaders of media-related CSOs. After a welcome from Rajib Upadhya of the World Bank Nepal office, we were straight into a series of presentations. Taranath Dahal spoke on how the media can use open data to strengthen its role as watchdog. Craig Hammer (@CraigHammer) of the World Bank Institute, spoke of global trends in open data and data journalism, and made the case for the media to play a leading role in accessing, interpreting and communicating data to a popular audience. Freidrich Lindenberg (@pudo) was next up, talking from practical experience as a Knight-Mozilla fellow at Der Spiegel, on the practical issue of how to prepare newsrooms for a digital future. The answer: “getting newsrooms to embrace data starts with experimentation. Get the IT team out of the cupboard and into the newsroom, and see what happens.” The final speaker was Jay Bhalla (@jaybhalla), of the Open Institute in Nairobi, speaking on the variety of data that newsrooms can call upon – even the data they already hold. The speakers all brought some great insights, but it was the open discussion part of the roundtable that really brought the event to life – and brought it down to earth. We had questions on how to cope with poor internet connectivity and on the challenge of getting access to data held by the private sector. The last question raised the difficulty of accessing even the data that the government already publishes – it is dispersed across a wide range of different government websites and is often well out of date. Perfect – this is exactly the kind of challenge that Open Nepal is trying to help solve. Open Nepal is a collaborative platform to promote the availability of better data and provide tools, skills and support to help those in the development ecosystem to access, analyse and use data for more inclusive and effective development. It includes work on an open data platform, awareness raising, capacity development, support to selected open development case studies, and impact research. It is delivered by a coalition of partners – Freedom Forum, Young Innovations, the NGO Federation of Nepal and the aidinfo programme at Development Initiatives..

The post Open Nepal Week kicks off with a focus on the media appeared first on aidinfo.org.

Aidinfo preparing for Open Nepal week

Becky Carley — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:15:00 +0000

This week an aidinfo team is in Kathmandu, working with partners to prepare for Open Nepal week (2^nd – 6^th June), a series of events to raise awareness of open data. As part of the Open Nepal project a civil society-initiated open data portal is set to be launched, which will be a platform to support the use of data as a tool for accountability work. The week will see NGOs, journalists, politicians, government representatives and civic hackers come together to understand and explore how open data on aid and other resources (such as from the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and the Open Aid Partnership) can be used to increase the impact and effectiveness of these resources in Nepal. 2^nd June: The week kicks off with a Media Leaders roundtable, focusing on 'Open Data and the Future of News' for media owners, executives, and thought leaders in Nepal, and will focus on the business case for data-literate media and data-driven reporting. 3^rd – 4^th June: Following this, an Open Data Bootcamp, coordinated by the Open Aid Partnership (OAP) and World Bank Institute, will give a crash course in tools and techniques to make sense of data. 5^th June: On Wednesday, the Open Nepal partners, Young Innovations, Freedom Forum and NGO Federation of Nepal will host a hackathon, bringing together a wide range of participants to brainstorm and ‘build out’ data-driven stories, apps, tools, services and more, to be pitched at the end of the day for team prizes. Keep an eye on the Open Nepal website for the problem statements developed during the bootcamp and hackathon and the products developed on the day. 6^th June: The week closes with the official launch of the Open Nepal project and the open data portal, an online space to collect and curate raw, open data. The launch will introduce a wide range of participants to the idea of open development, include presentations/demonstrations from those already working in this exciting new space and examples of other initiatives around the world. We hope this week will mark the start of an exciting phase in the development of this work, involving and supporting more individuals and organisations. Please do get in contact if you’d like to get involved! For more information contact Victoria Room or Pavitra Rana, or have a look at the Open Nepal Website. Twitter: @OpenNepal #opennepal

The post Aidinfo preparing for Open Nepal week appeared first on aidinfo.org.

The Emerging Impacts of Open Data on Development

Hilda Kalap — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:25:02 +0000

Last week was the launch and first network meeting of the project Exploring the Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries (ODDC), funded by IDRC and the Web Foundation. The project brings together researchers from 14 different countries, working on 17 different case studies, looking at the emerging impacts of open data in areas from cities, judiciary, and local and national government budgets. aidinfo attended on behalf of their partners, Freedom Forum, who are leading a case study on the impact of open aid and budget data on development in Nepal. This new strand of research is highly significant. Whilst we recognise the significance of international initiatives like the Open Government Partnership and the International Aid Transparency Initiative in pushing the open agenda as an agent of change for improved accountability and citizen participation in governance, it is clear that further work has to be done to identify and support actual impacts in local contexts. The findings from this research will be vital in terms of shaping and influencing open data initiatives around the world, to ensure their relevance to citizens and their representatives. Valuable sessions on research frameworks and methodologies were framed by more general discussions about emerging questions in the network’s research:

How do we define open data?

Many definitions of open data focus on the licensing and technical formats which enable data to be machine-readable and re-usable. Some members of the network identified a need for this research to look beyond existing definitions, to ensure that open data becomes a truly accessible public good. Case studies, including one from GPOPAI in Sao Paolo, looking at Open Budgets at sub-national level, are emphasising that true accessibility is about putting information into the hands of citizens and enabling them to use it. This means that open data always needs to be a support to open information: only when open data is turned into open information is it likely to be useful for citizens. This is also an area which the case study initiated by Development Research and Training and Development Initiatives are looking at in Uganda and Kenya, understanding how open data produced on websites at national level can be translated by intermediaries into powerful open information that empowers people to hold decision makers to account on their decisions on budget and aid spending.

Translating International to National

There were interesting reflections on the drivers for Open Data in different country contexts, and how this might influence what impact the initiatives may have. Key drivers included national governments, civil society, and international organisations. With 26% of Nepal’s budget coming from aid, Freedom Forum are particularly interested in understanding how open data on aid being produced at an international level, can achieve impact in the country. What work do intermediaries need to do to take the data and share it with citizens? Are there contextual and governance factors that will enable citizens to use the data more effectively? Similar questions are being asked by the iHub research team and Jesuit Hakimani Centre. Examining the Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI) these two individual projects are interested in understanding to what extent an initiative driven strongly from the Government and World Bank is contributing to the most vulnerable in Kenya. We are interested in how international drivers for open data can impact development, and want to look at how this research network can engage with global initiatives, such as OGP, IATI, EITI, OAP and others, to ensure that future work at the international level can be as effective as possible for achieving change. Network members will be updating their pages on the website, so keep checking the page for updates. For more information, see the Storify of the event, including clips of Tim Berners-Lee’s speech at the launch, or explore the ODDC website: www.opendataresearch.org For more information on the specific project from Freedom Forum, please contact Krishna Sapkota or Victoria Room

The post The Emerging Impacts of Open Data on Development appeared first on aidinfo.org.

Successes – and challenges – for IATI, one year on

Hilda Kalap — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:10:13 +0000

Yesterday saw the publication of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) first annual report. The report highlights success of the Initiative itself, while also demonstrating how the entire transparency movement has gained incredible momentum in the last few years. At Publish What You Fund, we have always argued that transparency and accountability are crucial for successful development. The success of IATI proves how many organisations agree that open data initiatives, such as IATI, provide huge potential to improve accountability and use resources better. More than that, IATI is about empowering people on the ground to make better decisions, which means better information being available in partner countries. It also helps donors do their jobs better – informing decisions, working more collaboratively across partnerships, and being more accountable to taxpayers. IATI is the foundation for transparent aid – we need high quality data, and then we must improve, automate and increase access to and use of that information. As this is the first IATI Annual Report, it’s our first chance to recognise progress to date – and there is little doubt that IATI has come a long way since its creation, moving from political commitment to action. The make-up of the IATI standard was agreed less than two years ago and roughly this time last year only 15 agencies had published anything to it. Now we have reached a tipping point, with over 130 organisations now publishing their data to the IATI common standard, ranging from some of the biggest government and multilateral donors in the world, regional development banks, foundations and trusts down to small NGOs. This represents 76% of global official development finance flows – and also captures some non-official flows. This is exactly where we expect to be at this stage of the Initiative – but we know we have a long way to go. Turning transparency promises into reality is not always easy, but momentum continues to grow with Germany now publishing – and we were pleased to see so many ambitious implementation schedules at the end of 2012. After recently welcoming the first climate finance signatory, and amid rumours that Russia plans to sign, we are getting excited about what the future holds for IATI. Transparent data can only be useful and empowering if it is comprehensive, accessible, comparable and timely. The onus now is on major donors who have signed IATI to deliver fully on their promises. With sustained political will, 2013 can be the year of implementation, with the data in the IATI registry scaled up and used widely. Finally, I’d like to congratulate the Secretariat, and also thank them for helping support transparency by promoting IATI. We look forward to seeing rapid progress reported in future annual reports! Guest blog by David Hall-Matthews, Managing Director at Publish What You Fund. You can reach him at david.hall-matthews@publishwhatyoufund.org.

The post Successes – and challenges – for IATI, one year on appeared first on aidinfo.org.

IATI’s first annual report published today reviews progress to date

Hilda Kalap — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:04:53 +0000

Today, the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) has released its first annual report. The report shows what has been achieved during this first period of implementation since the IATI standard was agreed in 2011. It highlights best practice by donor agencies and some of the exciting work being done at country level in countries, such as the development of aid management platforms that can use IATI data. IATI has come a long way since its creation, moving from political commitment to action. We have reached a tipping point with over 130 aid organisations now publishing their data to the IATI common standard, ranging from some of the biggest government donors in the world to regional NGOs, to foundations and trusts. This represents 76% of global official development finance flows. And it is further encouraging that official donors representing the lion’s share of global aid flows have delivered on their Busan commitment by outlining their plans for aid transparency in their implementation schedules. In total, 44 donor organisations and governments have released implementation schedules, which are important mechanisms for holding donors to account for delivering their commitments to aid transparency, enabling us to monitor progress towards the goal of full implementation by 2015. The good news is that 23 donors – including the U.S., Germany and two regional development banks – have already begun publishing information to the IATI standard. And they will be joined by more by 2015. However, it is disappointing to see such experienced donors such as Austria, Finland and Portugal refusing to embrace the movement towards publication of current comparable information. Austria in particular has rejected the clear demand from partner countries and civil society for the provision of current information on its aid activities. The quality of IATI data is, of course, as important as global coverage. Many of IATI’s early implementers are now planning ambitious improvements to their data. Some, such as the European Commission’s DEVCO, are moving towards a much more useful level of detail to identify specific geocoded projects. Sweden, the UK and others are exploring how to publish conditions and results information in the IATI format, and how to map their information onto recipient budget classifications. Bilateral donors, led by Sweden, Australia and the UK, are rolling out their IATI publication to agencies and ministries beyond the principal aid agency. It is worth taking a step back for a moment to put this work in context. IATI is often described as a journey, starting from evaluation of existing disclosure policies, to making the political commitment to improve transparency, to incremental (or sometimes big bang) implementation. Some governments and international organisations embraced the opportunities and challenges early and began implementing immediately – the UK and the World Bank are notable for pioneering the standard. Others have been more cautious about political commitments but have now produced ambitious and exciting plans for implementing IATI. Canada is particularly noteworthy. Having signed IATI at Busan, CIDA has invested considerable resources and effort into rigorous implementation, with a first publication within a year. CIDA’s implementation schedule lays out clear plans for implementing almost all elements of the standard by 2015, demonstrating serious commitment to aid transparency and – vitally – an accessible and honest plan for stakeholders to engage with and hold CIDA to account. IATI is about empowering people on the ground to make better decisions, which means better information being available at country level. It helps donors do their jobs better – informing decisions in country and at headquarters, improving data quality through greater scrutiny, working more collaboratively across partnerships, and being more accountable to taxpayers. And while a lot has been achieved so far, we do have a long way to go. We need better quality of data and to improve, automate and increase access to and use of data. The publication of an IATI annual report shows how committed IATI donors are to transparency of the implementation process, as well as their information. For more detail please read our full comparative analysis, or see below the general groupings of donors:

You can see all the implementation schedules on our Aid Transparency Tracker.

Guest blog by Andrew Clarke, Advocacy Manager, Publish What You Fund http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/about-us/meet-team/andrew-clarke-advocacy-manager/

The post IATI’s first annual report published today reviews progress to date appeared first on aidinfo.org.

Transparency and accountability cuts across all other issues on sustainable development goals

Hilda Kalap — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:10:50 +0000

Today (17^th April) the Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals starts a three-day meeting to discuss thematic issues confronting sustainable development in the 21^st century. The meeting is the beginning of a process designed to look at how the actions agreed at Rio +20 can be combined with the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals so that key targets can be set in areas such as climate change, health, education and poverty eradication. In short, it is no exaggeration to say that the OWG has the chance to create a set of goals which can address both key environmental challenges and end poverty in our lifetime. Development Initiatives has co-signed a letter to the OWG on Sustainable Development Goals along with Integrity Action, International Budget Partnership, ONE, Publish What You Fund, Publish What You Pay UK, Tearfund and Transparency International. In the letter we state our belief that transparency and accountability is an issue that must figure prominently if a transformational post-2015 framework for development is to be achieved. Transparency and accountability are the best means for listening to people’s priorities, empowering them with information, and building a solid governance foundation. Post-2015 discussions have already shown governance, transparency and information to be a priority. The UN My World Survey, which has consulted approximately 200,000 people, has an “honest and responsive government” among their top three asks for what future global development commitments should address. The Bali communiqué of UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on post-2015 stated the need to “invest in stable and accountable institutions, fight corruption, (and) ensure the rule of law” and has called for a “data revolution”. The OWG has the opportunity to support these efforts by setting out a clear vision in its forthcoming discussions and decisions that ensures that the final goals are measurable, with good data being made available so that policymakers and the public alike can track the development process all the way from resources to results. See the full letter OWG Letter_11April_2013_CO-CHAIR Hungary By Andrew Palmer, Senior Engagement and Advocacy Adviser at Development Initiatives www.devinit.org @devinit.org @andrewepalmer #post2015HLP #post2015 #opengoal

The post Transparency and accountability cuts across all other issues on sustainable development goals appeared first on aidinfo.org.

New access to information film

Hilda Kalap — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:00:20 +0000

Information is power. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have had a dramatic impact on the services (access to healthcare, education and clean water) that the world’s poorest people receive - but have failed to shift power to ordinary people in the fight to end poverty. Without an explicit push to improve the quality and timeliness of information, efforts to establish a transformational post-2015 agenda will only ever be directed at an incomplete, and potentially inaccurate, picture. Information provides the post-2015 framework with the opportunity to make a quantum leap in the way that development occurs, reducing corruption, improving services and allowing more local solutions to emerge. Please share this film using #post2015 so that we can make sure that the post-2015 framework makes a real difference to the fight against absolute poverty. Thank you

The post New access to information film appeared first on aidinfo.org.