Topic Report: Open Data in Developing Countries
Topic Report: Open Data in Developing Countries
Page 1
Keywords
Open
Data,
Open
Aid,
Development,
Developing
Countries,
Economic
Impact,
OGD,
OGP
1 Executive
Summary
Open
Data
seems
to
be
high
on
the
agenda
not
only
in
Western
countries,
but
also
in
developing
countries.
This
report
finds
that
until
now
the
number
of
open
data
initiatives
in
developing
countries
is
still
limited,
but
the
coming
years
will
probably
see
a
large
increase
of
open
data
initiatives
in
developing
countries.
Both
civil
society
organisations
and
external
partners
of
developing
country
governments
are
encouraging
the
use
of
open
data
to
increase
transparency,
accountability
and
citizen
participation.
Particularly
the
Open
Government
Partnership
is
promoting
open
data
initiatives
in
developing
countries.
2 Introduction
In
Europe,
open
data
has
been
on
the
agenda
for
some
years
and
is
continuing
to
gain
ground.
Starting
with
the
EU
Directive
2003/98/EC
the
efforts
to
create
a
common
framework
for
the
re-use
of
public
data
by
governments,
private
companies
and
others
has
evolved
into
a
strong
movement
by
the
European
Commission,
EU
member
states
and
civil
society
for
open
government
data.
Outside
of
Europe,
the
USA,
Canada
and
Australia
are
making
significant
progress
in
providing
open
data
to
entrepreneurs
and
citizens.
But
open
data
is
not
limited
to
so
called
developed
countries.
To
the
contrary,
in
the
last
few
years
there
have
been
numerous
initiatives
in
developing
countries
in
Africa,
Asia
and
particularly
in
South
America.
This
topic
report
will
provide
an
overview
of
open
data
initiatives
in
developing
countries.
In
addition,
the
report
will
analyse
the
link
between
such
initiatives
on
the
one
hand
and
the
Open
Government
Partnership
(OGP)
on
the
other
hand.
The
distinction
between
developing
and
developed
countries
is
controversial
and
this
controversy
cannot
be
resolved
here.
In
this
report
a
country
is
defined
as
a
developing
country,
if
it
is
eligible
for
official
development
aid
as
defined
by
the
OECD-Development
Assistance
Committee.
Page 2
Open Data in Developing Countries platforms, there are currently 12 developing countries, all of which have been created in the last three years.1 The first Open Data platform Africa was launched in 2011 in Kenya2 and until now there are only three more open data initiatives in Africa in Tunisia, Morocco and Ghana.3 The African Development Bank is the first regional organisation in Africa to have adopted an open data approach and offering a large number of datasets.4 In Europe Moldova is the only developing country with an open data initiative.5 In Asia and the Pacific there are twelve national open data sites, of which three are in developing countries, namely in China, India and Timor Leste. 6 In Latin America there are five national open data sites in Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico.7 However in addition to the national platforms there is a growing number of open data initiatives at municipal level, for example in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Among these open data sites, several are still in their beta version, like in Ghana or India. Others hold only a very limited number of data sets until now like Ghana or Uruguay. Again others are only partially open, like the Transparency Site of Timor-Leste, which does not allow data re-use for commercial purposes. An overview of current and planned government open data initiatives in developing countries is presented below.8
1
Source
http://www.data.gov/opendatasites
2
Kenya
Open
Government
Initiative
http://opendata.go.ke/
3
Morocco
Open
Data
Site:
http://data.gov.ma/Pages/Home.aspx,
Tunisia
Open
Data
Site:
http://platform.opendata.tn/index.php?id=4
,
Ghana
Open
Data
Site:
http://data.gov.gh/
4
Open
Data
Platform
of
the
African
Development
Bank:
http://opendataforafrica.org/
5
Moldova:
http://data.gov.md/
6
India:
http://data.gov.in/,
China:
http://govinfo.nlc.gov.cn/
and
Timor-Leste:
http://www.transparency.gov.tl/
7
Brazil:
http://dados.gov.br/,
Chile:
http://datos.gob.cl/,
Mexico:
http://mapas.gob.mx/,
Uruguay:
http://datos.gub.uy/
and
Peru:
http://www.datosperu.org/
8
Blue
markers
are
existing
national
open
data
initiatives,
yellow
markers
are
sub-national
initiatives,
red
markers
are
planned
national
open
data
initiatives
(not
comprehensive)
and
pink
markers
indicate
membership
in
the
Open
Government
Partnership.
The
green
marker
is
the
only
supra-national
open
data
platform
in
developing
countries.
Link
to
Google
Map:
https://maps.google.de/maps/ms?msid=214949500913461139756.0004d6af336a205394ed1&m sa=0
Page 3
Many
open
data
initiatives
are
currently
under
way:
While
the
overall
number
of
open
data
sites
in
developing
countries
is
not
high,
it
is
important
to
note
that
this
field
is
very
vibrant
and
it
is
very
likely
that
the
number
of
sites
will
rise
considerably
in
the
next
years.
A
number
of
developing
country
governments
like
Tanzania,
Rwanda,
Nigeria,
Indonesia
and
Colombia
are
planning
to
introduce
open
data
sites
in
the
near
future.9
Particularly
in
the
context
of
the
Open
Government
Partnership
many
developing
countries
are
planning
to
establish
open
data
platforms.
In
the
case
of
Uganda
the
Ugandan
finance
ministry
is
collaborating
with
Ugandan
and
international
civil
society
organisations
as
well
as
with
the
multilateral
organisation
UNICEF
to
create
the
Uganda
Open
Development
Partnership
Platform
which
seeks
to
create
an
open
data
platform,
to
promote
the
development
of
applications
and
to
facilitate
the
data
use
by
citizens.10
Also
supported
by
international
partners
are
efforts
in
Togo
to
create
a
municipal
open
data
site
and
in
South
Sudan
where
the
new
government
envisages
to
base
its
administration
on
both
open
data
and
open
source
software.11
Finally
in
some
countries
like
Sierra
Leone,
the
government
has
created
transparency
sites,
which
provides
information
about
government
activities
but
which
is
not
explicitly
an
open
data
site.12
9
The
Tanzanian
Website
is
not
online
at
the
moment:
http://www.opengov.go.tz/.
Agreement
between
the
White
House
and
the
Rwanda
Government
on
creating
an
Open
Data
Platform
Pilot:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/06/22/growing-open-government-movement,
Open
Data
plans
of
the
Indonesian
Government:
http://bit.ly/WXxWLT
10
Uganda
Open
Data
Platform:
http://www.opendev.ug/
11
South
Sudan:
http://www.oafrica.com/ict-policy/how-can-open-source-technology-be-helpful- for-the-city-of-juba-south-sudan/
.
The
municipal
open
data
website
in
Togo
is
a
project
currently
planned
by
the
ministry
of
planning
and
the
German
Development
Bank
KFW.
12
Sierra
Leone
Transparency
Site:
http://www.transparencysierraleone.gov.sl/content/about- transparency-sierra-leone
Page 4
Open
Data
in
Developing
Countries Open
Data
and
Civil
Society
in
developing
countries:
Many
civil
society
organisations
in
developing
countries
are
directly
or
indirectly
advocates
for
open
data,
providers
of
open
data
and
users
of
open
data.
In
many
cases,
civil
society
advocates
are
not
specifically
focused
on
open
data,
but
have
their
roots
in
the
movement
for
freedom
of
information
or
in
anti-corruption
activism.
This
type
of
civil
society
advocacy
creates
incentives
for
governments
to
become
more
open
and
provide
easily
accessible
information
about
government
activities.
For
example
in
Latin
America
the
Allianza
Regional
por
la
libre
Expresin
e
Informacin
is
a
network
of
civil
rights
movements
across
Latin
America.
This
network
has
existed
for
several
decades
and
is
now
strongly
involved
in
debates
on
Open
Government
in
Latin
America.13
Civil
society
organisations
are
also
often
potential
users
of
data
like
the
budget-monitoring
project
BudgIT
in
Nigeria,
the
West
African
NGO
network
WANGONET
or
the
municipal
e- participation
projects
CiudadNuestra
in
Peru
and
TransparentChennai
in
India.14
Local
and
regional
initiatives
are
strongly
supported
by
international
networks
of
civil
society
from
developed
and
developing
countries
like
the
International
Budget
Initiative
and
the
Global
Movement
for
Budget
Transparency,
Accountability
and
Participation
with
74
member
organisations
in
developing
countries.15
More
and
more
civil
society
organisations
explicitly
promote
open
data
like
the
organisation
DATA
in
Uruguay,
Datos
Publicos
in
Argentina
or
Open
Development
in
Cambodia,
which
collects
and
shares
open
data
sets.16
In
addition
to
such
open
data
advocates
there
is
a
fast
growing
number
of
technology
hubs
around
the
world,
where
programmers
and
entrepreneurs
create
applications
based
on
data.17
Finally,
there
are
many
initiatives
that
are
not
only
using
open
data,
but
also
combining
official
data
with
crowd-sourced
data.
For
example,
there
are
many
mapping
projects
like
OpenStreetMapping
in
Nepal,
Map
Kibera
in
Kenya
and
Ramani
Tanzania
Tandale
in
Tanzania
where
geographic
data
is
combined
with
crowd-sourced
data
of
importance
to
the
local
community.
18
Other
projects
collect
and
share
crowd-sourced
data
in
their
advocacy
for
land
rights
such
as
the
International
Land
Coalition,
the
Moabi
project
in
the
Republic
of
Congo,
Cambodia
Open
Development,
MappingforRights
in
the
Congo
Basin
or
13
Allianza
Regional:
http://www.alianzaregional.net/
14
BudgIT:
http://yourbudgit.com/,
WANGONET:
http://wangonet.org/,
Transparent
Chennai:
http://www.transparentchennai.com/,
Ciudad
Nuestra:
http://www.ciudadnuestra.org/
15
International
Budget
Initiative:
http://internationalbudget.org/
Transparency
and
Accountability
Initiative:
www.globalbtap.org/members/
16
DATA
Uruguay:
http://www.datauy.org/gobierno-abierto-en-uruguay/,
DATOS
PUBLICOS,
Argentina:
http://datospublicos.org/about,
http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/
17
Overview
of
technology
hubs
in
Africa:
https://africahubs.crowdmap.com/reports/
18
OpenStreetMap
Community
Nepal:
http://www.osmnepal.org/,
http://tandale.ramanitanzania.org/,
Map
Kibera:
http://www.mapkibera.org/
Page 5
Open Data in Developing Countries La Cuidadora in Peru.19 Many of these projects are supported and in some cases created by international organisations or NGOs from developed countries.
Page 6
Open
Data
in
Developing
Countries government
and
to
other
stakeholders
and
thus
reducing
a
lot
of
administrative
burden,
costs
and
inefficiencies.
More
ambitious
initiatives
may
include
e-government
projects
like
e-procurement
to
curb
the
risk
of
corruption
or
reforms
of
government
processes
so
as
to
facilitate
citizens'
involvement
and
increase
the
responsiveness
of
public
services.
Political
will
to
increase
accountability:
A
second
important
driver
for
open
data
initiative
in
developing
countries
is
the
genuine
political
will
to
increase
accountability.
An
increase
in
accountability
may
strengthen
central
government
by
providing
better
information
on
local,
regional
or
sectoral
government
activities,
but
it
may
also
strengthen
citizens
by
allowing
them
to
hold
the
government
to
account
on
its
policies.
If
increased
accountability
is
the
main
driver
of
an
open
data
initiative
the
expected
impact
is
an
effective
implementation
of
existing
policies.
Internal
pressure:
Pressure
from
civil
society,
from
media,
from
parliamentarians
or
from
private
companies
is
another
important
incentive
for
open
data
initiatives.
Many
examples
for
civil
society
activism
have
been
cited
above.
Civil
society
priorities
differ
from
one
country
to
another.
Demands
for
more
transparency
may
focus
on
budget
and
expenditure,
on
services
delivery,
on
the
political
process
(for
example
elections,
party
financing
and
parliamentary
work)
or
on
a
specific
sector
like
extractive
industries.
Pressure
may
also
come
from
opposition
parties.
For
example
in
El
Salvador
it
is
civil
society,
the
opposition
party
and
private
companies
who
are
advocating
for
more
transparency
of
the
government
in
the
context
of
the
Open
Government
Partnership.
External
pressure:
Many
open
data
initiatives
in
developing
countries
are
supported
by
international
donors.
Negotiations
about
joint
activities
between
developing
country
governments
and
international
donors
are
often
influenced
by
donor
priorities,
which
in
recent
years
often
included
good
governance,
accountability
and
transparency.
The
World
Bank
and
also
bilateral
donors
are
actively
supporting
the
creation
of
open
data
platforms
in
their
partner
countries.
International
ratings
by
the
Open
Budgets
Initiative,
Global
Integrity,
Transparency
International
and
the
Open
Data
Census
are
likely
to
increase
this
pressure.21
Some
governments
and
civil-society
organisations
may
choose
open
data
projects
because
of
funding
opportunities
arising.
Donors
may
also
increase
interest
in
open
data
in
developing
countries
by
providing
themselves
open
data
relevant
for
developing
countries
as
it
is
done
through
the
International
Aid
Transparency
Initiative
and
the
Open
Data
Initiative
of
the
World
Bank,
the
FAO
and
the
African
Development
Bank.22
21
Open
Budget
Initiative:
http://internationalbudget.org/,
Open
Budget
Survey
2012:
http://internationalbudget.org/what-we-do/open-budget-survey/,
Transparency
International
Corruption
Perception
Index:
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results,
Global
Integrity
Report:
http://www.globalintegrity.org/report,
Open
Data
Census:
http://census.okfn.org/,
WWW
Foundation
Web
Index:
http://thewebindex.org/data/all/webindex/
22
International
Aid
Transparency
Initiative:
http://www.aidtransparency.net/,
Worldbank
Open
Data
Initiative:
http://data.worldbank.org/,
FAO
Open
Data:
http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc/linked-open-data,
Another
example
for
external
influence
is
the
collaboration
of
the
US
Government
with
developing
country
governments
on
Page 7
Open Data in Developing Countries One important external driver is the Open Government Partnership, which will be described in more detail below. Reputation gain: Governments that take measures to increase transparency will in most cases gain in reputation. This is particularly true, if transparency measures are very visible and innovative and if the political costs of these measures are low. So, there is a risk, not only in developing countries, that open data initiatives are adopted for political reasons without delivering the promises of open data: comprehensive, relevant and up-to-date information, high accessibility and a more responsive government. Government that do not accompany open data platforms with wider public-sector reform or that provide low quality data may be motivated primarily by reputation gains.
Page 8
Open Data in Developing Countries developing countries can be the degree of civil liberties and the capacity of media and civil society to use data effectively.
High
21
Upper 23 Middle
26
High
income
countries
from
the
former
eastern
bloc
according
to
the
World
Bank:
Georgia,
Czech
republic,
Croatia,
Estonia,
Hungary,
Slovak
Republic;
upper
middle
income
from
the
former
eastern
bloc:
Azerbaijan,
Russia,
Bulgaria,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Macedonia,
Romania,
Serbia,
Albania,
Montenegro;
lower
middle
income
from
the
former
eastern
bloc:
Armenia,
Mongolia,
Moldova,
Ukraine.
Page 9
But
the
picture
changes
if
eligibility
is
taken
into
account.
Only
countries
that
meet
certain
minimum
criteria
on
transparency
and
accountability
can
join
the
OGP.
These
minimum
criteria
concern
fiscal
transparency,
access
to
information,
disclosures
related
to
elected
or
senior
public
officials
and
citizen
engagement.
At
the
moment
80
countries
meet
these
minimum
criteria.
And
many
of
these
eligible
countries
have
chosen
to
join
OGP
(last
column
in
the
table).
If
eligibility
is
taken
into
account
it
is
clear
that
OGP
is
most
successful
in
middle-income
countries,
not
among
high
income
countries.
Nearly
half
of
all
eligible
high-income
countries
have
chosen
not
to
join
the
OGP.
In
contrast,
85%
of
all
upper- middle
income
and
80%
of
all
lower
middle-income
who
are
OGP
eligible,
have
become
members.
So
the
proposed
reform
agenda
of
OGP
is
particularly
attractive
to
middle-come
countries.
The
high
number
of
countries
from
the
former
Eastern
Bloc
confirms
the
reform
thrust
of
the
OGP.
From
a
regional
perspective,
OGP
is
dominated
by
Europe
and
America.
This
coincides
with
the
distribution
of
open
data
initiatives
around
the
world
described
above.
There
are
5
OGP
members
from
Africa,
10
countries
from
Asia
and
no
country
from
the
Pacific
region.
OGP
Commitments
by
developing
countries:
All
OGP
members
are
required
to
develop
a
plan
on
how
to
reach
the
four
overall
goals
at
a
national
level.
These
commitments
by
national
governments
are
published
on
the
OGP
website
and
vary
considerably
from
one
member
to
another.
Looking
at
the
analysis
of
these
commitments
provided
by
Global
Integrity
the
OGP
seems
to
have
a
big
impact
on
promoting
open
data
in
OGP
member
countries
generally
(not
just
developing
countries).27
Of
all
activities
proposed
in
the
OGP
commitments
190
activities
are
classified
as
being
related
to
open
data.
The
only
other
activity
type
that
was
more
popular
was
e-government,
for
which
199
activities
were
tagged.
Third
and
fourth
on
the
ranking
of
focus
areas
are
citizens
engagement
(131
commitments)
and
access
to
information
(FOIA)
(93
commitments).
Other
priority
areas
for
OGP
member
countries
are
budgets
and
financial
planning,
sub-national
governance,
public
servants
and
civil
service,
anti-corruption,
procurement
and
capacity
building
/training.
Whether
or
not
open
data
initiatives
in
OGP
countries
will
actually
contribute
to
more
transparency,
accountability,
participation
and
professional
integrity
in
government
is
still
to
be
seen.
But
the
future
commitments
by
OGP
members
represent
an
important
increase
in
open
data
initiatives
both
in
developing
countries
and
in
developed
countries.
Obviously
it
may
be
that
OGP
members
would
have
planned
open
data
portals
even
without
the
OGP,
but
the
commitments
suggest
that
the
OGP
does
encourage
open
data
initiatives
and
accelerates
the
open
data
trend
in
developing
countries.
In
addition,
the
country
27
Blog
post
analysing
the
OGP
commitments:
http://globalintegrity.org/blog/whats-in-OGP-action- plans
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Open Data in Developing Countries consultations and the independent reporting mechanism required by the OGP can help to mitigate the risk of fig leave politics and to achieve transparency, participation and a more accountable government. So, does the OGP have an impact on the open data trend in developing countries? Looking at the table of who joins the OGP and what the OGP members intend to do suggests, that indeed, the OGP is a big push for open data in developing countries. This analysis is confirmed both by civil society activists and OGP representatives.
8 Conclusion
For
governments
and
administrations
in
Europe
there
are
two
main
conclusions
to
be
drawn
from
the
open
data
trends
in
developing
countries.
Until
now,
there
not
many
open
data
initiatives
in
developing
countries.
However,
the
work
on
open
data
portals
already
under
way
in
many
countries
and
the
plans
made
in
the
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Open Data in Developing Countries context of the OGP indicate, that more and more developing countries will develop open data initiatives. Both internal and external pressure on governments to open their data in open formats will increase and governments will want to benefit from the reputation gains associated with open data. The conclusion to draw from this analysis is that open data is in fact a global trend and not a niche topic. Sooner or later it will be the global norm for governments to provide public data in open formats. This should encourage European governments and institutions to continue to develop their own open data strategies and initiatives. The second conclusion from the current status of open data in developing countries is, that outside of Europe governments and civil society place a lot of emphasis on transparency as a value in itself, accountability and citizen participation. In fact, open data is regarded by a good number of developing country governments as an important contribution to democratic development. These aspects have been less prominent in the European open data debate. Even if this emphasis on transparency can be explained by the greater need for more transparency, accountability and participation in developing countries, it is still important to strengthen these values also in European politics.
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2012
European
PSI
Platform
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