In 2016, we started building a tool that could simplify the data collection process that we were frequently involved in our citizen generated work, partnering with communities to create a better understanding of the power of data. We believe that development happens from the lowest level upwards, and because of this we work to ensure…
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Nandi County’s Data Desk was officially launched on 5th May 2022 amidst pomp and glamour at the County headquarters in Kapsabet, making it the second county to establish the facility that collects, curates, analyzes and publishes relevant county data, in line with their commitments to the Open Government Partnership.
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Yesterday marked a great milestone in our Open County programme as we signed an MOU with Nandi County, committing ourselves to establishing a Data Desk in the county. This would make Nandi County the second county to formally establish the facility that has a dedicated team from every department that collects, curates, analyzes and publishes…
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How do biases affect how we interact with others? We explored this question during our recent Data Leaders Fellowship workshop where we looked at citizen engagement as an interactive two way process that encourages participation, exchange of ideas and flow of conversation. An effective citizen feedback framework considers trust, participation, language, context and bias as components that work together to ensure that the maximum level of engagement is achieved.
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We recently held the second data leaders fellowship programme workshop on 29th September 2021 at the Lake Naivasha Country Club. It was great to interact with all the data fellows we have been working closely with throughout this programme. Read on to find out more about how it went.
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It is no secret that we live in a data-driven world. Everyday, quintillions of data are generated and utilised by Big Data and private sector companies, who weave data analytics into their operations in order to deliver value and target their customers. Governments hold more data now than ever, and by harnessing the power of…
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Our Executive Director, Al Kags, was featured on the Ole Law Podcast where the issues of active citizenship and responsive governments - our main mandate as an organisation - were discussed.
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Eight years after it gained popularity in Kenya, WhatsApp is now not only owned by Facebook but has more features added to it making it more appealing for masses and increasing its penetration in most countries worldwide. With the new ownership came new terms and conditions in 2012 which most users agreed to without reading. A new set of terms and conditions were unveiled by the company early this year which caused quite a stir online. Data protection experts, governments and civil societies went up in arms with the new terms and the extent in which individual and business data is collected from the platform. At the Open Institute, we convened an informal lunch time chat to discuss the new terms and conditions and to try and explain what the impact of them would be to the everyday citizen.
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The Open Institute on the 6th of March convened virtual webinars across various African countries to commemorate the global celebration of the Open Data Day. This year’s event was themed “Data for Equal Development”, and discussions centred around the need to promote the conversation on data governance in the COVID-19 context, a topic that inspired the #RestoreDataRights movement that seeks to promote transparent, accountable and inclusive data governance in Africa.
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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit our continent, it became apparent that some gaps, particularly the shortage of healthcare workers, existed across different African countries. The Africa CDC PACT Project, a brainchild of the health committee at the African Union (AU), sought to ensure that Africa was not left behind in matters of health. The project…
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