Open Data in Developing Economies: Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How

Andrew Young, Stefaan G. Verhulst

Description

Recent years have witnessed considerable speculation about the potential of open data to bring about wide-scale transformation. The bulk of existing evidence about the impact of open data, however, focuses on high-income countries. Much less is known about open data’s role and value in low- and middle-income countries, and more generally about its possible contributions to economic and social development.Open Data for Developing Economies features in-depth case studies on how open data is having an impact across the developing world-from an agriculture initiative in Colombia to data-driven healthcare projects in Uganda and South Africa to crisis response in Nepal. The analysis built on these case studies aims to create actionable intelligence regarding: (a) the conditions under which open data is most (and least) effective in development, presented in the form of a Periodic Table of Open Data; (b) strategies to maximize the positive contributions of open data to development; and (c) the means for limiting open data’s harms on developing countries.

Informations

• Publié par: African Minds
• Date de parution: 13 novembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781928331599
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Recent years have wîtnessed cônsîderabLe specuLaïôn abôut the pôtenïaL ôf ôpen data tô brîng abôut wîde-scaLe transfôrmaïôn. The buLk ôf exîsïng evîdence abôut the împact ôf ôpen data, hôwever, fôcuses ôn hîgh-încôme côuntrîes. Much Less îs knôwn abôut ôpen data’s rôLe and vaLue în Lôw- and mîddLe-încôme côuntrîes, and môre generaLLy abôut îts pôssîbLe côntrîbuïôns tô ecônômîc and sôcîaL deveLôpment.

features în-depth case studîes ôn hôw ôpen data îs havîng an împact acrôss the deveLôpîng wôrLd—frôm an agrîcuLture înîïaïve în CôLômbîa tô data-drîven heaLthcare prôjects în Uganda and Sôuth Afrîca tô crîsîs respônse în NepaL. The anaLysîs buîLt ôn these case studîes aîms tô create acïônabLe

the côndîïôns under whîch ôpen data îs môst (and Least) eecïve în the

deveLôpment prôcess – presented în the fôrm ôf a new Perîôdîc TabLe ôf Open

strategîes tô maxîmîze the pôsîïve côntrîbuïôns ôf ôpen data tô deveLôpment; and means fôr Lîmîïng ôpen data’s harms ôn deveLôpîng côuntrîes.

“An empîrîcaLLy grôunded assessment that heLps us môve beyônd the hype that greater access tô înfôrmaïôn can împrôve the Lîves ôf peôpLe and ôutLînes the enabLîng factôrs fôr ôpen data tô be Leveraged fôr deveLôpment.”—Anîa CaLderôn, Execuïve Dîrectôr, InternaïônaL Open Data Charter

“Thîs bôôk îs cômpuLsôry readîng fôr pracïïôners, researchers and decîsîôn-makers expLôrîng hôw tô harness ôpen data fôr achîevîng deveLôpment ôutcômes. In an întuîïve and cômpeLLîng way, ît prôvîdes vaLuabLe recômmendaïôns and crîïcaL relecïôns tô anyône wôrkîng tô share the beneits ôf an încreasîngLy netwôrked and data-drîven sôcîety.” —Fernandô Perînî, Côôrdînatôr ôf the Open Data fôr DeveLôpment (OD4D) Netwôrk, InternaïônaL DeveLôpment Research Centre, Canada

OPEN DATA IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES Open Data in Developing Economies Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How

Definition

U User Research

C Causes and Context

Rf Refinement

Bg Benefit and Goals

Da Data Audit and Inventory

Stefaan G. Verhulst & Andrew Young

Di Data Infrastructure

Pu Public Infrastructure

Lp Tech Literacy & Internet Penetration

Rb Cultural/ Institutional Roadblocks

Se Skills & Expertise

Fl Feedback Loops

Rs Resource Availability & Sustainability

M Performance Metrics

Rm Risk Mitigation

Od Open by Default

Fre Fi edom of Information

Dq Data Quality

R Responsiveness

Dh Data Holders

I Intermediaries

De Domain Experts

Co Collaborators

Pr Privacy Concerns

Ds Data Security

Dm Poor decision making due to faulty information

Pa Entrenching power asymmetries

Ow Open washing

Open Data in Developing Economies Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How

Stefaan G. Verhulst and Andrew Young

AFRICAN MINDS

Published in 2017 by African Minds 4 Eccleston Place, Somerset West, 7130, Cape Town, South Africa [e-mail] www.africanminds.org.za

2017

All contents of this document, unless specified otherwise, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Cover photograph: Doug Linstedt—Unsplash

ISBNs 978-1-928331-59-9 Print 978-1-928331-60-5 e-Book

Copies of this book are available for free download at www.africanminds.org.za

ORDERS For orders from Africa: African Minds Email: [e-mail]

For orders from outside Africa: African Books Collective PO Box 721, Oxford OX1 9EN, UK

Email: [e-mail]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations

Chapter 1

Introduction

PART I: OPEN DATA FOR DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

TheRelevanceofOpenDataforDevelopingEconomies TheImpactofOpenDataonDevelopingEconomies TheImpactofOpenDatainDevelopingEconomiesacrossSectors

PART II: CASE STUDIES

Open Data’s Impact on Improving Government Chapter 5 Burundi’s Open RBF Chapter 6 India’s ESMI Chapter 7 Open Development Cambodia Chapter 8 Uganda’s iParticipate

Open Data’s Impact on Empowering Citizens Chapter 9 GotToVote! Kenya Chapter 10 Tanzania’s Open Education Dashboards Chapter 11 South Africa’s Medicine Price Registry

Open Data’s Impact on Creating Opportunity Chapter 12 Aclímate Colombia Chapter 13 Ghana’s Esoko Chapter 14 Jamaica’s Interactive Community Mapping

Open Data’s Impact on Solving Public Problems Chapter 15 Nepal Earthquake Recovery Chapter 16 Paraguay’s Dengue Prediction

PART III: CONCLUSION Chapter 17 Leveraging Open Data as a New Asset for Development

Appendix A: Input Received

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iv v

1

7 16 43

64 78 96 109

126 138 152

170 191 206

226 248

263

272

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank our partners at USAID: Mark Cardwell, Samir Doshi, Priya Jaisinghani, Merrick Schaefer, Vivian Ranson, Josh Machleder, Brandon Pustejovsky, Subhashini Chandrasekharan; and at FHI 360: Hannah Skelly and Abdul Bari Farahi who provided essential guidance and input throughout the project. We would also like to acknowledge the great team responsible for the case study research that informs this book: Michael Canares and François van Schalkwyk from the Web Foundation; and Anirudh Dinesh, Auralice Graft, Juliet McMurren and Robert Montano at the GovLab. Editorial support for this book was provided by Akash Kapur and David Dembo. The members of our Advisory Committee were a great resource to the project for which we are grateful. Special thanks to the stakeholders we interviewed to gain on-the-ground and expert perspectives on the use of open data in developing economies, as well as the peer reviewers who provided input on a pre-published draft. Finally, we would also like to acknowledge our gratitude to African Minds, the publishers of this book whose mission to foster access, openness and debate exemplifies the core values behind open data, and thus provided the perfect setting to share our findings among a broader audience.

iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BBW BODI CIAT DFID EITI ELOG EOSDIS ESM ESMI EITI GODAN IDRC IEBC IMCO MERC MPR MPRApp NERC NGO OD4D ODC ODI OGP OSM PEG PHC PII RBF SDG TAP UNICEF USAID WOUGNET

Banana Bacterial Wilt Burkina Open Data Initiative International Center for Tropical Agriculture Department for International Development, United Kingdom Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Elections Observation Group Earth Observing System Data and Information System Electricity Supply Monitor Electricity Supply Monitoring Initiative Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative Global Open Data Initiative for Agriculture and Nutrition International Development Research Centre Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Kenya Mexican Institute for Competitiveness Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission Medicine Price Registry, South Africa Medicine Price Registry Application National Ebola Response Centre Non-Governmental Organization Open Data for Development Open Development Cambodia Open Data Institute Open Government Partnership Open Street Map Prayas Energy Group Primary Health Care Centre Personal Identifiable Information Results Based Financing Sustainable Development Goals Transparency, Accountability and informed Participation The United Nations Children’s Fund United States Agency for International Development Women of Uganda Network

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CHAPTER 1 Introduction

In 2009, the United States launched the data.gov portal. Since then there has been a rapid increase in the systematic opening of government data around 1 the world. The 2016 Open Data Barometer, published annually by the World Wide Web Foundation, found that 79 of the 115 countries surveyed had official open data initiatives, and many others indicated imminent plans to establish such initiatives. Similarly, as part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral network established in 2011, some 70 countries have now issued National Action Plans, the majority of which contain strong open data commitments designed to foster greater transparency, generate economic growth, empower citizens, fight corruption, and more generally enhance governance. Approximately half of these countries are from the developing 2 world, suggesting the uptake of open data is happening not only within economically advanced countries, but also in those less developed. All of this is part of a general move toward more transparent and innovative governance mechanisms, as emblematized by rising interest in notions of open government and open development. The growing enthusiasm for, and use of, open data in developing economies 3 leads to several questions about open data’s role in fostering development. Can open data bring about economic growth and social transformation? Can open data truly improve people’s lives in the developing world—and, if so, how and under what conditions? This book’s goal is to take stock of what is known about open data’s use and impacts in developing economies, and to distil a theory of change based on existing theory and practice that can inform future open data use and research. This book neither serves as a booster nor as a skeptic regarding the potential of open data in developing countries. Rather, it aims to sift through the evidence, draw out cross-cutting signals and insights from practice across developing economies when present, and start identifying

1 World Wide Web Foundation,Open Data Barometer, Fourth Edition, 2016, http://opendatabarometer.org/. 2 See Open Government Partnership website, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/, accessed November 30, 2016. 3 Andrew Young, Stefaan Verhulst and Juliet McMurren, “The GovLab Selected Readings on Open Data for Developing Economies,” August 1, 2016, http://thegovlab.org/open-data-for-developing-economies/.

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OPEN DATA IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

the conditions under which open data appears able to work best, as well as those conditions that impede its potential.

Methodology

To formulate answers to the above questions and devise a theory of change, the authors undertook an extensive research effort that comprised a desk review of existing literature and identification of dozens of active open data projects around the developing world. From among these projects, the research team selected 12 case studies based on geographic and sector relevance. Each case study included further document review and consultations and interviews with project stakeholders over the course of three months. The outputs of these efforts were reviewed and informed by an advisory group of open data for development experts and a group of open data peer reviewers. Throughout the book, examples from these case studies are employed to illuminate the real-world impacts of open data, when they exist, as well as the enabling and disabling conditions that play a role in determining whether such impact is positive, negative—or negligible. In developing a change theory and identifying meaningful answers to the above organizing research questions on the impact of open data, this book builds upon existing studies and analyses about the relationship between open 4 data and development.

Limitations

The primary objective of this research was to capture the universe of current narratives and evidence of open data for developing economies. We found that the literature remains largely focused on the potential of open data to bring about positive impacts. In many instances, the benefits of open data are celebrated despite little concrete evidence to prove that opening data has in fact created positive on-the-ground impacts at a meaningful scale. In addition, when evidence is being presented, little distinction is made between intent, implications, and impact. As such, this book does reflect the positive narrative provided by the literature on open data for developing economies, but does so to help identify a meaningful signal in the noise, and provide an analytical framework to enable others to build on our work and further crystallize the

4 See Appendix D online for an annotated selection of the key readings: http://odimpact.org/files/ odimpact-developing-economies-appendices.pdf.

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Chapter 1 – Introduction

true impacts and drivers of successful open data initiatives in developing economies. Our aim is to enable the field to move from ideology to evidence; we see this book as an initial step toward that end. Before considering the (variable) evidence, it is important to note that “developing economies” are not uniform or monolithic. Our analysis focuses particularly on low- and medium-income countries, spread primarily across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. We do believe that some of the examples and evidence presented could be helpful in informing discussions and efforts underway in other contexts and countries. But questions of replication and scalability are complex—particularly when considering technological interventions—and we make no claims that the lessons offered here are universal, or even universally applicable across the diversity of countries that could be classified as low or medium income. So, although this book seeks to provide a set of testable research-driven premises and useful recommendations for open data practitioners and funders working across the developing world, it remains essential to always consider a country’s local context and needs when seeking to replicate success stories or implement recommendations found in this book.

Book contents

In essence, the book seeks to answer the following key questions:

•

•

What makes open data uniquely relevant to developing economies? How can the impact of open data in developing economies be captured and evidence be developed? How can open data be leveraged as a new asset for development?

Toward that end the book begins, in Part I, by providing examining the use of open data for development. This includes a brief assessment on the theories and narratives of open data in development; a change theory and a logic model to capture and develop evidence on open data in developing economies; and an examination of open data’s impacts across various development sectors. In Part II, we present the 12 open data in developing countries case studies, organized according to the four different types of open data impacts. The book concludes in Part III with a set of key takeaways and recommendations for aid organizations, governments, private sector entities, and others that are considering replicating or using open data as an asset for development.

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