Rwanda has most available govt open data in Africa – report

The Global Open Data Index 2015 shows that Rwanda has the most available government open data in Africa, after the country moved 30 places up the rankings ,from 74th in 2014 to 44th in 2015. The Global Open Data Index, which shows a decline in overall percentage of open datasets, is the result of civil society collaboration to track the state of open data in countries and places around the world. The tool is used by governments to set their open data priorities and by civil society actors as an advocacy mechanism to encourage governments to improve their performance in releasing key datasets. ‘Open knowledge’ is defined as any content, information or data that people are free to use, re-use and redistribute — without any legal, technological or social restriction. The key features of openness are: availability and access; reuse and redistribution; and universal participation. According to Open Knowledge, a worldwide non-profit network of people passionate about openness, the data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must be provided under terms that permit reuse and redistribution, including the intermixing with other datasets. Regarding universal participation, Open Knowledge says everyone must be able to use, reuse and redistribute data — there should be no discrimination against fields of endeavour or against persons or groups. Rwanda’s notable ranking comes at a time when the open data conversation is gathering pace in the country. The announcement also comes as the Ministry of Youth and ICT is conducting a public consultation on a draft national open data policy which is due to be presented to the Cabinet in 2016. Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the Minister for Youth and ICT, says open data policy is designed to address the demand side. In an interview with The New Times, yesterday, the minister said a number of actions had been identified through an open data assessment. “They are in several categories, spanning policy, legal and regulatory frameworks; increasing and streamlining the supply of open data, activating the demand side, increasing data literacy and usage,” Minister Nsengimana said. National statistics, location data, election results and companies data are some of the key datasets available for businesses and citizens to use and reuse to generate new opportunities in Rwanda. As Rwanda’s Cabinet prepares to debate the draft national open data policy early 2016, the authors of the latest report indicate that the focus over the next year should move from the supply of data to stimulating demand and encouraging use of open data. The new index found that 38 per cent of available Rwandan data is open and there are opportunities for Rwanda to make more information available like detailed government spending data, environmental monitoring data and up-to-date national maps. Stephen Abbott Pugh, co-founder of Rwandan technology company Tumenye Digital Ltd, who helped collect details of Rwanda’s open data for the index, said it is “fantastic to see how much data Rwanda has already made available for anyone to use.” Pugh added: “I hope that Rwanda will build on this strong performance to make even more data available in open formats to generate new business opportunities in the country and help achieve the Vision 2020 goals.” Pavel Richter, CEO at Open Knowledge International, said: “It should be a priority for all governments to publish relevant data timely and openly, so that it can be used by anyone for any purpose. This is crucial for citizens and organisations to be able to hold governments to account and to innovate.” While there is a lot of enthusiasm within governments for open data, Pavel said, the Global Open Data Index 2015 shows that this enthusiasm does not sufficiently translate into meaningful action. “Key data is still not being released to the standard that is required. We call upon governments to evaluate their priorities and make sure they publish the data that their citizens need.” Open Knowledge International notes that progress remains slow for most governments, who are still not providing key information in accessible formats to be used, without restriction, by their citizens, civil societies, journalists and businesses. For example, overall, even as there was meaningful improvement in the number of open datasets (from 124 to 154), the percentage of open datasets across all the surveyed countries fell from 11 per cent in 2014 to 9 per cent in 2015. Furthermore, as the scope of the Index increased significantly, surveying 122 rather than 97 countries across 13 rather than 10 dataset categories, it is clear that little progress has been made at the global level. Taiwan topped the Index for the first time this year becoming the first non-European country to get a place in the top three. The UK fell to second place for the first time in this year’s ranking with an overall score of 76 per cent, down from 96 per cent last year. This year’s fall in score is largely due to the 2015 dataset definitions in categories such as election results, requiring more granular data and the inclusion of data on water quality and land ownership, both of which are closed in the UK. Taiwan and UK are followed by Denmark, Colombia, Finland, Australia, Uruguay, United States, Netherlands, Norway, France, Brazil, Romania, and Mexico, respectively. Of the 122 countries assessed, Rwanda which ties with Israel and Puerto Rico in 44th, is the only African country in the top 50, with South Africa, the second on the continent, coming at 54, followed by Senegal and Burkina Faso, both tying at 58. Kenya is at 71, Tanzania at 90 and Ethiopia at 106. The Index ranks countries based on the availability and accessibility of data in 13 key categories, including government spending, election results, procurement, and pollution levels.

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Rwanda has most available govt open data in Africa – report