[open-development] #OpenDataLDN Meetup #2: opendata within ICT4D

Sarah Johns sarah.johns at plan-international.org
Wed Oct 5 11:51:02 UTC 2011


Hi ­ just to clarify something in Mark¹s email ­ I haven¹t worked in Kibera!
Apologies to Mark as he sent the email around to the group before posting it
here, but I didn¹t pick it up in time.

The organisation I work for, Plan International, has worked with the Map
Kibera Trust on a couple of projects, including one in another informal
settlement in Mathare, Nairobi, and I was lucky enough to meet Jamie, one of
the Directors of MKT recently and have a chat about the project. Two very
good sources of stories about life in these settlements are:
http://matharevalley.wordpress.com/ and http://www.mapkibera.org/blog/

In addition to Mark¹s great notes on the group discussion, we talked about
the following in the ICT4D group:

1. It¹s extremely important to engage the intended users of the data, before
you build anything. Think about questions like: How do you ensure people
have a say in or lead initiatives which affect them? What info they need and
how they currently receive info? What does appropriate technology mean to
them? How will they give and receive feedback on the project? (Thanks Amy!)
This means working through/with local groups such as the Map Kibera Trust to
do this (funded) work. One of the groups of data users you might want to
look at is young entrepreneurs -  I¹m guessing they¹d be a good place to
start in terms of matching data to needs.
2. There¹s a lot of technical expertise with Nairobi in terms of app
development, so it would be ideal to get them connected into any project.
Here¹s one place to start. http://ihub.co.ke
3. In terms of development, many INGOs collect data within areas like
Kibera, often the same type of data. Working together on the collection and
sharing of data would be a good way to go (and ease the Œdata fatigue¹ of
local residents)! One example of the development of common standards for
data is the Water Information Sharing Project currently being developed by
Catholic Relief Services, World Vision and others ­ more info here
www.crsprogramquality.org/.../04%20ChrisSeremet_WISP_GIS.pptx

Personally speaking, I also think that opening up data does not create
development/change in itself. The Kenyan government is one of the first
developing countries to open up data, but people still need the skills to be
able to find and use the data, and the skills and the opportunity to be able
to advocate for change. So I feel it¹s important that a project like this is
not a stand-alone project, but also ties into/supports existing projects.

Happy to receive feedback/comments :o)

Sarah

-----
Sarah Johns, Publishing & Design Coordinator
Plan, International Headquarters, Woking, UK. GU21 6JG
plan-international.org @planglobal

Email: sarah.johns at plan-international.org    Tel: +44 (0) 1483 733 207
Skype: sarah.johns.plan
Twitter: @geogrr









http://plan-international.org/girls/get-involved/sign-the-petition.php
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