[open-development] Open Development Fellowship

[Cobi]

Hi Katelyn, 

thanks for sharing this - here are my thoughts on reading the proposal document and your update, based on what struck me most.

I think referring to "southern" ownership reflects European ownership of this project currently, and perpetuates assumptions about where is developed and where is developing. 
The latest maps of development indicators help illustrate this:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/
Brazil, for example, is north relative to Chile, likewise Indonesia to Australia. I would recommend removing language about north/south divide and replacing subjective directional language with language about the issues being addressed. An example would be changing  "building southern ownership of open development agenda" to something like "empowering people in developing places to lead open development". 

To see an example of the same agenda without geographical emphasis (with the exception of reference to the East-West Institute, further highlighting the quirks of geography-based agendas), you could check out: 
http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/about/

Replacing "Cambodia" with 'global' or 'as the world develops' gives a sense of how open development can be presented in a way that doesn't perpetuate the idea that Europe has the answers to the rest of the world's problems, which can alienate people from other continents. 

Perceptions that most poor people live in French-speaking Africa reflects European priorities. A visualization of data on the world's bottom billion shines light on this:
http://www.ids.ac.uk/project/the-new-bottom-billion
(re European aid priorities, see p3 http://www.bond.org.uk/data/files/EU_aid_facts.pdf)

It might be that there is less engagement with open ideas in Africa, justifying two fellows there. However it would be good to use the working groups' impressions as research questions to find out. Perhaps an aspect of research could be building an evidence base about where civil society and governments are engaging with open development philosophies, then deciding where fellows should be recruited based on gaps. 

I couldn't find info online about who received the bursaries to attend OKfest 2012 - perhaps making existing information open is a step that will help inform new proposals (or more accessible, if it's online but I couldn't find it). 

Given that OKFN is based in Europe and has established partnerships in certain countries, it's fair enough if these are the factors are used to make decisions. But it's important to be aware and transparent about whether decision-making is based on data or on personal networks and cultural assumptions. Self-awareness about this will ensure the group reflects the principles of open development we're aiming for. 

I hope no-one finds this too confronting and takes my thoughts in the constructive spirit intended :)

cheers, Cobi




On Oct 3, 2556 BE, at 6:38 PM, Katelyn Rogers wrote:

> Dear Colleagues, 
> 
> As many of you are already aware, the Open Development group began drafting a proposal to develop an Open Development Fellowship Scheme, based loosely on the Open Science Panton Fellows, early this year. 
> 
> At OKcon, I had the opportunity to meet with people interested in taking this idea forward. You can find the original proposal and the meeting recap here. 
> 
> New Developments (please provide feedback!) 
> Local Group Project Administration: While the Open Knowledge Foundation has been suggested as a suitable host organisation of the house for the fellowship scheme, ultimately we would like to see the project to be managed by one of our local groups. The Brazil local initiative is likely to be the best fit. What do others think about the project administration being carried by a local group? Would the Brazil local group be a suitable choice? 
> Research Questions: As Open Development is a emerging field of study, we discussed developing a few broad research questions to help define the scope of the fellowship. Is this a good idea? Would people be interested in participating in developing these questions. 
> Themes: I also thought that we could organise the fellowship around the themes that were developed by the group in Geneva. Would it make sense to organise the fellowship around one, or two, or all of these themes? 
> Open Development OKcon hosted by local group. Going forward, the OKcon conference model is one that we would like to see taken up and used by our local groups. The original proposal mentioned organising an event in the "south",where, presumably, the fellows could present their work as well as connect with the larger open development research community. Would an OKcon like event organised by an OKF local group be an a good option for such an event?
> Next Steps: 
> Gauging Interest: We were hoping to reach out to bursary recipients from OKfest 2012 to begin to gauge interest and get feedback from potential fellows. How else would you suggest gauging interest?
> Proposal - In order to draft the proposal we need to determine how we are going to select the fellows, how we are going to recruit the fellows, where the fellows should come from (more information in document). The input of the group on these points is warming welcomed! 
> Please get in touch if you are interested in helping to take this fellowship scheme proposal forward and I look forward to all of your comments!  
> 
> All the best,
> Katelyn  
> 
> 
> -- 
> Katelyn Rogers
> Working Groups Community Manager  | katelyn.rogers at okfn.org  | Skype: katelynjrogers
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> Empowering through Open Knowledge
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