IODC18

This Session will highlight cross-border development, benefits and barriers of open data in Asia, including cross-ministerial, cross-border or even cross-disciplinary syndication among central/local governments or international collaboration.

This session will take stock of progress in Open Data for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), looking at what has worked and what has not worked, and what are the challenges to realizing its full potential. It will also look forward into the future usage of open data in EECA – how to break silos across society, sectors and data communities, address privacy and ethical concerns, and bring a human-centered approach to using open data.
The session will be organized into two main components:

• Overview of progress on Open Data for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and exploration of challenges that remain. 
• A Workshop activity to identify priority action areas for the community to collaborate on for the future of open data. 

Planned outputs include a ‘shopping list’ of priority areas for collaboration and a list of actors, organizations, and volunteers to help coordinate/mobilize data communities moving forward.

Open Data in Latin America and the Caribbean has shown notable gains during the last five years, and the achievements are numerous. More governments have advanced in the establishment of national open data policies, while the regional ecosystem has flourished, taking on joint agreements in the use of open data to combat violence against women and corruption, among others. Multiple Presidential mandates have placed open data at the top of the regional political agenda. Also, the Open Data Latin American Initiative (ILDA) and the Caribbean Open Institute (COI) had collaborated to support a great deal of progress in the two regions. Although it hasn’t been easy, perhaps the region is on the brink of even further growth on open data, given the level of readiness in multiple countries. In this session, we will first reflect on how the region was able to advance in light of the recent achievements, while on the other hand, analyze on how best to continue moving forward at a vibrant pace and consistency that embraces all countries.

Despite signs of progress in the open data movement in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, there are ongoing challenges in this region including vulnerability of open data initiatives to political tides, disconnect between national and subnational programs and low uptake of open data. This session will provide a forum for open data leaders to share best practices, report on notable progress, discuss cross cutting challenges, identify opportunities for collaboration and deliberate on the future of open data in the region. The session will feature lightning presentations and a workshop.

Objectives:

1. Raise awareness among participants of the open data initiatives currently being implemented.
2. Create a shortlist of priority areas the community can focus efforts on over the next 24 months.

Session Format:
The session is organized in three segments.

1. Segment A. 20 min – Overview of activities/initiatives currently being undertaken on the continent
2. Segment B. 50 min – Workshop activity to identify priority action areas for the community to collaborate for the next 24 months. Four groups shall be formed to address
   1. Health Data: Group facilitator – Winnie Kamau, Association of Freelance Journalists
   2. Gender Data: Group facilitator - Leonida Mutuku, AODN
   3. Education data: Group facilitator - Claude Migisha, LDRI Rwanda
   4. Agriculture data: Group facilitator – Muchiri Nyaggah, LDRI/AODN
   5. Contracting and Beneficial Ownership: – Hope Muli, Hivos East Africa

The groups shall explore three questions within the thematic area:

• What capacity gaps exist and need to be addressed in order to improve availability, quality and use of open data,
• What research is needed in order to inform and support advocacy, mobilization of resources and review of policy related to open data in African countries,
• What policy areas most need interventions for development objectives of African countries to benefit from availability, use and dissemination of open data.

3. Segment C. 20 min – Group leaders report back to plenary a summary of the proposals from their members.

Expected Outputs

1. A ‘shopping list’ of priority areas for collaboration within the four categories for each data community to inform the activity plan for 2018 to 2020.
2. A list of volunteers to help coordinate/mobilize the data communities along those areas over the activity plan period.

 
 

This session will look at recent regional initiatives related to Data Skills, Urban Development, Gender, and Policy which focus on sustainable development, with an emphasis placed on gender inclusivity and effective policy, from organizations spanning Palestine, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. Speakers and facilitators will aim to place these initiatives within the wider global conversation surrounding the production, management, and utilization of open data in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The session will then focus on facilitating discussions on a future open data agenda for the region at large with a strong focus on streamlining regional efforts and affecting sustainable impact across the region. 

Open government data has a long history in Europe. Emerging from policy debates to unlock public sector information, open data policies are nowadays implemented across most EU member states. Local and national governments publish data, and some cities experiment with open data training and engagement programs. Ecosystems have flourished too, with many civil society and advocacy groups shaping policy, setting agendas, but also providing capacity building. Whilst some of these groups have grown over the past years, others dismantled, or continued activities in government and private companies.
How has open data matured in Western Europe? What achievements can we celebrate around policy/law, infrastructure, and public uptake?  What are the most urgent actions to sustain commitment and spark engagement with open data in the future? This session provides a platform for government and the public sector, civil society, private sector, and academia to address these questions and to strengthen collaborations across countries.