Kenya Open Data Initiative

Michael Morris, Department for International Development

GSS Methodology Symposium, 27 June 2012

http://www.opendata.go.ke

Kenya Open Data Portal

Kenya Open Data Initiative

• Background to the Initiative• Open data content and uses• Access• Challenges and opportunities• Conclusions

Kenya Open Data Initiative

Article 35 of the Constitution

1)“Every citizen has the right of access to information held by the State” …

3)“The state shall publish and publicise any important information affecting the nation.”

Source: The constitution of Kenya, Chapter 4 - The Bill of Rights, August 2010

Kenya Open Data Initiative

• Launched by His Excellency Mwai Kibaki, the President of Kenya on 8th of July 2011.

• A great deal of media attention followed, both in Kenya and internationally (New York Times, etc) – now other countries look to Kenya as a regional leader on Open Data!

• Media attention has continued since with regular articles in leading newspapers on the numbers in the portal (Business Daily).

Open Data - Available Information

• Data are organised in ten categories : from Environment and Natural Resources, National Accounts and Inflation to Financial Sector, Health Sector and Justice.

• Censuses 1989, 1999, 2009• 2005/06 household poverty survey

data• Education and health facilities (GIS)• Sector data• District and County level fact sheets• Public expenditures data

*Users can register desired dataset for GoK to respond to demand!

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics supply 63% of primary data sets

Open Data – County Data

Open Data – ‘Mashing’ up the data

• Virtual Kenya Team app – MPs who refuse to pay taxes by constituency

Open Data - Usage

Open Data is being used in innovative ways:•Kenya Public Expenditure Portal: Review spending of Constituency Development Funds at county level•Virtual Kenya: Visualization of MPs who are willing/unwilling to pay their taxes•Google Public Data Explorer: Trends in government expenditure for social spending, physical infrastructure, and other spending.•Huduma: Fix my constituency platform for citizens to demand social services from government

Open Data - Users Request Additional Datasets• CDF Data: “Could you please provide a complete dataset of all

counties following such a dataset: http://t.co/CYOLmin.”• Information on roads: “I wish to see data on expenditure on roads

in all the counties. What amounts have been set by the Ministry of Roads, and the agencies under it.”

• Land Titles: “Data on all land titles and allocations in Kenya. We can then develop an interface to query the land status before commencing transactions.”

• Companies Registry: “Please put the companies registry online so that one does not need to wait 3 days just for the name search when trying to register a new business.”

• Voters Registry: “Will be happy to access the whole country voters' register for education, political and economic analysis and sharing.”

• Agriculture: “Agricultural production of main crops, exports of the crops over the years.”

Open Data - Usage

Since launched in July 2011 the Open Data Portal has registered 47,000 views

140 hits a day on

average.

Challenges on Open Data –Access

• But access to the internet in Kenya is only for those who can afford it.

80% of internet access is in Nairobi, the wealthiest area.< 1% in the North Eastern area, the poorest.

Challenges on Open Data – Access (cont’d)

• … and the majority of the population are excluded, mainly in rural areas.

More than 80% of the population have less than 10% Internet access.

Challenges on Open Data – Access (cont’d)

Internet access rising Mobile phone ownership rising

Open Data – implication for users

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) users

KNBS and Open Data users?

Government & Public Admin

Political Parties & OrganisationsPress & Other Media

Students & Academics

Commercial Companies/ Enterprises

Public Users

Government & Public Admin

Political Parties & Organisations

Press & Other Media

Students & Academics

Commercial Companies/ Enterprises

Public users

Source: European Statistical Data Support (ESDS) user classification

Open Data – key challenges

• What is the future relationship between KNBS and www.opendata.go.ke ?

• How much control should KNBS seek to maintain over their data ?

• To what extent should KNBS and other ministries seek to use Kenya’s tech community to disseminate their statistics?

What is the future relationship between KNBS and Open data?

Issues Opportunities KNBS and Open Data are both

important for the dissemination of official statistics.

Link KNBS and Open Data websites – increase the visibility and use of official statistics.

Open data contains a broader range of Government held datasets– provides the user with access to public data.

Increased transparency & accountability of Government, and the “Right to Data” for the public.

Where is the institutional home?

Systems /resources are needed to keep feeding Open Data with the latest data.

Dedicate resources for Open Data to:1. maintain the link between the sites with the

newest data2. ensure datasets are in useable, machine-

readable formats.3. improve metadata on existing/new data sets.

How much control should KNBS seek to maintain over its data?

Issues Opportunities Culture of holding on to the data in

KNBS and line ministries Release data to increase transparency

and perceived trustworthiness of data. Minimise risk of misuse by providing

meta data and support.

Demand for in-depth or bespoke analysis increasing

Release data to reduce demand for secondary analysis , the development of apps, “mashups”, and other innovations.

No Open Data standards and policy Ensure data comply with confidentiality considerations of personal and business data, under the Statistics Act 2006

Apply International Standards on Open Data

Establish guidelines in an Open Data Policy for releasing data.

To what extent should KNBS and other ministries seek to use Kenya’s tech community to disseminate their statistics?

Issues Opportunities Rising user expectation for data

presented in a clear, understandable and visual way

Straightforward summary tables and findings are still very important and needed.

Improve website functionality and useability of data.

Commission the expertise of third parties to make more use of and raise the profile of official statistics

Rising demand to make meaning, create knowledge, trigger civic actions, and enable social change with available data

Provide the metadata and support, but let the statistics speak for themselves.

Open Data – Some conclusions

• Kenya’s new constitution and Presidential backing enabled Open Data to happen quickly.

• Donor support was also important in making it happen. • Open Data provides a detailed window into Government services and public

expenditure, and a resource to create user-friendly and relevant applications that will benefit Kenyans

• With a low proportion of people connected to the internet in Kenya, will a digital platform for government data make info more accessible?

• KNBS data is an important subset of Open Data – it needs to maintain the integrity and quality of official statistics and view Open Data as an opportunity.

• Open Data creates an increasing demand for analysis, visualisation and reuse of data – which means

partnership working between KNBS and the IT and Social Media communities.Changes in practice over the supply of micro-data and associated metadata.

• Open Data development came first, standards and guidelines expected to follow afterwards.

How the newly accessible datasets will effect the relationship between Kenyans and their government is certainly something to watch!