Open ghana data journalism for improved maternal - sharing lessons 2-12-14

OPEN GHANA – DATA JOURNALISM FOR IMPROVED MATERNAL HEALTH DELIVERY1ST OCTOBER, 2013-1ST DECEMBER, 2014

LA PALM ROYAL BEACH HOTEL 2-3 DECEMBER 2014

OUR STORY

• Better advocacy is powered by evidence

• Open Ghana – Data Journalism For Improved Maternal Health Delivery

• Results and Achievements• Take-Away

DATA JOURNALISM

• Data journalism -data and number crunching to uncover, better explain and/or provide context

• It is about better stories driven by data

• Use of statistics, charts, graphs or infographics.

BabyLow Birth

Weight

ChildStunted

AdolescentStunted

WomanMalnourished

PregnancyLow Weight

Gain

ElderlyMalnourished

Highermortality rate

Impairedmental

developmentIncreased risk of

adult chronic disease

Untimely/inadequateweaning

FrequentInfections

Inadequatecatch upgrowth

Inadequatefood, health

& care

Reducedmental

capacity

Inadequatefood, health

& care

Reducedmental

capacity

Inadequatefetal

nutrition

Inadequatefood, health& care

Inadequatefood, health

& care

Highermaternalmortality

Reducedcapacityto care

for baby

Start here

• OPEN GHANA – DATA JOURNALISM FOR IMPROVED MATERNAL HEALTHDELIVERY

• Empowering the media to use data journalism as a tool for advocacy in monitoring efficient spending on maternal health at selected districts (Ho Municipal, Hohoe Municipal, Kpando South Dayi) Volta Region

• Primary target : 15 Journalists while reaching out to CSOs, local government, health system and citizens as a whole.

• Oct 2013 to November 2014

KEY OBJECTIVES

• To empower the media to use the techniques of data journalism to advocate for better maternal health delivery.

• To provide a platform for the media and CSOs to hold responsive agencies and structures accountable in delivering improved Maternal Health.

BUILDING BLOCKS • Training of selected Journalists

on Data Journalism• Stakeholder forum as means of

enhancing interaction and cultivating sources within them.

• Media outreach activities to whip up society attention on the salient issues affecting Maternal Health care.

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BUILDING BLOCKS

• Hackathon: - “amatsi” story builder and ATIKE.io; A mobile web platform focused on the generation of infographics to support data-driven stories in Ghana.

• amatsi.org : news source and maternal health data repository

• SMS alerts • Media outreach activities to whip up

society attention on the salient issues affecting Maternal Health care.

KEY OUTCOME

An innovative, interactive open data platform facilitating information and knowledge sharing among activists for effective and efficient advocacy on better health infrastructure delivery.

HACKATHON picture/video

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AMATSI SCREEN SHOT

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ACHIEVEMENT/IMPACT

• 15 journalists provided with data driven stories writing skills

• Facilitated media, CSOs, districts, traditional leaders and health officials dialogue

• Generated a number of stories highlighting key maternal advocacy issues

• Increased Citizens’ maternal health awareness through better visualisation

• Citizens empowered to seek answers of duty bearers via forums and during media engagements.

PICTURE

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CHALLENGES• Fear of how journalists will interpret data which

will paint policy makers in a bad light leads to difficulties in accessing data

• Lack of investment by key stakeholders including district assemblies, health delivery system and CSOs in data collection and management

• Paper based storage of data which makes it difficult to use

• Data Journalism is hard work and some journalists are not ready to make this serious commitment

• Data journalism is still a novelty in most newsrooms

• insufficient awareness of the value of open data concept .

•

TAKE AWAY• Data journalism skills development is a

long process, short nature of this project makes it difficult for journalists to grasp all the fundamentals

• Stakeholders found the use of data driven approach better for advocacy.

• Open Government process is still taking baby steps

• Without sustained investment by both local and central government in making data accessible, using evidence approach to advocacy is nearly impossible

• Mashing up data journalism with traditional media outreach and face to face forum lead to better results

THANK YOU info@penplusbytes.org

@penplusbytes

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