INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF KENYA’S OPEN DATA INITIATIVE ON MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES: CASE STUDY OF URBAN SLUMS AND RURAL SETTLEMENTS

ODDC NETWORK MEETING: APRIL 24 – 26, 2013, LONDON

Presentation by: Zacharia Chiliswa, Programmes CoordinatorJESUIT HAKIMANI CENTRE, NAIROBI KENYA

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NATIONAL CONTEXT: POLITICAL• Kenya is celebrating 50 years of independence: So far three

political transitions: 1978, 2002 and 2013 – 1990’s clamor for multiparty democracy and constitutional reform

were meant to constrain political power as exercised by the executive and other public institutions.

• New constitution in 2010 after the 2007/08 political turmoil.– Kenya continues to grapple with challenges posed by weak political

institutions, social inequalities and weak constrains on executive power, impunity and ethnicity.

– Elections every five years characterised by odds of uncertainty and turmoil.

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NATIONAL CONTEXT: ECONOMIC• Noticeable economic decline after the early years of stable

growth post-independence up to 1980. Poverty incidence now stands at 45.9% (The World Bank, 2011).

• Kenya ranks as one of the ten most unequal countries in the world, and the five most unequal in Africa: the richest 10% of Kenya’s households control more than 42% of the country’s total income.– However, there has been marked growth in some sectors of economy

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NATIONAL CONTEXT: SOCIAL• In the last ten years there has been widening political space

for the media and civil society.– However, Freedom House 2013 indicates that Kenya is among Sub

Saharan countries that have experienced decline in civil and political freedom.

• There has also been growth in many sectors of the economy, particularly, the ICT sector– Kenya now has over 30 million mobile phone subscribers and 16.2

million internet users (Communication Commission of Kenya)– The bulk of internet users access through their mobile handsets:

mobile phones have their limitations when it comes to data access and reuse.

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NATIONAL CONTEXT: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

• New constitution promulgated in 2010 & fully operational after March 4th, 2013 general elections. – New constitution devolves political, fiscal and administrative powers

to the 47 counties - and with it the question of transparency and accountability is inevitable.

– Access to information and citizen participation in governance processes in Kenya are constitutional requirements: through Article 1 giving sovereign power to the people of Kenya, and article 34 giving the freedom to information.

• But, – what datasets have potential to improve citizen engagement with

government? – How do the public participate in governance processes? – What is the quality of their participation and with what impact?

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THIS STUDY

• This study seeks to track impacts in lives of people in marginalized sectors of the Kenyan society. – Drawing on the Barcelona Declaration on The Critical Role of Public

Service in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals that recommends that, in order to improve transparency and accountability, governments should promote wider use of information, communication and technology to simplify and reduce the cost of processes and foster broader access. It recognizes that public decision-making processes should be transparent, accountable and participatory.

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THE KENYA OPEN DATA INITIATIVE• On July 8, 2011 President Mwai Kibaki launched the Kenya

Open Data initiative– Kenya was the second African country after Morocco to make

government data freely available on a public portal, www.opendata.go.ke. The portal is an attempt by the government release data on budget, revenue collection and expenditure, healthcare, justice and education.

• The goal of the Initiative is to make core government development, demographic, statistical and expenditure data available in a useful digital format for researchers, policymakers, ICT developers and the general public.

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THE DATA IN FOCUS• This project is focused specifically on datasets that

potentially improve citizens’ knowledge of the governance processes and access to services.

• Datasets that will be analyzed include:– Per capita county expenditures, Per capita local authority expenditures– Health facilities, Health spending per capita, by county– Kenya secondary schools, Constituency Development Fund (2003-

2010)

• We will investigate the usefulness of this information in its raw data form and whether communities are benefitting from these datasets.

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ASSESSING OPEN DATA SUPPLY TOOL – Does the data exist: Yes– Is it available online (from government) in any digital form? Yes– Is the dataset provided in machine readable formats? Yes– Is the machine readable data available in bulk? Yes– Is the dataset available free of charge? Yes– Is the data openly licensed? Yes, Creative Commons Attribution license– Is the dataset up to date? Difficult to judge. Some fields are up to date,

but much of the data is based on past census, which could be considered dated

– Is the publication of this dataset sustainable? Yes, except for the risk of political shifts which could change the emphasis on open data

– Was it easy to find information on this dataset? Yes– Are linked data URLs provided for key elements in the dataset? No

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THE GOVERNANCE ISSUES OF THE STUDY• How is Government’s open data helping marginalized groups

and communities to have better access to services such as education and healthcare?– Are people aware of the Open Data Initiative in marginalized

communities?– How are people using the data?– Has the Open Data Initiative improved government service delivery to the

marginalized urban and rural communities? If so, how has this occurred?– What access models to open data have emerged?– What are people mostly looking for in the open portal?– What trends are emerging in the open data initiative?– How will this influence the policy directions on open data initiatives in

other sectors?

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Thank You! Ahsante!

Jesuit Hakimani CentreP.O. Box 21399 – 00505, Nairobi

Kenyawww.jesuithakimani.net

programmes@jesuithakimani.org