Wageningen,2017-06-27

Creating Impact with Open Data and the importance of context

Rob Lokers, GODAN Action

Outline• GODANActionapproach&activities• ImpactevaluationofODinitiatives• Theroleofcontext&environment• Examplesfromopenweatherdata

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GODAN Action - ActivitiesEnablingeffectiveuseofopendatabybuildingthecapacityofstakeholderstounderstandthepotentialofopendataforagriculture&nutritionandtoengagewithitpractically

• Improvedinteroperabilityofdata throughprovidingimprovedstandardsandinnovativeservices.

• byprovidingexamplesofimprovedtoolsforimpactassessment,aswellasbyanalysingbarriersthathinderthefullpotentialofopendatainitiativesandinvestments

• Thedevelopmentoftailoredtrainingcourseswillincreasethecapacityofstakeholders onhowtouseandhandleopendata

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Open data as a solutionGODANActionworksalongthematictopics• tofocusondomainsandtopicsofhighrelevance• toworkondomainswheretheimpactofopendatais

foreseentobesubstantial• toputresearchintopracticeandachieveimpact

• Climateandweatherdata: Opendataasacatalystforbusinessdevelopmentandcapacitydevelopment

• Supporttolanddatasharing:Localizationandcontextualizedofrelevantshareddatasetstospecificconditions

• Nutritiondata: DatainteroperabilityfornutritionandwithrespecttotheGlobalNutritionReport

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GODAN Action – Approach to Impact

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GODAN Action - Impact Evaluation

• Developing methods for impactevaluation– based onexisting knowledge base– adapted to be applied to initiatives that engage with opendata– adapted to be applied inspecific application domains– taking into accountlocal boundary conditions

• Apply and testmethods– Overinitiatives inGODANActionthematic topics

Methods for impact evaluationExistingmethods:• TheSunlightFoundation’sreportonthesocialimpactofOD (Keseru and

Chan,2015)• The CommonAssessmentFrameworkonOD• DaviesandPerini’s(2016)revisedconceptualframeworkfortheOpen

DatainDevelopingCountries(ODDC)program.

• Allmethodsareaimedatevaluationafterexecutionoflargerinitiatives• Theyhavedifferentperspectives(e.g.socialaspects,technicalaspects)• Theytendtofocusonthegovernmentlevel(transparency,

accountabilityetc.)

Sohowaboutassessing(potential)impactintheearlierstagesofaprojectandtheroleofrelativelysmallscaleprojects?

Methods for impact evaluation• Itisdifficulttoattributetheroleofopendataanditsshareintotal

impactofinterventions• Postprojectevaluationsarevaluable,especiallyasalearningsource• However,

– Theyareusuallyquitedemanding– Budgetsandintrinsicmotivationaregenerallyloweratoraftertheclosureoftheproject– Itdoesnotofferwaystoestablishpreferentialconditionsforinterventionswithopendata– Itdoesnotprovidemeanstomonitorandpro-activelysteertowardshigherimpacts

• Existingevaluationmethodstargetrelativelylargeandbroadinitiatives– Global/regionalinsteadofnational/local– Targetingthebroadersociety,economyratherthanspecificdomains(likeagriculture)

• Methodstendtooverseespecificaspects– E.g.innovation,businessdevelopment

Sohowaboutassessing(potential)impactintheearlierstagesofaprojectandtheroleofrelativelysmallscaleanddomainspecificprojects?

Methods for impact evaluationContextiscrucialtoassessthepotentialimpactofopendatainitiatives• Favorablepolicyenvironment

– politicalwillandcommitmentinsupportingtransparencyandopendata– Legalframework:clearrulesandlegislation

• Skilledstakeholders– Technicalskills– Communicationalskills– Economicskills,e.g.knowledgeofODbusinessmodels– “E-readiness”

• Technicalenvironment– AccesstoICTfordataproviders,intermediaries,endusers

• Economicenvironment– Generalbusinessclimate– Co-developmentopportunities(e.g.PPP’s)– Innovationcapacity

Achieving impact through open weather data

“Accesstoweatherdataisastrategicassettofarmers”

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• Weatherpatternsarechanging,growingseasonsgetlesspredictable• Higherriskprofilesforfarmingandfoodproduction• Knowingaboutweatherforecasts,weatherpatternsiskeyfor

optimizingfarmmanagementandfarmadvisoryservices– Securingandimprovingyieldsandincome– Accesstoresourcesandcapital– Localandregionalfoodsecurity

• Co-creatione.g.betweenfarmerorganisations,businessandgovernment

Achieving impact through open weather data

Focusoninformationandserviceintermediaries

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• Createaddedvaluebycombiningagronomicknowledgewithcapacitiesindataprocessingandserviceprovision

• Workdirectlywithfarmersorindirectlythroughfarmerorganisations,microfinanceandinsuranceprovidersetc.

• Capacitybuildingonopendata,knowledgeofandaccessto(open)weatherdata,interoperabilityissues,goodpracticescreatesnewopportunities

• Storiesofimpactmightmotivatenationalgovernmentsandweatherservicestobemoreopen

Example – NOAA

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• OpenweatherdataportalofUnitedStatesNationalOceanicandAtmosphericAdministration(NOAA)

• significantlyloweredtheeconomicandhumancostsofweather-relateddamage

– moreaccurateforecasts– developmentofamulti-billion-dollarweatherderivativesfinancialindustry– million-dollarindustryoftoolsandapplicationsderivedfromNOAA’sreal-timedata

• Businessmodel:openingupthedataleadstosocial,economicandpoliticalbenefitsexceedingthecostsofprovidingthedata.

• Impactforagriculture– hasbenefitedU.S.agriculturebyover$460millionbyhelpingguideplantingdecisionsinEl

Niño,normalandLaNiñayears– createdvaluethroughtheweather-relatedindustry,e.g.ClimateCorporation(“weather

insurance”)wassoldin2013toMonsantofor$930million

• Andamultitudeofbenefitsoverothersectors– estimatedtoprovide$31.5billioninbenefits,against$5.1billioncostsforgeneratingforecasts

Example – NOAA - Context

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• Policyenvironment– Broadrecognitionofthebenefitsofopenweatherdata(government,policy

makers,business,investors)– Nomajorlegislativebarrierstoexploitingopenweatherdata

• Skilledstakeholders– LargeecosystemofICTserviceproviders

• Technicalenvironment– BroadavailabilityofICT(hardware,servicesetc.)– Infrastructureforbusinessandendusers

• Economicenvironment– Multitudeofavailablebusinessmodels– Noacquisitioncostsforcoredatasets– Willinginvestors– Highinnovationcapacity

Example – weather based services in Ethiopia

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• Developingaplatformofspecializedinformationservices– cropmonitoring,yieldforecastingforsmallholderfarmers– loanportfoliomonitoringandriskassessmentforMFIs– generateinformationsupportinggovernmentindecisionmakingforpolicy,planning,extension

• Targetedusers– farmers,farmerunionsandcooperatives– agroindustry,financialinstitutions(micro-financeandmicroinsurance institutions)– Ethiopian government

• Opendata– CHIRPSrainfallarchive(open)– ECMWFhistoricalarchiveandforecasts(paidservice)

• Businessmodel– basedonalicensemodel.Farmersunionsandotheruserswillpayannualfeestoaccessthe

services

• Impacts(foreseen)– Totalnumberofindividualfarmersmakinguseoftheservice>200.000(female>50%)– Totalnumberoffarmersintermediariesmakinguseoftheservice>50%– Improvementofcropproductivity:potatoes200-300%,sesame10%– Increasednumberofmicrofinanceandmicroinsurance customers40.000

Example – weather based services in Bangladesh

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• Developingaplatformofspecializedinformationservicestoprovidefarmerswith

– weatherrelatedinformation– adviceontheusageofseeds,landpreparation,sowing,transplanting,irrigation,fertilizersand

agrochemicals– adviceonpreventiveandremedialmeasuresforcontrollingpestanddiseases.

• Targetedusers– farmers(bothsmallandlargescalefarmers)in14districtsofBangladesh– agriculturalresearchersanduniversitystudents

• Opendata– NOAA,historicalarchiveandforecasts(open)

• Businessmodel- achieveaneconomicallyviableservice– feeforaphonecalltoacustomeradvisor,extensionofficer orinteractivevoiceresponse– subscriptiontotextmessages,automatedoutboundcalls,web-basedapplication.

• Impacts(foreseen)– Enroll330,000farmersasuserswithin3years– These330,000farmerswillgenerate10%savingsintheircultivationpractices– Developmentofaneconomicallyviableservicetowardstheendoftheproject

Example – weather based services in Ethiopia and Bangladesh - Context

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• Policyenvironment– Non-existingorimmaturepolicyonopendata– Weatherdataasastrategic,sensitivedatasource(crisismanagement,aviation,national

securityissues)– Restrictionsonuse,protectivebehavior

• Skilledstakeholders– Awarenessofopendataingeneralisstilldeveloping– Notallstakeholders(e.g.serviceproviders)havethecapacitiestoworkwith(open)weather

data

• Opendata– Localized(open)weatherdataisgenerallyscarceormissing

• Technicalenvironment– LevelofaccesstoICT’svaries– Infrastructurebarriersstillexcludebroaddeploymentofspecificservices

• Economicenvironment– NoknowledgeonandexperiencewithODbusinessmodels– PPP’ssometimesdifficulttoestablish,especiallyforsmall/mediumsizedenterprises

Conclusions

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• Contextiscrucialtoachieveimpactwithopendata• Existingimpactevaluationfocussesonpost-project

impactevaluation– Determiningif(andwhy?)thingswentwellornot– Asalearningmechanism

• There’saneedforearlystageassessmenttobeableto

– Knowandunderstandtheenablingenvironmentforopendata– Beabletodetermineopportunities,barriersandrealisticoutcomesand

impacts– Bepro-activethroughmonitoringandmitigation

www.godan.info/godan-action

rob.lokers@wur.nl @wurcgi