http://www.opendata.go.ke
Kenya Open Data Initiative
Michael Morris, Department for International Development
GSS Methodology Symposium, 27 June 2012
Kenya Open Data Portal
Kenya Open Data Initiative
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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… 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?
Public users
Public Users
Commercial Companies/ Enterprises
Commercial Companies/ Enterprises
Students & Academics
Students & Academics
Press & Other Media
Political Parties & Organisations
Press & Other Media
Political Parties & Organisations
Government &
Public Admin
Source: European Statistical Data Support (ESDS) user classification
Government &
Public Admin
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
 Link KNBS and Open Data websites –
important for the dissemination of official
increase the visibility and use of official
statistics.
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:
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maintain the link between the sites with the
newest data
ensure datasets are in useable, machinereadable formats.
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
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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.
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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!