Summary
- Project: Ghana Open Data Initiative (GODI)
- Summary: Support the Government of Ghana to create a locally sustainable long-term Open Data Initiative.
- Partners: Web Foundation, National Information and Technology Agency (NITA), and the cooperation of many organizations within the country.
- Status: January 2012 through December 2013.
- Funding: The project originated from discussions started during the feasibility study and is funded by NITA.
In August 2010, the Web Foundation started a project to conduct an assessment of the feasibility and potential of establishing an Open Data Initiative (ODI) in two countries: Ghana and Chile. The feasibility reports were published in draft form in February 2011 and open for comments for several weeks. The final versions were published in May 2011.
The Ministry of Communications through the National Information and Technology Agency (NITA) engaged the Web Foundation over the following few months in discussions over the feasibility report and its recommendations. In the meantime, the roll-out of the eGovernment Network Infrastructure (GovNET) across the 10 regions in Ghana was completed. With the GovNET in place, data collection and dissemination by Ministries, Departments and Agencies will be easier and will spark of innovation and development with reuse of data so disseminated.
In January 2012, NITA invited the Web Foundation to Accra, to hold brainstorming meetings, a meeting with stakeholders, and kick-start the project in Accra.
Approach
The Web Foundation will support NITA in 2012-2013 to perform the following actions:
- Development of an Open Data strategy for the Government of Ghana taking into account the three layers of actors (political, public administration and civil society) and six dimensions of Open Data (political, legal, organizational, technical, social and economic). The strategy will include:
- Public policy guidelines
- Data collection guidelines
- Data copyright and licensing guidelines
- Dataset publication process/Open Data methods
- GODI Secretariat/Steering Committee guidelines
- Public-Private focus groups guidelines
- Establishment of an Open Data community
- Intra and extra-government community building and outreach
- One-time events and regular events (workshops, bootcamps, barcamps, contests…)
- Collaborative online tools
- Setup, development and deployment of an Open Data platform (Web site)
- Requirements and standards
- Implementation
- Validation
- Monitoring and Evaluation of the GODI
- Methodology
- Impact assessment
- Tools
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcome of this project is the establishment of a sustainable Open Data ecosystem in Ghana that will serve as a shining example for others to replicate.
Status
The final results are expected by December 2013 but the project will follow an ongoing delivery, monitoring and evaluation process.
Project Partners
National Information and Technology Agency (NITA)
Funding Partners
National Information and Technology Agency (NITA)
