A presentation on Code4Africa Initiative made at Hacks/Hackers Buenos Aires Media Party 2013

1. Building
Demand-­‐driven
&
Ci2zen-­‐focused
Open
Data
Ecosystems
Thursday, August 29, 13

2. Thursday, August 29, 13

3. Thursday, August 29, 13

4. “We
are
not
ge+ng
data
from
organiza1ons
because
they
claim
to
own
it,
even
those
that
have
collected
the
data
using
taxpayers’
money.
We
are
working
on
a
Cabinet
memo
that
would
legally
oblige
these
ministries
and
government
agencies
to
provide
data”
-­‐
Dr.
Bitange
Ndemo
(Former)
Permanent
Secretary
Ministry
of
Informa1on
and
Communica1ons
Thursday, August 29, 13

5. http://Code-Africa.org
civ·ic /ˈsivik/ Adjective
1. Of or relating to a city or town, esp. its administration; municipal.
2. Of or relating to the duties or activities of people in relation to their town, city, or local area.
We
are
guided
by
the
2nd
defini1on.
We
are
a
grassroots-­‐driven
and
demand-­‐focused
movement
that
seeks
to
build
ac2ve
ci2zenry
by
strengthening
civic
watchdogs
and
crea1ng
new
avenues
for
civic
engagement
to
help
shape
bePer
public
governance
&
public
services.
Thursday, August 29, 13

6. Ci2zen
focused:
We
empower
mass
mobilisa2on
agents,
such
as
ci2zen
movements
and
the
media,
to
give
ordinary
ci1zens
access
to
data,
tools,
and
skills
for
real
civic
engagement.
Image
©
hPp://www.flickr.com/photos/microlinks/
Thursday, August 29, 13

7. Demand
driven:
Open
data
needs
to
be
more
than
just
rhetoric.
It
needs
to
answer
the
real-­‐world
challenges
facing
ci1zens.
And,
it
needs
to
be
underpinned
by
a
data
economy.
Image
©
hPp://www.flickr.com/photos/albanyassociates/
Thursday, August 29, 13

8. Outcomes
based:
We
aim
for
'outcomes'
not
just
'outputs'.
Our
metric
for
success
is
meaningful
impact,
that
creates
las2ng
change
through
ci1zen
agency.
We
also
aim
for
scalability
and/or
replica2on
in
all
our
ini1a1ves.
Image
©
hPp://www.flickr.com/photos/ilri/
Thursday, August 29, 13

9. Pipeline
strategy:
To
build
a
self-­‐sustaining
ecosystem,
you
need
cataly2c
mechanisms
that
support
the
germina2on
and
growth
of
open
data
champions.
Our
'pipeline'
strategy
uses
a
modular
approach
to
provide
incremental
access
to
resources,
skills,
support
systems,
and
various
accelera2on
mechanisms.
Thursday, August 29, 13

10. 1
-­‐
Partnerships:
We're
building
a
demand-­‐driven
eco-­‐system
of
data
creators
+
curators
and
data
analysts
+
narrators,
partnered
with
grassroots
ci1zen
movements.
Thursday, August 29, 13

11. 2
-­‐
Data
Literacy
Skills:
We
host
data
literacy
bootcamps
and
masterclasses,
develop
course
materials,
and
convene
strategic
policy
roundtables
+
cataly1c
hackdays
across
Africa
to
develop
data
skills
&
knowledge.
http://DataBootcamp.org
Nairobi
Data
Bootcamp
2012
Thursday, August 29, 13

12. Seeding
Skills
Across
the
Con2nent
Ghana TanzaniaGhana
South Africa
Tanzania
Malawi
Thursday, August 29, 13

13. 3
-­‐
Building
Community
We're
crea1ng
a
diverse
community
of
civic
hackers,
data
ac1vists
and
data
narrators
through
a
pan-­‐African
network
of
Hacks/Hackers
chapters,
ci1zen
tech
desks
in
incubators,
and
'kickstarter'
Code
for
Democracy
co-­‐crea1on
events.
Hacks/Hackers
Code4Democracy
Thursday, August 29, 13

14. 4
-­‐
Building
the
Backbone:
Much
like
the
railways
powered
industrialisa1on,
Africa
needs
open
data
infrastructure,
from
data
and
code
repositories,
to
an
AfricanCommons
resource
hub.
We've
adopted
a
modular,
community-­‐centric
approach.
http://OpenAfrica.net
OpenAfrica.net - the continent's largest
volunteer-run open data respository
Thursday, August 29, 13

15. Libera2ng
Data:
By
digi2zing
documents
and
knowledge
within
media,
academia,
and
civil
society,
we're
turning
'deadwood'
archives
into
new
digital
'structured
data'
resources,
with
open
APIs
to
allow
for
3rd
party
re-­‐use.
http://OpenDuka.org
OpenDuka + AfricaConnected - turning
parliamentary, newsroom & university
archives into machine readable data
Thursday, August 29, 13

16. 5
-­‐
Fellowship
Programs:
Na1onal-­‐level
fellowship
programs
that
embed
technologists
into
'mass
mobilisa1on'
organisa1ons,
to
catalyze
change
&
build
proof-­‐of-­‐concept
products
or
services.
http://Code4Kenya.org
Thursday, August 29, 13

17. 6
-­‐
Ci2zen
Tech
Labs:
Core
teams
of
coders
in
jAccelerators,
with
addi1onal
mentorships
+
workspace
for
data
start-­‐ups
and
ci1zen-­‐driven
projects
in
tech
incubators
across
Africa.
Thursday, August 29, 13

18. 7
-­‐
Funding
to
Scale:
A
venture
funding
pipeline,
offering
angel
&
early-­‐stage
impact
investment,
to
ini1a1ves
that
have
achieved
meaningful
trac1on,
and
that
offer
scalability,
sustainability
and
replicability.
http://AfricanNewsChallenge.org
Thursday, August 29, 13

19. What's
Next?
Thursday, August 29, 13

20. Expanding
the
Footprint:
Code
for
Kenya
deploys
its
2nd
cohort
of
fellows,
while
pilot
teams
launch
in
three
other
'hub'
countries.
Thursday, August 29, 13

21. Knowledge
Sharing:
Share
our
successes
&
mistakes
with
the
world
Thursday, August 29, 13

22. Bolivia
Nepal Moldova
Jordan
Thursday, August 29, 13

23. Global
Commons:
Instead
of
constantly
reinven1ng
the
wheel,
we're
focusing
on
pooling
resources
to
build
common
solu1ons.
OpenAfrica.net
has
already
inspired
a
clone
in
La2n
America,
and
we
are
collabora1ng
with
Code
for
Europe
to
build
OpenCivic
as
a
common
resource
and
toolset.
Thursday, August 29, 13

24. Want to Collaborate?
Speak to Us
http://Code-Africa.org
info@code-­‐africa.org
@code4africa
Thursday, August 29, 13

25. Thank You
Simeon Oriko
@mtotowajirani
Thursday, August 29, 13