<div dir="ltr">Deja vu. Very reminiscent of the mid 2000s when ICT policies were being developed. I do hope it gives momentum for our long awaited information laws. <div>A few additional points (and personal observations) : </div><div><ol><li>The Forum is organised under the auspices of the Deputy President's Office. </li><li>The meeting is very global in terms of content (as opposed to IGF which gets very technical). Perhaps this because the audience is cross cutting as are the themes and more about use of data. The discussion for instance will feature governance, access to info (open data portal), agriculture, health, climate change etc. <br></li><li>Connected to point 2 above, the forum brings together a very wide audience. There is now wider understanding of IG issues because the people in the room for example are all data users, going by the number of smart phones alone. There are also testimonies on my data systems are being used for decision making eg Controller of Budget talking of national financial management systems. </li><li>Challenges: capacity, access, paradigm (the culture in government), accuracy</li><li>My best anecdote so far: Hon Wycliffe Opranya (Kakamega Govenor) stating that he is not aware of Kakamega's GDP. His point being that there is a case for data collection, correction and analysis at national, sub-national and local levels. </li></ol><div>Regards, </div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">2015-08-28 11:59 GMT+03:00 Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>></span>:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So the Data Forum is happening in Nairobi,
with the aim of harnessing the data revolution for sustainable development.
Well, the meeting started an hour and more from schedule (They say it’s a Kenyan
thing), but luckily, participants had the chance to showcase their social
skills and chitchat with their neighbors ... data scientists, policy makers,
innovators, entrepreneurs, academicians, media, and all …</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In mid 2011, government institutions were
able to release public data through the Kenya Open Data Initiative with full of executive support.
Support from the top, say President. It was the first African government north
of the Limpopo to do so. It was a big deal then, it still is. It seems Uhuru’s
government is keen to continue with the same, although since coming into power
in 2013, they seem to have dropped the ball. From 2011, the next update for data
sets available at <a href="http://opendata.go.ke" target="_blank">opendata.go.ke</a> only came through mid 2015. It’s a big deal
still, <b>but for it to remain so; there
must be a policy to require the relevant government agencies, and even ICT
Authority of Kenya to continuously release data as it becomes available</b>. We
should also have proper legislation (freedom of information act</span>, data
protection act, Official Secrets Act,) to enable agencies release data in
the confines of the law.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The importance of open data is not in
doubt. According to Socrata, the American firm dedicated to providing social
data discovery services for opening governments; “The impact of data as a
utility is real — informing the daily decisions of government employees and
citizens in ways that improve quality of life, unleash new economic
opportunity, and increase operational excellence in government”.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Well, how are these researchers, policy
experts, think tanks (I love the word), innovators, and civil society using the
datasets to inform the society on which direction to take as a country? Moving
from the fabled UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) as DP William Ruto would put it, how are we using
these datasets to realize SDGs? These are the questions the conference seems to
address.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">It’s great to see the Government of Kenya seeks
to host the World Data Forum in Kenya in 2016. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Sincerely,</span></p><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">______________________</div><div dir="ltr">Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya<br><br>"There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson<br><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
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