Will NGOs Join the Open Data Movement?
Roughly 700 people from more than 50 countries registered for this week’s International Open Government Data Conference (IOGDC), co-sponsored by Data.gov, the World Bank Open Data Initiative and the Open Development Technology Alliance. The purpose of the conference is to “share lessons learned, stimulate new ideas, and demonstrate the power of democratizing data” – in this case, open government data. Though the focus of the conference is on sharing government data, NGOs should be paying attention. Why?
The first reason is fairly obvious: as advocates and representatives of the communities with which they work, NGOs and civil society organizations (CSOs) more broadly are meant to be one of the primary beneficiaries of open government data. The disclosure of poverty data, location of health and education facilities, budgets and expenditures – to name just a few – should be useful to those working for the provision of better public services, promoting greater government accountability or planning development projects themselves. The assumption underlying many of these efforts is that open data will lead to greater citizen engagement and empowerment. NGOs and CSOs should be part of the discussions of what is made open and how so that this data is actually beneficial, and they should help ensure that governments learn the “right” lessons about making data more open.
The second reason NGOs should care about this is that sooner or later they will be expected to do open data as well. For now, multilateral organizations and governments are leading the way. The World Bank’s Open Data initiative – probably the most high-profile initiative of this kind in the international development field – is already more than two years old. The U.S. government issued the Open Government Directive in December 2009. About six months later, the UK government initiated its own push for greater transparency. Developing countries followed suit, with Kenya and Moldova both launching open data sites in 2011. Overall, about 30 countries now have data portals. And the Open Government Partnership, which has as its aim more transparent, accountable and effective government, has seen 55 countries join since its launch in September 2011.
But it’s not only governments who are working to become more open. In the philanthropic world, two prominent foundations have taken steps to be more transparent about their giving – the Hewlett Foundation by publishing data to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and the Gates Foundation by becoming the first private foundation to share data with the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/ DAC). At least one think tank – the Center for Global Development – has also moved in this direction, instituting a data and code sharing policy last year.
For some NGOs, open data is no longer a choice (the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), for example, is requiring certain grantees to comply with IATI). And last year, Charity Navigator revised its rating system of charities to include an accountability and transparency measure, prompting many charities to make changes. For most NGOs (as for most governments), however, deciding to focus on greater openness remains a voluntary decision.
NGOs are certainly not expected to publish open data tomorrow. But open data is not just another trend that will eventually fade away – it represents a change in expectations about the way organizations should operate. Getting to open data is a long process, and will need to involve people from all parts of the organization, from senior management to IT staff, to be successful. Arriving at a consensus about what needs to be shared, with whom, and how will take time, and setting up the systems to do this maybe even longer. So the point is – we need to get the conversation started.
