Connecting Open Data With Transparency and Accountability to Promote Value Generation : A Case Study of Zambia

This research will examine how open data may be used and accessed as well as what role it plays in promoting transparency. Through this thesis, I aim to investigate how open data may be utilized to foster accountability and transparency, which would improve productivity and bring about social change. Transparency needs to be integrated not just into the systems of the ‘supply side’ or the party that is providing the information, but also into those of the users or ‘the demand side’ in order to be effective. Initiatives for transparency and accountability have emerged in the development context over the past ten years as a means of addressing democratic and developmental shortcomings. The analysis is drawn from the existing literature around transparency and accountability initiatives and what is needed for it to be impactful. The author of this study has further examined this concept through interviews with professionals in the area of this data value chain in Zambia which has allowed for further analysis of this concept. The right data must first be disclosed for open data and transparency initiatives to result in accountability, this necessitates an awareness of the politics of data publication. Next it is important to have this data published with a ‘user centric’ frame. Further it is crucial for intermediaries to gather, analyze and make use of the data in order to create a system for accountability where by the institutions are enabled to provide better services and citizens are able to demand those services to enable value creation.