Open Data in Developing Economies: Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How

Recent years have witnessed considerable speculation about the potential of open data to bring about wide-scale transformation. The bulk of existing evidence about the impact of open data, however, focuses on high-income countries. Much less is known about open data’s role and value in low- and middle-income countries, and more generally about its possible contributions to economic and social development. Open Data for Developing Economies features in-depth case studies on how open data is having an impact across the developing world-from an agriculture initiative in Colombia to data-driven healthcare projects in Uganda and South Africa to crisis response in Nepal. The analysis built on these case studies aims to create actionable intelligence regarding: (a) the conditions under which open data is most (and least) effective in development, presented in the form of a Periodic Table of Open Data; (b) strategies to maximize the positive contributions of open data to development; and (c) the means for limiting open data’s harms on developing countries. CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Chapter 1 Introduction PART I: OPEN DATA FOR DEVELOPMENT Chapter 2 The Relevance of Open Data for Developing Economies Chapter 3 The Impact of Open Data on Developing Economies Chapter 4 The Impact of Open Data in Developing Economies across Sectors PART II: CASE STUDIES Open Data’s Impact on Improving Government Chapter 5 Burundi’s Open RBF Chapter 6 India’s ESMI Chapter 7 Open Development Cambodia Chapter 8 Uganda’s iParticipate Open Data’s Impact on Empowering Citizens Chapter 9 GotToVote! Kenya Chapter 10 Tanzania’s Open Education Dashboards Chapter 11 South Africa’s Medicine Price Registry Open Data’s Impact on Creating Opportunity Chapter 12 Acl.mate Colombia Chapter 13 Ghana’s Esoko Chapter 14 Jamaica’s Interactive Community Mapping Open Data’s Impact on Solving Public Problems Chapter 15 Nepal Earthquake Recovery Chapter 16 Paraguay’s Dengue Prediction PART III: CONCLUSION Chapter 17 Leveraging Open Data as a New Asset for Development Appendix A: Input ReceivedPublished by African Minds