Burkina Faso, the small West African state rated the third-poorest country in the world by the United Nations, last week launched the Burkina Open Data Initiative in the capital, Ougadougou. The project makes 50 data sets from the country’s health ministry available to the public, with data from more government ministries to follow in September.
“Ensuring that every Burkinabe has access to information in order to improve the quality of his or her life—this is one of the major objectives of the Open Data Initiative of Burkina Faso,” said Alfred N. Sawadogo, head of the country’s agency promoting information and communications technology, or ICT.
Open data is information that can be used, often without charge, by anyone. To celebrate the launch, a series of workshops were also held in London where participants were invited to use an app created as part of a related online data community, called Our Schools, Our Data. The app lets users access educational data on everything from student demographics to how well particular establishments are performing.
The Burkina Faso project, which is supported by the World Bank, the U.K.-based Open Data Institute and the Paris-based Five by Five (a French partner of the institute), aims to promote transparency and accountability in government. In addition, the backers hope it will drive economic growth by encouraging international and domestic investment, and creating more jobs in the information-technology sector.
“This initiative is part of a coherent e-government strategy aiming at reinforcing governance, transparency and public-service delivery,” said Samia Melham, lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank. “If well-implemented, we expect the e-government strategy to directly benefit citizens and businesses through simplified procedures and better services.”
This is not the only instance when Burkina Faso has stepped ahead of the curve. On March 25, Burkina Faso became the second African country (after Rwanda) to hold a paperless cabinet meeting, using laptops instead of notepads, said Emma Thwaites, a spokeswoman for the Open Data Institute.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Ese Erheriene
Quelle/Source: Wall Street Journal, 09.06.2014
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