Presentation at 2nd IT Association of Ghana Annual General Meeting, Accra, Ghana.

1. How much should we pay for
Ferrous Sulfate + Folic Acid?
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2. Rwanda pays:
$0.12
per 100 tablets
Source: MSH International Drug Price Indicator Guide 2010
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3. DRC pays:
$0.20
per 100 tablets
Source: MSH International Drug Price Indicator Guide 2010
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4. MSH Median Seller Price:
$0.26
per 100 tablets
Source: MSH International Drug Price Indicator Guide 2010
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5. Namibia:
$0.90
per 100 tablets
Source: SARPAM Pharmaceutical Market Analysis
2010
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6. Swaziland:
$3.00
per 100 tablets
Source: SARPAM Pharmaceutical Market Analysis
2010
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7. Swaziland pays 25x more than
Rwanda for the same medicine.
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8. In graphical terms
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9. How much is Ghana Paying?
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10. What do we know about MTN Ghana?
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11. How about Vodafone Ghana?
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12. Open Data
4
National Development
Edwin Opare
MSc, ITIL, IBM
Member, ITAG
Open Data Evangelist
Tech Lead, Ghana Open Data Initiative

13. CONTENT





Definition
Open Data Concepts
Open Data Portals
Open Data General Benefits
GODI
◦
◦
◦
◦

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Vision and Objectives
Approach
Success Factors
Ghana-specific Benefits
Next Steps
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14. Open Data? What is it?

Open data is the idea
that
certain data should be
freely available to
everyone to use and
republish as they
wish, without
restrictions
from copyright,
licenses, patents or
other mechanisms of
control.
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15. Open Data? What is it?

“A piece of content or
data is open if anyone
is free to use, reuse,
and redistribute it —
subject only, at most,
to the requirement to
attribute and/or sharealike.‖

Source:
opendefinition.org
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16. Open Data Concepts

Governments globally are using the
power of the Internet and Web,
including social media,
◦ to transform governance,
◦ empower citizens and
◦ rebuild the social contract between
political leaders and citizens.

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In Ghana e-Ghana project
◦ NITA build network infrastructure
◦ eServices rolled out including passport
acquisition online at
http://www.eservices.gov.gh
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17. Open Data Concepts

Many central governments
◦ making more information public and easily
available on the Web
◦ in formats that citizens can access, reuse,
mash up, remix, visualize, map and share

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Tracking and mapping tools and
systems allow citizens to monitor and
evaluate government performances
and expenditure.
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18. Open Data Portals

Citizen engagement platforms and
tools
◦ allow governments to reach out and
incorporate the perspectives and ideas of
citizens in decision-making and policymaking.

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Build relationships between the public
and private sectors to solve
challenging problems that cannot be
addressed by either sector working
alone
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19. Open Data Portals
Open Data portals are designed to
make government data accessible in
reusable formats
 More than 22 countries have open
data portals.
 Significantly

◦ data.gov, data.gov.uk, data.gov.in,
datos.gob.es, opendata.go.ke,
data.gov.gh
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20. Open Data General Benefits
Social
 Economic
 Efficient service delivery
 Evidence based policymaking
 Transparency
 Accountability
 Improved data quality

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21. WHAT IS GODI?
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22. GODI


Started by National Information Technology
Agency (NITA) in January 2012

Takeoff this year fueled by good feasibility report
conducted by Web Foundation 2010/11 and
Ghana’s signing of the Open Government
Partnership by late president in 2011.(see
http://www.opengovpartnership.org)

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Stands for Ghana Open Data Initiative
Propelled by NITA’s mandate to engage citizens
with government using ICT tools for feedback to
improve policy development
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23. Vision
The vision of GODI is to develop an open
data
community
bringing
together
government, civil society organizations,
media practitioners, developers, academia
and citizenry to interact with one another
through an open data portal with the view
to
provide
valuable
feedback
to
government to:
Promote evidence-based decision making,
Promote socio-economic development,
Promote improved government service delivery,
Drive innovation and wealth co-creation leading to
overall national development and efficiency in
Government processes.
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24. GODI Objectives


To bring about the development of the open data
community

To promote discourse between government, civil society
organizations, and the citizen

To serve as a concrete action plan of the fourth
thematic area of the Open Government Partnership
(technology and innovation) for the republic of Ghana.

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To provide a central platform for access to public
government data
To promote national development and efficiency in
government through citizen feedback.
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25. Approach

Initiative focuses on building open
data ―Ecosystem‖






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Government
Civil Society
Developer
Academia
Journalist
Citizens
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26. GODI Ecosystem
GODI Community
Citizen
Decision Making
Executive Buy-in
Civil Society
Organization
s
Government
Ministries,
Department &
Agencies
Developer
Community
National GODI Steering
Committee
Gov. Led
CSO Rep
Media Rep
Academia Rep
Media
Practitioners
Developers Rep
Citizens
Academia
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Min. of Public
Sector Reform

27. GODI Operational Structure
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28. Success factors
Adhere to the open government data
principles by Open Data working
group (ODWG).
 Creation of Vibrant Open Data
Community
 Creation of Ghana Open Data Portal

◦ Beta by Q4 2012 with quick wins
◦ Addition of more datasets over 2year life
of project
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29. GODI Portal : data.gov.gh
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30. Ghana-specific Benefits
Social development
 Economic development
 Efficient service delivery
 Evidence based policymaking
 Improved Data Quality

◦ Transparency & Accountability = fruits of
the 5 key areas
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31. Social Benefits
Real Estate, Crime,
Utilities, Sanitation,
Environmental
conditions
 Reduced Traffic
Congestion
 Ease of Access to
Health Facilities
(HealthFacil App)
 Ease of Access to
Educational Facilities

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32. Economic Benefits : Sanitation
Planning
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33. Economic Benefits : Sanitation
Planning
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34. Economic Benefits : Sanitation
Planning
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35. Economic Benefits :
Agriculture(Crop Production)

In one country, 6% of land is suitable for
cropping, Less than 1% cultivated any
year

Imperative to plan and target which
crop to grow where and when
Need to identify and map edaphic
conditionsWhich area (where) is most
suitable for sorghum, maize, etc
Which specific fertilizer to use and what
pest control method work best where




When to apply fertilizer and pest
management

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Need to identify and map climatic
conditions, especially rainfallForecast of
exact start of cropping, management
and harvesting cycle
• Government extension services are
imperative
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36. Economic Benefits : Education
Planning

Location of schools and
settlements
◦ Allocation of pupils, teachers
and resources to schools
◦ Were the schools actually built
where they are needed most?
◦ Or even, where they are
claimed to have been built
◦ Are courses been taught
relevant to today’s needs?




Demographics
Infrastructure
Network connectivity
Adult literacy programs
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37. Economic Benefits : Transportation
Planning



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Existing roads,
railways, navigable
water systems, air
links
Demographics and
settlements
Industrial and Socioeconomic
establishments
Traffic flows statistics
Taxi and bus routes
allocation
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38. In Summary
We are all role players!
 Government - Pass Right to
Information Bill NOW!!
 CSOs- Demand ―Opened‖ Data
NOW!!
 Developers – Apps NOW!!
 Academia – Bring us Innovation NOW!
 Media – Echo our voices NOW!
 Citizen – Demand better Services
NOW!

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39. Join Us
- www.itag.org.gh
- @itaggh
itag.ghana
- Itag
ghana
- facebook.com/itag.org.gh
- info@itag.org.gh
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