East Africa Open Data Conference
Something was brewing yesterday at the Strathmore Business School. Something statistical. According to a number of tweets from Open Data Watch (@OpenDataWatch), Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (@KNBStats) and under the hashtags #SDGs, #StateOfData and #EAODF, the conference at Strathmore is winding up today. This apparently is the East African Open Data Conference.
This conference, according to MapBox, will have participants deliberating and discussing the ways that open data can be crucial in monitoring and meeting Sustainable Development Goals.
Some of the speakers at the conference will include Dr. Bitange Ndemo – Senior Lecturer – School of Business at University of Nairobi, Larry Sperling – United States Department of State – PEPFAR and Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, Mr. Zachary Mwangi – Director General – Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and Joseph Cosmas of Tanzania Data Lab among many others.
Some of the activities in plan include an interview on ‘Why Open Data for Sustainable Development’ followed by discussions on ’Open Government in Africa Open Data and Sustainable Development’, ‘East Africa Open Data Needs and Challenges’ and a workshop titled ‘DigiKids Presentation’.
The second day of the conference on the 18th of August is on ‘Open Mapping for Public Good’ and the day is packed full of working sessions, presentations and more discussions on open data. Bound to be fun, isn’t it.
There are many ways to collaborate with the AODC community and organizers. You can submit an idea on the Africa Open Data website, or visit these online resources to get more involved:
This, mark you, is different from the 2-day workshop on the ‘Data Roadmap on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ held from the 15th August (Monday) by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy President of Kenya.
That conference, according to DataShift, dealt with ways of strengthening the inclusivity, trust, and innovation in the way that data is used to address Kenya’s sustainable development. H.E. (DR) Ambassador Amina Mohammed who was one of the speakers of the event said Kenya’s promise of inclusive development can only be achieved by creating an inclusive data ecosystem involving government, private sector, academia, non-profit organisations, innovators, local communities and development partnerships.
Hot week for open data and SDGs, this.
Source 1: Africa Open Data
Source 2: DataShift
Hattip: @deekareithi, @DavisAdieno
