Over the last two days, the Kenyan Deputy President, HE William S. Ruto presided over the first National Data Forum in Nairobi. The forum was a multi-stakeholder led event, which he co-hosted together with Tade Aina, the Executive Director of PASGR and our own Muchiri Nyaggah, currently the Executive Director of LDRI.

The first of its kind in Africa, the forum is timely as it comes barely a month before world leaders accede to the Sustainable Development Goals. Just a few weeks ago, African stakeholders formulated the Africa Data Consensus under the auspices of the African Union, which represents a shift in the way that Africa is involved in Global movements. Indeed Kenya was so eager to domesticate the data revolution that it has moved even as the Africa Data Consensus document goes through the rigours of the African Union processes to sign it formally.

There was an expectation in the minds of some of the participants that the National Forum would herald the formal development of an action plan for the collection of data that would enable Kenya to properly track the progress that the country makes towards the Sustainable Development goals.

We, at the Open Institute are gratified to be aware that the Deputy President together with his co-Chairs, PASGR and the Kenya Association of Manufacturers established working groups along several pillars as illustrated in the table below.

We are involved in the Financial Resources Management Working Group and it is our expectation that beyond the forum, the various working groups shall continue to work towards creating a harmonised action plan.

We are excited at what the future of Kenya looks like given the increased momentum in the data revolution.