Part Two of a two-part series on data at the subnational level | By Christine Ajulu, Deputy Director – Open Institute Earlier this year, I wrote about why data so rarely moves at the county level. That first article sat with an uncomfortable set of obstacles: data that clashes with political agendas, county staff with…
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Across East Africa, governments have made significant investments in public participation processes. Constitutional provisions, county forums, digital platforms, and citizen consultations have become increasingly common. Yet despite these efforts, participation often remains procedural rather than meaningful. Citizens are invited to meetings, budgets are published online, and draft laws are shared for comment. But an important…
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By Furaha K. Hesketh – Community Manager, Maono Space and Data Values Advocate When I joined the Data Values Fellowship, I thought I was signing up to learn about data. In many ways, that was true. Over the months that followed, I was introduced to concepts around data governance, ownership, inclusion, stewardship, and the ways…
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Five years. Over 200 million touchpoints. One stubborn gap. Kenyans know they have data rights. But most still don’t know how to use them. That is the finding driving everything we do next. The Journey That Got Us Here When we launched Ficha Uchi in 2021, we were trying to solve a translation problem. “Data…
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There is a quiet disconnect in development data that lies between where data is collected, who it serves, and whether it ever makes its way back to the communities that generated it in the first place. Across East Africa, that disconnect is starting to close. Civil society organisations, county governments, data journalists, and community members…
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In Kiswahili, maono means vision. It is also the name of one of the projects closest to our heart at the Open Institute; a programme built around a simple belief: that community-based organisations are not at the bottom of the development pyramid, but the closest point in the system to the citizens it serves. Across…
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The brown envelope has its own language and names. Every journalist in Kenya knows it. Za kabej. Mshiko. Facilitation. Kakitu. Za macho. Niko na njaa. Jua ni kali. Za uji. The words shift, the envelope stays the same. The brown envelope has names in every language, every newsroom, every city, county and across the country,…
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By The Open Institute | 19 May 2026 Kenyans woke up this week to near-empty roads and stranded commuters. On Monday, 18 May 2026, a nationwide transport strike brought cities to a standstill. Four people were killedand more than 30 injured as protests erupted across several towns. A further 348 people were arrested. The immediate…
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Across Africa, researchers are producing credible, rigorous, and often urgent findings. Governments are making decisions without them. This is not a research problem. It is a power problem, a communication problem, and an honest reckoning with who the evidence is actually made for. There is a version of this conversation that is easy and safe…
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After twelve years at the helm, Al Kags has left the role of Executive Director of the Open Institute. This is in accordance with the organisation’s ongoing succession planning framework. Co-founder Jay Bhalla has been appointed Interim Executive Director and will lead the organisation through this period while a search for a new Executive Director…
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📅 Dates: November 25 & 26, 2024
📍 Location: Nairobi, kenya
Unlock the future of data governance with industry leaders, insightful sessions, and networking opportunities!
