It’s a great pleasure to welcome you to the Open Institute Website. The Open Institute is a catalyst think-do tank of Domain Experts that provide technical and advisory services in the Open Data and Open Governance Space to Governments, CSO’s, Media and Corporate Companies. In doing s the Institute supports governments and other civic organizations to implement successful Open Data and Open Government Initiatives and deepen public engagement for these initiatives. Kenya, was one of the first countries in Africa – indeed, the developing world, to successfully implement a comprehensive Open Data programme, by publishing its data online (http://opendata.go.ke). It was also one of the early signatories to the global Open Government Partnership (http://www.opengovpartnership.org). The Open Institute was at the forefront of working with the Kenya Government and other partners, who include The World Bank and private sector companies in the development of this project. For the success story on Kenya, watch our vimeochannel: http://vimeo.com/channels/kodi
The Open Institute’s mission is to build on the lessons learnt from such experiences as KODI to help other countries and civic organisations to implement Open Data & Governance initiatives and deepen public engagement. In promoting Openess, The Open Institute has built a community of credible, respected and accomplished partners to help achieve sustainable results. We aim to deliver our mission through FOUR key focus points:
1) Offer governments, Civil Society Organisations and citizens access to a rapid response SWAT TEAM of credible, experienced and frank domain experts and technologists who provide advice and offer the best solutions.
2) Build a publicly accessible AppStore, and Data portal, that aggregates and independently rates existing open data, open governance, and other civic engagement tools and services, as well as create the largest resource of Data on the African Continent. This resource will help prevent Open Data innovators from “reinventing the wheel”, and will also help them avoid using either flawed or inappropriate tools.
3) Convene a series of high-level boot-camps, think tanks, and policy summits in partnership with government, media, and CSO thought-leaders, to help Open Data and Governance pioneers to compare notes, bust myths, and find opportunities for collaboration.
4) Build, promote and catalyse tools / apps / services or re-engineer existing resources so that they work effectively in the Developing world. These include an initial ‘starter pack’ of basic, mobile-based citizen tools for monitoring State expenditure and services, for channelling citizen complaints, and for helping communities to network and mobilise and institutional feedback mechanisms.
Please browse our website and check back regularly for Blog updates and updates on our initiatives.
