Open Data (ZA0024)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? The opening of government data in South Africa has shown promise in reconnecting citizens with governance processes and stimulating innovation around social challenges.9 However, the use of government data continues to be limited, with low awareness of what data is (or could be) available and how this data may enhance interaction with public entities.

What is the commitment? Commitment partners will expand training and development of capabilities of citizens and local data intermediaries to use government data for civic engagement and social innovation, especially in peripheral urban areas and rural municipalities. At the same time, engagement will deepened with data champions in targeted municipalities and provincial and national government line departments to enhance data management practices and facilitate responsible sharing and collaborative use of administrative data.

How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? The commitment will increase the awareness and capacity of citizens, local data intermediaries and government data champions to access, share and use public data individually and collaboratively, in ways that are relevant to their local context and decision-making.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP This commitment will enhance civic participation by creating new opportunities and capabilities for the sharing and reuse of data by citizens and data intermediaries. 9 See South Africa End of Term Report (EOTR) 2016-2018 sections on national open data portal and other commitments (e.g. fiscal transparency) https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/south-africa-end-of-term-report-2016-2018/ Reviving the OGP Process in South Africa - OGP 4th National Action Plan 2020-2022 9 values?

Additional information Open data intersects with a number of other OGP commitments, especially those related to fiscal transparency. This commitment seeks to complement what other commitments are pursuing by addressing data capacity building and practices broadly.

Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable Start Date End Date Operationalisation of the Open Data South Africa Steering Committee. February 2021 March 2021 Training, development and support to citizens and local data intermediaries/ champions on using open government data for civic engagement and social innovation. Sep 2020 March 2022

Action Plan Review

1: Open Data

• Verifiable: Yes                                                     

• Does it have an open government lens? Yes

• Potential for results: Modest

• Clustered: No

Results Report

Commitment 1. Open Data

Verifiable: Yes

Does it have an open government lens? Yes

Potential for results: Modest

● Completion: Limited

● Did it open government? No early results to report yet

This commitment aimed to operationalise the Open Data South African Steering Committee and train citizens and local data intermediaries in using open government data. The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), with support from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), through its Policy Action Network (PAN) project, convened three Open OGP Open Data webinars between May and July 2021. These covered the DPSA’s work on public service data management strategy; the Drakenstein Municipality—drawing on technology in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and OpenUp’s. [1] The IRM researcher did not find any evidence that the Open Data South African Steering Committee was operationalised.

Beyond the milestones listed in the commitment text, PAN collaborated with various partners to support and host dataquests and hackathons between November 2021 and October 2022. [2] PAN has also been assisting with ongoing content updates to the Open Data South Africa Toolkit [3] that was established in 2018. This is a collaboration between some of the OGP’s partners, including the DPSA, OpenUp, the Centre for Public Service Innovation, the Innovation Hub, Geekulcha, the Open Cities Lab, and HSRC. [4]

Both OGP Point of Contact Dr. Sokhela and Interim Steering Committee member Paul Plantinga stated that no progress was made under this commitment. Dr. Sokhela cited human resource and financial constraints. [5] Paul Plantinga of HSRC attributed limited implementation to the lack of institutionalisation of the broader OGP process and across individual commitments. [6]