In Kenya, there is a widespread notion that, in order to receive services from a public office, one must know someone influential in that office. Picture this: when a child is born in Kenya, the parent must register the birth with the Registrar of Births. It is common to find new parents who need this…
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It is no secret that we are passionate about citizen generated data. We believe that active citizens have a lot of power to influence governments to bring about the change they want. We started out in 2015, working with local communities to collect data from every household as a means to understanding their needs and…
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In a small team, just like in a family, the loss of one member is felt in a huge way. Today, our family mourns the loss of one of our own: Jonah Mngola. Jonah was passionate about the artisanal small scale mining (ASM) community, and as our Open Extractives Program Lead, he spearheaded the process…
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Imagine you are driving from one city to another in your country and a policeman stops you for speeding. The correct process that should be followed is that the policeman would have to take you to the police station and you would have to pay a cash bail of USD 50 and get an appointment…
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In the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, contact tracing – and the swift actions that governments initially took to take to curb the spread of COVID-19 have thrust the issues of data rights to the fore. Citizens have ceded personal data to states – in many cases unwillingly or without full knowledge of the…
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SDG 8 aims to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”. Sustainable Development Goals Martin Wairegi is a vibrant young man, who got a job working at a factory in Nairobi’s Industrial Area. The Industrial Area is the city’s central hub of manufacturing that employs the…
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We are excited to announce Nuru (Kiswahili for light), a tool that is designed to empower citizen community monitoring to crowdsource observations about how they are coping in the exceptionally difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of inspiring engagement with civil society, governments and other stakeholders to take action and effect change…
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On 5th May 2020, the Open Institute supported The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Health Organisation (WHO) along with SLoCaT Partnership, The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), Walk 21 and other high-level partners to convene a half-day digital expert group meeting to share experiences,…
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(Image from Standard Digital) During the early days of the Coronavirus disease outbreak, the Government of Kenya announced that all primary and secondary schools were to be closed and learners sent home with immediate effect. This was closely followed by the closure of all universities. Despite the strict measures to curtail the spread of the…
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On 16th April 2020, the Open Institute through the Ability Programme hosted an online Persons with Disabilities Brainstorm meeting to share and understand the key challenges relating to PWDs and COVID-19 and develop recommendations on how PWDS could be supported during this time. Some of the participants in the virtual meeting include Andy Speaks 4…
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