In today’s dynamic landscape, collaboration is not just a nicety—it’s a necessity. Silos stifle growth and innovation, and our community-based organizers, once isolated, yearned for deeper connection. This is where Maono Space has been transformational. Over the past year, by offering reliable internet, communal spaces, and an energizing community spirit, Maono has torn down walls,…
In 2015, we did some work to try and see what citizens care about enough to act and be engaged with the government. We had a simple goal – to stimulate active citizenship and foster responsive government using data to aid communities to provide input into government activities. This project showed us that citizens cared…
We are excited to have signed a letter to world leaders, calling on them to harness the power of data and unlock the data dividend, which we firmly believe is pivotal in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The letter will be highlighted in the High Impact Initiative ‘Power of Data: Unlocking the Data Dividend…
We are proud to work with KNBS as they lead the Technical Working Group on Citizen-Generated Data. The Open Institute is proud to have played a role in Kenya’s progress in institutionalizing Citizen-Generated Data as part of the National Statistical System (NSS). Since 2015, the Open Institute has worked with communities in Nakuru North sub-county,…
This week, we celebrate ten years since our founders started on a journey towards an open society that is managed by informed, fact-driven citizens. Here’s a fun factoid: our original name was going to be lengthy – The African Centre for Open Governance and Open Data (ACOGOD). As we start thinking about things we are…
Today marks the start of the Global Goals Week 2022, a shared commitment between more than 170 partners in civil society, business, academia, and the UN system to accelerate action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially during the UN General Assembly High-level Week. Thousands of organisations and stakeholders congregate in hundreds of events worldwide to discuss ways…
The Open Institute’s Green Fellowship is given in line with our goal to shed light to “the invisibles” – those communities of people who are most left behind due to poverty, lack of functional literacy and government support. The Open Institute is happy to announce The Open Institute Green Fellowship, a three-month-long programme in partnership…
We have been developing Sabasi as a free and open-source tool designed to help individuals and organizations to collect and manage data. We realised that there are a lot of tools out there, but many of them do not work in our context, where we frequently need to do our work in very remote areas. Designed for our African context, Sabasi is easy to use and requires minimal training.
Our Technology Director tells all about his recent trip to Bujumbura where we are piloting the use of Sabasi.
We are very excited that the Data Leaders’ Fellowship Programme is now underway, as 10 Chief Officers in charge of Economic Planning got together in the inaugural workshop last week. We established this 8-week fellowship Programme to build the capacity of Chief Officers in charge of Planning and Economic Development Nairobi, Makueni, Isiolo, Mandera, West…
As the year 2019 comes to a close, we are in a reflective state. This year was for us so transitory, that we intentionally deferred our strategic planning for the next few years. We needed to use it to simply understand what was in flux and that needed time. So we took the year to…
