Open Mapping and Government Projects in Kenya
Citizens in rural Kenya are collecting data and field mapping projects they've helped to choose through a local government participatory budgeting process. This talk will share how Map Kibera and GroundTruth Initiative recently used OpenStreetMap and ODK/Kobo to give citizens the tools to collect not only locations and data on projects, but also provide their opinion and assessment of the completion status and quality. Doing this jointly with local county governments has unearthed some major data management challenges. Systems are being set up new for governments created only 10 years ago by a new constitution, and flashy tech is mixed with messy paper records, creating a difficult data environment. However, it's also an opportunity for open data and citizen involvement in transparent governance. I will get into the details of the current policy, politics, and geospatial data environment in Kenya with a focus on how citizens have been included and excluded from the process to date and how we see things moving forward.
