Developing countries have good momentum for public data opening

At present, developing countries have great enthusiasm for opening public data, and believe that public data openness can promote national development. Overall, however, the opening up of public data in developing countries is still at an initial stage. Similar to the situation in Europe, the number of open web portals for public data in developing countries, the quality of data and the use of data are still very limited. At present, 42 countries around the world have set up national public data open platforms, including 12 developing countries, where public data-opening projects have been established over the past three years.

Africa's first open platform for public data was launched in Kenya in 2011. Today, only in Africa are new public data-opening projects in the three countries of Tunisia, Morocco and Ghana, the African Development Bank (ADB) is the first regional organization in Africa to adopt a public data open approach and provide a large number of data sets, and Moldova is the only country in Europe with a public data-opening project. 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region have public data-opening websites, of which 3 are developing countries: China, India and Timor-Leste. 5 countries in Latin America have public data-opening websites, namely, intelligence, Peru, Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico.

In general, some of these public data-opening sites are still in beta, such as data-opening sites in Ghana and India, and some until now have limited data sets, such as data-opening sites in Ghana or Uruguay; some are only partially open, such as the transparency site in East Timor, The site does not allow for commercially available data reuse. In addition to the state-level public data open platform, the number of municipal public data open projects in developing countries is increasing.

An overview of ongoing and planned public data-opening projects in developing countries is as follows:

Ongoing public data open projects: Although the number of open Web sites available to developing countries is not large, public data openness is developing well and the number of sites is likely to grow rapidly in the coming years. Many developing countries are also planning to build open Web sites for public data, such as Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Indonesia and Colombia. In particular, with the impetus of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), many developing countries also plan to set up open platforms for public data.

In Uganda, the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with the Government, the International Civil Society Organization (Analysys Libertarians societyorganisations) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) multilateral organization, created Uganda's open development cooperation platform. The platform seeks to build an open data platform that facilitates the development of application and civic data use. Also supported by international partners are Togo and South Sudan, where Togo is building a municipal public data-access website, and the South Sudanese Government wants government departments to use Open data and open source software. In other countries, such as Sierra Leone, the Government has established a transparency website (transparency site) that publishes government work information, but these sites are not really public data-open sites.

Public data openness and civil society groups in developing countries: civil society groups in many developing countries support public data openness, open data providers and open data users in direct or indirect form.

In many cases, the purpose of civic societies is not simply to support public data openness, but also to uphold freedom of information and to fight corruption. The advocacy of such groups has led to a more open government sector and easier access to information about government activities. In Latin America, for example, Allianzaallianzaregionalporlalibreexpresióneinformación is a website for the promotion of the Latin American civil rights movement, which has a history of decades and is now actively participating in the open debate in the Latin American government. In addition, civic societies are also potential users of open data projects, such as the Nigerian Budget monitoring project "BudgIT", the West African NGO website Wangonet, and the municipal e-participation project in Peru, "Ciudadnuestra" And India's Transparentchennai. Many local and regional public data-opening projects have received strong support from civil society groups from both developed and developing countries, such as the International Budget Organization (INTERNATIONALBUDGETINITIATIVE), Global budget Transparency Movement Organization (globalmovementforbudgettransparency).

A growing number of civil society groups have played a significant role in the development of public data openness, such as the data organization of Uruguay, the Datos publics of Argentina and the open Development of Cambodia. These civil society groups collect and share Open data sets.

Like public-data-opening advocates, the Centre for open access to information in the world has also grown rapidly. Programmers and entrepreneurs at these technology centers design various software based on Open data. Many open data projects use not only open data, but also official data and crowdsourcing data. Many mapping projects fall into this category, such as openstreetmapping in Nepal, Mapkibera in Kenya and Ramanitanzaniatandale in Tanzania, which combine official geographic data with the crowdsourcing data that is important to local communities. There are other projects that have collected and used data to advocate for land rights, such as the International Land Alliance, the Congo Moabi project, the Cambodia Open Development Project, the mappingforrights of the Congo Basin and the lacuidadora of Peru. Many of these projects are supported by international organizations and non-governmental organizations from developing countries, some of which are directly created by them.

The driving force of public data Open movement in developing countries

Public data openness has become an important issue in many developing countries and is likely to develop rapidly in the coming years. Why is public data openness so rapid in developing countries, and what are the key drivers?

In Europe, proponents of public data openness often emphasise the economic value of openness to public data, while in developing countries the debate about economic value is not enthusiastic, because the government-sponsored public data-opening program itself focuses on government information openness, accountability and civic engagement.

For example, the transparency website of Timor-Leste emphasizes the need for public financial information Disclosure and believes that democratic participation in government decision-making and the promotion of an open and transparent mass culture also help to curb corruption. For this reason, the Government of Chile has also established a public data-opening website, emphasizing the importance of accountability and promoting political democratization by improving data transparency. Kenya's public data-opening web site is more widely designed for social and economic innovation, data-driven decision-making, transparency in information, and accountability.

In addition, the development of a public data opening project in Moldova aims to enhance the transparency of information, promote government performance and enhance the accountability of public institutions. Only a handful of government information portals mention the economic potential of opening up public data to create business opportunities.

While promoting information disclosure appears to be an important driver of public data openness in developing countries, there seem to be other important factors that have not been officially stated. Tim Davis has analysed the drivers of public data openness in developing countries, and he argues that there are five main reasons for the growth of public data openness in developing countries: the Government's willingness to improve administrative efficiency, the willingness to strengthen accountability, internal pressure, external pressure, and reputation.

The Government's willingness to increase administrative efficiency and expand the flow of information: a public data-opening project could be motivated by political will, and the government wants to promote better dissemination of information within the Government and among stakeholders in order to ease the burden on the administration. At the same time, reduce government expenditure and improve administrative efficiency. Some public data-opening projects may also include e-government projects, such as electronic procurement systems. Such projects could reduce the likelihood of corruption, reduce risk of reform, promote citizen participation in national politics and increase the impact of public services.

The Government's willingness to strengthen the accountability system: the second major driver of the Government's development of public data-opening projects is the strong willingness of the Government to strengthen accountability. Enhanced accountability and the provision of dynamic information on local, regional and government departments can enhance the credibility of the central Government, and the strengthening of the accountability system may also enhance public discourse and encourage the government to consider more about the pros and cons of national policies. If the accountability system is to be a major driver of public data-opening projects, the expected accomplishment is that the government can effectively complete its existing policies.

Internal pressure: Pressure from civil society groups, the media, parliamentarians and private companies is another important factor in developing public data openness. Many examples of civil society groups have been mentioned earlier. But the priorities of national civil society groups are different, requiring transparency in areas ranging from government budget spending, public services, political processes (such as elections, fund-raising by political parties and congressional work) to specific industries such as extractive industries.

Internal pressure may also come from the opposition. In El Salvador, for example, it is civil society groups, opposition parties and private enterprises that require Governments to achieve greater transparency in the framework of open government partnerships.

External pressure: Many public data-opening projects in developing countries are supported by international contributions. Consultations between developing countries and international donors on joint activities are often influenced by the will of donors. In recent years, these aspirations have included the ease of management, accountability and transparency of projects. The World Bank and a number of bilateral donors are actively supporting partner countries in creating open platform for public data.

In addition, the international ratings provided by the Open budget Planning organization, the Global Financial Integrity organization, the Transparency International (transparencyinternational) and the Open Data Census (Opendatacensus) are also likely to increase external pressure on the country. The reasons why some Governments and civil society choose to open public data projects may be to increase access to international financial support.

Some donors are more interested in providing assistance in the form of open data related to developing countries, such as the international assistance project of Transparency International, the public data-opening project of the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the African Development Bank.

Another important external driver for the development of public data openness is the open Government Partnership, which is described in detail below.

Get a reputation: In most cases, governments will gain a reputation for taking steps to increase transparency. Especially when the transparency measures are very effective, innovative and the political cost is very low, it is necessary for the government to win the reputation. If the government were to develop public data-opening projects for this reason, there would be a risk of failure to implement public data openness (providing comprehensive, meaningful and up-to-date data to build a highly pro-citizen, responsive government).

As a result, if the government develops a public data open platform without deeper public sector reform or poor quality data, the open platform for public data is likely to be built because the government wants to gain prestige.

Impact of the development of public data opening projects in developing countries

Public data openness is a relatively new thing, so few data can explain its impact. As a result, it is almost impossible to know how public data openness affects developing countries. However, several projects have attempted to demonstrate the added value of transparency and open public data.

Currently, funded by the International Development Research Centre, the World Wide Web Foundation launched a two-year research project entitled "Exploring the new impact of open access to public data on developing countries". The study will analyse the requirements for open access to public data, determine the impact of open policy on public data, and use Open data as a tool for poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

In addition, the Sunshine Foundation (Sunlight Foundation) and the Transparent Accountability Organization (Transparecncy and Accountability Initiative) have conducted research related to transparency and access to information (which is not necessarily open to public data).

Moreover, what are the key factors that make public data-opening projects successful? Jose Alonso of the World Wide Web Foundation believes that the creation of a national public data open ecosystem is important for any public data-opening project, and that the composition of the ecosystem should include: data providers, data users, policymakers, and a wide range of political, judicial, organizational, Economic and social aspects of the reform of the matching technical solutions.

In addition, there are a number of challenges to public data-opening projects in developing countries: the lack of sound statistical systems, the lack of good networks covering the whole country, the high cost of Internet access and the low level of people's literacy. Other restrictive factors in developing countries could also be democratic freedoms, the ability of the media and civil society to use data effectively.

The role of OGP in the development of public data opening trend in developing countries

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) was established in September 2011 in eight founding countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the US). As of February 2013, the number of Member States had increased to 58, of which 30 were developing countries (about 51% per cent of the total number of Member States). An important objective of the open Government Partnership is:

1. Improving the availability of government information;

2. Support for civic participation and government feedback processes;

3. Implementation of the highest standards of ethics for government agencies (including vigorous anti-corruption policies, protection of prosecutors and legal systems);

4. Increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability.

These objectives outline the objectives and methods of public data-opening projects in developing countries (providing data, using new technologies). The question is the extent to which open-country partnerships affect the openness of public data in developing countries. To answer this question, we will analyse the members of developing countries and the commitments they have made in open government partnerships.

Developing country Members: At first glance, open government partnerships seem to be a club for wealthy or relatively rich countries. 77% of the Member States are high-income or middle-income countries, and only 3 Member States (5%) belong to low-income countries.

If the countries to be selected are also considered, the situation has changed. Only countries that meet the minimum transparency and accountability criteria can join the Open Government Partnership organization. These minimum standards include transparency of financial information, availability of information, election information or the openness of information of senior officials, and public participation.

Today, 80 countries meet the minimum standards, and many of them opt to join the Open Government partnership. If those countries were taken into account, it was easy to see that open government partnerships were the most popular among middle-income countries, not high-income countries. Nearly half of the countries with high incomes chose not to join the group, whereas 85% of the upper-middle income countries and 80% of the lower-middle-income countries opted to become members of the organization.

Thus, the reform agenda proposed by the Open Government partnership is attractive to middle-income countries. From a regional perspective, Europe and the Americas dominate the open Government partnership, which coincides with the global distribution of public data-opening projects. The Open Government partnership has five African member States, 10 Asian members and no countries from the Pacific region.

Developing countries ' commitment to open Government partnership organizations: Open Government partnerships require all Member States to draft plans and consider how to achieve the organization's four goals at the national level. These countries ' commitments are posted on the Open Government Partnership Web site, and commitments vary from country to country. An analysis of the global Integrity organization shows that open government partnerships seem to have a significant impact on the development of public data for all Member States, not just developing countries.

Of all the commitments, there are 190 related to open access to public data. Among other types of commitments are e-government developments, and the third and fourth areas of concern are civic participation and information accessibility (Freedom of Information Act).

Other areas of concern to open government partnerships include budget planning, local government management, public officials and administration, anti-corruption, procurement and capacity-building/training. It will also take time to verify whether the open public data programme developed by the Member States of the open Government partnership can promote government transparency, enhance accountability, enhance citizen participation and enhance the professional ethics of government personnel. However, the commitments made by Member States are indeed promoting the development of public data-opening programmes in developed and developing countries.

It is clear that, even without the requirement of open government partnerships, Member States are planning to establish public data portals, but these commitments also illustrate the fact that open government partnerships do accelerate the process of developing countries ' public data-opening programmes.

EU Public Information Platform 2013 report on public data opening in developing countries

Compiling: Huang Zhang Jing, Center for international Economic and Technical cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Information technology

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)