Create and Operationalize an Open Data Portal for Côte D'Ivoire (CI0009)

Current situation or problem/question to be addressed/having to be solved: -Provision for the right to information by the Constitution in its Article 7 paragraph 2 -Disclosure of information on several government websites -Available documents in not always reusable formats -lack of a central portal to consolidate all government open public data (open data); Main purpose: The main purpose of the project is the creation a web platform which ensures on the one hand, the centralization of overall open public data, and on the other hand, the possibility for citizens to check, share and reuse these data in order to improve data openness. Brief description of Commitment: Operationally, this commitment has three (03) phases as follows: -Design and online post an "open data" web platform -Sensitize, train and mobilize public, private structures and the civil society with a view to: o inform and sensitize overall public structures which will take part in Open data process by making public documents available in reusable formats; o train focal points established by public structures to manage the platform; o work on capacity building among civil society in order to improve their participation in the platform enhancement o disclose the platform to citizens, NGO, international organizations, technical and financial partners (TFP) -Promote the open data platform by launching a national and international communication campaign to popularize the tool; OGP challenges addressed by the commitment: Increase in public integrity; Relevance: Improvement of access to public information This CICG new platform will ensure satisfaction of the public expectations in terms of access to information and public documents, interactive citizen participation in data openness policy in Côte d'Ivoire; Ambition: -The Open Data management application is operational online, and consulted -The contributing structures are informed and sensitized on the project -The focal points are trained to manage the system -The civil society knows the project and plays fully its role of reusers and contributors -The platform is operating, popularized, and known to all

9. Open Data Côte d’Ivoire

Commitment Text:

Create and operationalize an Open Data portal for Côte d’Ivoire

Brief description of the commitment

Operationally, this commitment has three (03) phases as follows:

- Design an online post an 'open data' web platform

- Sensitize, train and mobilize public, private structures and the civil society with a view to:

o Inform and sensitize overall public structures which will take part in Open Data process by making public documents available in reusable formats;

o Train focal points established by public structures to manage the platform;

o Work on capacity building among civil society in order to improve their participation in the platform enhancement

o Disclose the platform to citizens, NGO, international organizations, technical and financial partners (TFP)

- Promote the open data platform by launching a national and international communication campaign to popularize the tool.

Verifiable and quantifiable stages to implement this commitment Develop an online Open Data Platform

9.2 Sensitize, train and mobilize public, private structures and the Civil Society Promote open data platform

9.3. Promote open data platform

Editorial Note: The first milestone was completed prior to the implementation period. This report will focus on those milestones that were implemented during the period under consideration.

Responsible institution: The Prime Minister’s Cabinet

Supporting institution: the Center for Information and Government communication (CICG)

Start date: October 2015

End date: December 2017

Context and Objectives

This commitment seeks to create a web platform that centralizes all the data open to the public. It also aims to offer citizens a way to consult, share, and re-use the data to improve its openness.

According to the representative from the Center for Information and Government Communication (CICG), having an open data portal is part of the government’s transparency initiative.1 The government already has an official internet portal that includes all its activities.2 The open data portal will continue the action of making information accessible to the public. This commitment is relevant to OGP values, notably access to information and innovation for transparency and responsibility.

The potential level of impact is minor. The commitment not only calls for open data3 to make data available to citizens but also encourages government bodies to structure their information. To this end, the platform constitutes a resource center for government and citizens to obtain necessary information. The representative from the CICG said there was a tangible commitment to verify all that the state did. However, the language of the commitment does not detail what type of information will be available online, how many records will be available, and in what format data will be published. Thus, it is difficult to judge whether the information the government likely publishes online will meet users’ expectations. Furthermore, the potential impact of this commitment is limited by the number of people who have internet access.4

Completion:

9.2. To raise awareness among, train, and mobilize public and private structures and civil society: This milestone is considered incomplete due to lack of proof. According to the representative from the Center for Information and Government Communication (CICG), the center launched workshops on 5 October 2016 and the 1 December 20165 to engage civil society. Despite several requests to the CICG from the IRM researcher, the center produced no evidence during their meeting with the researcher or after two emails sent 5 and 21 February 2018. According to an article published on the open data website on 7 October 2016,6 (prior to the second workshop), the workshops had taken place. The article stated that key representatives from the ministries and public structures had been invited to attend to reinforce their responsibilities regarding the openness of public data. The article mentioned no civil society representatives as invitees to this workshop. In the absence of any proof, there remains doubt about civil society’s participation.

9.3. Promote the open data platform: This milestone is considered complete to a limited degree. The Center for Information and Government Communication (CICG) representative stated there had not been an official launch of the platform because only 17 themes are mentioned to date. The representative noted that the government team working on the portal was small.7 Consequently, there had been no promotion. According to the CICG representative,8 bloggers are aware of this, as they and the CICG participated in seminars on this subject.9 The government produced no evidence of these seminars. The IRM researcher made several requests to the CICG representative for such information during their meeting and followed up with two emails sent 5 and 21 February 2018. The IRM researcher found a 1 December 2016 article mentioning the seminar between the CICG and bloggers.10 This meeting aimed to mobilize actors on social networks in the construction of Open Data Côte d’Ivoire.

Early Results (if any)

According to the Center for Information and Government Communication (CICG) representative, the government aims to promote the re-use of data and to create a community focused on open data. All citizens can access the portal freely. However, to re-use data, the citizen must create an account via email.

Still, according to the CICG representative, open data needed to collaborate with other platforms, but it is intended to be the state data platform. But civil society representatives stated that only some information is made public.11 According to one civil society representative, not all data published is usable. The representative said the challenge lies in open data perhaps not being fully understood by the government.

Next Steps

The milestones mentioned in this commitment should, according to the IRM researcher, be implemented effectively during the remaining time left in the action plan. The researcher recommends a significant increase in the themes developed on the platform as well as the publication of data in a usable format. This would ensure that this commitment has a significant and quantifiable impact on citizens’ access to information.

1 Michel Behe, Representative of the Director of the Center for Information and Governmental Communication, prime minister’s cabinet, interview by the IRM researcher, 2 February 2018.

2 Official Portal of the Côte d’Ivoire Government, http://www.gouv.ci/Main.php.

3 'Côte d'Ivoire, L'initiative Ivoirienne de l'Open Data, Plateforme en Ligne de l’Open Data Côte d’Ivoire,' https://data.gouv.ci/opendata/open_data/cte-d-ivoire746

4 'Côte d’Ivoire Internet Users,' Internet Live Stats, 1 July 2016, http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users/cote-d-ivoire/. 5 Michel Behe, Representative of the Director of the Center for Information and Governmental Communication, prime minister’s cabinet, interview by the IRM researcher, 2 February 2018.

6 'Ouverture des Données en Côte d’Ivoire: Le CICG Lance le Processus à Travers ‘Les Ateliers de l’Open Data,’' 7 October 2016, https://data.gouv.ci/blog/details/ouverture-des-donnees-en-cote-d-ivoire... processus-a-travers-les-ateliers- de-l-open-data845.

7 Michel Behe, Representative of the Director of the Center for Information and Governmental Communication, prime minister’s cabinet, interview by the IRM researcher, 2 February 2018.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 'Les Ateliers de l’Open Data: Le CICG Implique les Blogueurs dans la Construction de l’Open Data en Côte d’Ivoire,' Official Portal of the Côte d’Ivoire Government, 1 December 2016, http://www.gouv.ci/_actualite-article.php?recordID=7151. 11 Civil society platform representative, interview by the IRM researcher, 2018, followed by phone and email exchanges.

Commitment 9: Create and operationalize an Open Data portal for Cote d'Ivoire

Brief Description of the Commitment:

Operationally, this commitment has three (3) phases as follows:

- Design and online post an “open data” web platform

- Sensitize, train and mobilize public, private structures and the civil society with a view to:

• inform and sensitize overall public structures which will take part in Open data process by making public documents available in reusable formats;
• train focal points established by public structures to manage the platform;
• work on capacity building among civil society in order to improve their participation in the platform enhancement;
• disclose the platform to citizens, NGO, international organizations, technical and financial partners (TFP);

- Promote the open data platform by launching a national and international communication campaign to popularize the tool.

Measurable and verifiable steps to achieve the commitment:

9.1. Develop an online Open Data platform

9.2. Sensitize, train and mobilize public, private structures and the Civil Society

9.3. Promote open data platform

Editorial Note: In the National Action Plan, the government completed the first milestone prior to the commitment implementation period. This evaluation will therefore concern the remaining two milestones (Milestones 9.2 and 9.3).

Responsible Institution(s): Prime Minister’s Office
Supporting Institution(s): Government Information and Communication Center (CICG)

Start Date: October 2015 End Date: December 2017

Action Plan is available here:

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to create a single web platform to centralize all public documents. Another objective is to enable citizens to access, share, and reuse the data to improve data openness. Specifically, the idea is to encourage and enable public bodies to disseminate spontaneously and structured documents and public data via a dynamic and interactive platform, searchable by any citizen.

Status

Midterm: Limited

This commitment had a limited implementation by the midterm. While the government claimed that it was conducting sensitization workshops, trainings, and mobilization for the Open Data portal (9.2), the government provided no evidence of such to the IRM researcher at the midterm. There was also no official inauguration or promotion of the platform (9.3) because, according to a government representative, ^[49] the topics to be addressed were reduced from around 35 initially planned to 17. The number of government staff working on the portal was also reduced. However, the CICG met with bloggers to sensitize different social media actors on their impact on open data in Côte d’Ivoire. For more information, please see the 2016−2018 IRM midterm report. ^[50]

End of term: Limited

Milestone 9.2 remains not started and the Milestone 9.3 is limited. The IRM researcher found no evidence of any activity of awareness raising, training, or mobilization of civil society and public and private structures (9.2) during the second year of implementation. The IRM researcher also did not find any promotion of the open data platform (9.3). In addition, there is no increase in the number of thematic areas on the open data platform, compared to the 17 at the midterm assessment. ^[51]

Between September and October 2018, the portal was unavailable. ^[52] It became available again in November 2018.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did not change

This commitment did not change government openness regarding access to information because the open data portal was initiated in 2014, not under the OGP process. The government did not disclose additional information or improve the quality of already disclosed information during the implementation period.

Carried Forward?

The commitment was carried forward into the new national action plan for 2018−2020 (Commitment 9). In the new action plan, the government acknowledges that while it implemented a government portal, it lacks contributions from a significant number of public entities. In addition, data was not always published in reusable formats, and available data was not necessarily being utilized. The new Commitment 9 seeks to remedy these shortcomings.