I came to Ethiopia this week to
participate at the Data Revolution workshop taking place at the Economic
Commission of Africa headquarters in Addis Ababa between March 26 and
30, 2015.
After
registration, I drifted into an Africa Committee of Experts (ACE)
meeting, another conference taking place here to discuss Agenda 2063, a
blueprint that is supposed to guide the African Union (AU) towards
prosperity and a realisation of an enduring pan-African vision of
unity.
The
first speaker was introducing the January 2015 resolutions by the AU
Summit, the highest decision making organ of the Union. What struck me
was not the beautiful goals our leaders expect to achieve, but the lack
of passion and commitment in the faces of presenters.
It
is usually difficult to read African facial expressions, but some
things are simply unmistakable, and disinterest is high on the list.
None of the goals has timelines, or who is to accomplish which actions
using what means. It was classic African palaver, smack right in the
middle of Africa’s talking shop.
Agenda 2063is
one of the resolutions agreed upon by the African Union Golden Jubilee
of May 2013. At that time, the AU in its own words, “rededicated itself
to the Pan African vision of ―an integrated, prosperous and peaceful
Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in
the global arena.”
In what they called our aspirations for the “Africa We Want,” they came up with a seven point agenda that includes:
- A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development
- An integrated continent, politically united and based on the ideals of Pan Africanism and the vision of Africa’s Renaissance
- An Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law
- A peaceful and secure Africa
- An Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics
- An Africa where development is people-driven, unleashing the potential of its women and youth
- Africa as a strong, united and influential global player and partner.
This
indeed is a noble agenda but we all know AU does not have the
implementation capacity necessary for achieving these things. It is
virtually a toothless dog.
Does
it make sense for AU to continue calling for meetings that pass
resolutions that are not implementable? Perhaps AU should spend some of
the money used in such meetings on feasibility studies for projects
which, if constructed, would have a tremendous impact on the goal of
integration.
Take
the example of infrastructure. If AU undertakes to build
transcontinental infrastructure, that is, roads and telecommunications,
integration will occur naturally.
Further,
if AU invested in a continental army, Africa would reduce internal
conflict and foster peace, and hence achieve the political stability
necessary for development to take place.
Without
the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), an active, regional
peacekeeping mission operated by the AU with the approval of the United
Nations in Somalia, no progress could have been made in Somalia.
AU
must now scale up military operations to include Central Africa where
there are raging political conflicts, and West Africa where Boko Haram
is virtually eroding Africa’s emergent confidence.
The
force must be supported with a rapid technical team to provide support
for transitional governmental structures, implement a national security
plan, train the security forces in the countries of intervention and
assist in creating a secure environment for the delivery of humanitarian
aid.
Eventually,
the Pan African security force will act as a deterrent force to the
many conflicts in Africa, and ultimately, all African states will be
convinced to accept Federal Africa (FA).
As
we go along, we will build common ethics and governance standards
through open systems that can help build the required trust for Africa
to be united.
AFRICA-WIDE OPEN GOVERNANCE
As
the ACE sought for ways of implementing Agenda 2063, we discussed how
open data would help improve governance in Africa in our meeting next
door. Attempts to get African countries to join the Open Governance
Partnership (OGP) in 2011 failed.
However,
this year, the international community will adopt a new global compact
for open governance, environmental justice and democratic development.
Therefore, the workshop that I am attending, on rebooting the open data
revolution in Africa, is an essential accelerator for the success of the
Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.
It
provides African governments, non-state actors and citizens with the
capacity to make effective public policy choices and decisions, as well
as build public accountability. It is a people-driven initiative that
will eventually catalyse service delivery in Africa when the continent
embraces Open Data. The Web Foundation describes open data as content
that “can be freely used, modified, and shared by anyone for any
purpose.”
Making
information held by governments open, free and useful for citizens
improves state efficiency, transparency and accountability. It is a
necessary factor in the right to information and participation as well
as shared economic growth.
The workshop looks at the power of using open data to transform four public policy areas in Africa. The four are:
- Public budgeting, procurement and contracting;
- Ownership and behaviour of private companies and key natural resources (energy, oil, gas, land, etc.);
- Public leadership integrity and performance (financial interests, performance campaign contributions, performance appraisals, records of debates, etc.);
- Realisation of human and peoples’ rights (census, women, health, education, inequalities, rights enjoyment or denial, etc.)
In
the workshop, we shall have the opportunity to review the progress of
open data adoption in Africa, create new a vision, progress markers and
new strategies for deepening and broadening the open data revolution
Africa desperately needs.
It
is perhaps important to know that open data analytics and visualisation
are far more important than simply for ruffling governments. When
productivity declines, like it is happening today in Kenya in some
sectors, we must blame ourselves for not using data to helps us predict
the future.
When
cancer ravages through the villages like it is doing now, we need data
to know which cancers are from what villages, and what has significantly
changed among the affected communities and their environment.
American
doctors working at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya’s Rift Valley region
eliminated oesophageal cancer after investigating patterns of the
disease and environmental changes.
Diabetes
incidences in Kenya are highly concentrated in certain regions of the
country, which makes it easier to study the environment and avoid future
cases.
The
same is true for hypertension, as some locations have higher incidences
than others. This is why I pray that African governments would see
sense in anonymising data and opening it up in order for the public to
find answers.
INDUSTRIAL-SCALE PLANTATIONS
Already, Ethiopia is at the forefront of utilising data to make informed decisions.
Frustrated
with subsistence farming that has confined her people to perpetual
poverty, Ethiopians have decided to transform parts of the country,
especially around the Omo River Basin, where they have transformed more
than 375,000 hectares (1450 square miles) into industrial-scale
plantations for sugar and other crops. Through a rural urbanisation
scheme, more than 260,000 people have been resettled.
Some
civil society groups are fighting this transformative project. Many of
those fighting the project were perhaps not born in 1983 when Ethiopia
went through a devastating widespread famine that by 1985 had killed
more than 400,000 people, occasioning a global appeal for humanitarian
aid.
It
was the worst famine ever to hit the country in a century. It came at a
time when Ethiopia was in a conflict with Eritrea, which may have
contributed to the human rights abuses during the skirmishes.
Others
argued that climatic causes and consequences certainly played a part in
the tragedy. It has been proven that widespread drought occurred only
some months after the famine was under way. Nevertheless, it was a
lesson for Africa to shift from primitive farming practices into more
mechanised farming methods with greater productivity.
'CANNOT SHARE DATA'
Today,
much has changed, and some data analysts are leveraging American open
satellite data to predict rainfall patterns in Africa. This is
happening when African meteorological departments hide data from the
public eye.
Of
what use are these institutions which, although funded publicly, cannot
share data to save our lives? Using technologies available today, it
is possible to advise farmers on what crops they need to grow in order
to optimally use their meagre land resources.
Data
might even be able to inform us why some counties in Kenya that used to
be the breadbasket of the country will soon start relying on handouts.
Already, such warnings have been sounded to Kisii County where
excessive land subdivision has literally made able farmers look like
street beggars.
It
takes great leadership to enable transformation to take place. We can
transform Africa into a prosperous continent but we cannot do it without
data that gives us the knowledge to make informed policy decisions.
Data
tells us about the past, and is also necessary for predicting the
future. It is perhaps why Steven Levitt said “Data, I think, is one of
the most powerful mechanisms for telling stories. I take a huge pile of
data and I try to get it to tell stories.”
The writer is an Associate Professor at University of Nairobi’s Business School.Twitter: @bantigito
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