; A Recipe For Open Data Revolution And Youth Participation In The Post 2015 Agenda

The democratic system of government largely practiced across the world is based on the belief that citizens play an important role in how governments arrive at decision making. The active participation of citizens in a democratic country is therefore inevitable. The principles of democracy are meticulously clear on the participation of citizens. Every citizen must on this background make a frantic effort to contribute his quota to every national development discourse since every decision government takes has an impact on each individual. However in most democratic countries especially in developing countries most people lack the space to participate in decision making mostly at the government level. In most of these instances the vulnerable such as women, children and the youth are the worst the affected. It is estimated that half the world constitute young people and in Africa about sixty five percent of the total population is below the age of thirty five years, and over thirty five percent are between the ages of fifteen and thirty five years - making Africa the most youth full continent. By 2020, it is projected that out of four people, three will be on average twenty years old. About 10 million young African youth arrive each year on the labour market (www.africa-youth.org/).
Therefore the marginalization of the youths in decision making has a dare consequence on good governance and development in general especially when they are battling with poverty, unemployment, HIV/AIDS among other pressing issues affecting them. One means of building the capacity of the youth to participate meaningfully in governance is making information or data accessible to them irrespective of their geographical location. In the wake of this, a new revolution is taking a hold that also has citizen participation as its integral goal. This is the Open Data concept.
Open Data Revolution
An open data is data that can be used freely, re-used and redistributed by any one-subject only at most to the requirement to attribute and share alike. The web dictionary defines open data as data that should be freely available for everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. In summary an open data must have the following attributes;
• Must be available
• Re-use and distribution
• Universal participation-everyone can use
Data is a vital national resource and a strategic asset which promotes efficiency and effectiveness in government, but also has the potential to create economic opportunity and improve citizens’ quality of life.
All over the world, national, regional, and local governments are practically releasing data which were formally only accessible to government officials. Ghana has the Ghana Open Data Initiative (GODI) which was established in 2012 by the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) to make data available to every citizen. GODI is also available to promote efficiency, transparency and accountability in governance. The open data revolution underscores the idea that government works most effectively when citizens participate. Open data creates room for citizens participating in how Policies and laws are formulated and passed, and how officials conduct the business of the people and finally how government services actually get delivered.
The Big Idea Project
In order to use data as a tool to empower young people to effectively hold decision making power, Restless Development a youth led agency is developing the big idea project for Post 2015. The project provides solution to how young people can actively access data, interpret and use it to their benefit in the Post 2015. Basically the big idea project aims at harnessing the potentials of young people to access existing data about the issues that affects them most such as unemployment, education, health, mobilize others and use it to drive progress against local and national development priorities. The big idea project is however expected to be piloted in Ghana, Tanzania and Nepal middle of this year. This necessitated the joint consultation meeting in Dar es salaam, Tanzania which brought participants from the three countries together. Participating in the joint consultation workshop showed me the road ahead, giving me a glimpse into where the open data revolution will take us as young people. The interesting aspect of the big idea project is the fact that young people are actively placed at the center of the project. As a youth development worker in Obuasi, Ghana I was particularly happy with the discussions on social accountability tools like community notices, budget tracking, monitoring and participation in budgeting. Despite our national diversity, we all face common challenges as young people basically health, education, and employment among others. Interactions with participants from Tanzania revealed that there is a mechanism in place where notices are given in communities on how much is allocated to them from the national budget every year. Community members are therefore able to easily track the budget. This practice encourages citizen participation and is on my agenda to start a strong advocacy on it in Ghana. This can be an important way of engaging marginalized and the excluded people in our country in governance work which can also be a yardstick for accountability and transparency. The global opening government survey for instance discovered that young people aged 18-25 in the 62 countries surveyed want their government to be more open. Youth involvement in governance is a necessity not just an option.
I encourage youth activist and young people in general to embrace the big idea project for us to take charge of decision making in a Post 2015 world. To find out more about the big idea project and Restless Development contact Emmanuel Edudzie, Project Coordinator on edudzie@yesghana.org
Ali Tanti Robert
Youth Media Group
YES-GHANA
tantirobert@yahoo.co.uk
The writer is also the Executive Director of Youth Alliance for Development (YAD), a youth focused NGO with its head office in Obuasi.