Open Data Medias 2, results 2019

Open Data Media 2 follows in the footsteps of projects already launched in Africa in the field of new media and digital innovation, such as Naila or Citizen Connections. Over the course of 17 months, 19 people from 13 countries in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa received support to become open data professionals.

Among them, five women working as journalists or leaders of civil society organisations participated in workshops to learn how to code and how to create and use databases in order to then use this type of information in their investigative activities. Having impressed with the commitment they showed throughout the project, they have shown great rigour and have gained recognition for their work in their countries of origin.

Creating a network of open data specialists in Africa 

This second edition of Open Data Media can claim to have built a solid and interdependent community of open data professionals who are capable of advocating for advancement towards greater democracy, transparency and better governance in their countries. For any future editions, improvements may be made to the project programme in order to give it a more specific and less theoretical focus, placing greater emphasis on the advocacy that the media and NGOs are calling for.

Correctly processing the data that I can access and cleaning it up requires a huge amount of time. In the past, I often delegated this job to somebody else. With this project, I learned a lot, in particular, how to clean up my data myself using open-source software that costs nothing. All I needed to do was download it and learn how to use it!
Satou Annick Kante, Communications Officer for Social Justice (Côte d’Ivoire)