In search of open government: 3 questions for Satou Annick Kante
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OpenData Media 2As Communications Officer at the organisation Social Justice, Satou Annick Kante plays a key role in civil society. Her aim? To encourage budget transparency in Côte d'Ivoire. Social Justice is at the heart of a platform that campaigns for and promotes the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and, therefore, open data.
What sparked your interest in Open Data?
After university, I worked for several organisations in the health sector, and more specifically in HIV prevention and the fight against child labour in Côte d'Ivoire's cocoa farming industry. Having worked with non-governmental organisations, I was approached by a number of other organisations, which led me to joining Social Justice. That's when I started to work in the field of open data. I must admit I didn't know much about governance and the fight against corruption at first, but it's something that's becoming more and more important to me. It's a vital and worthwhile cause. Populations cannot be left in the dark any longer; they need to know what actions their governments are taking. Those in power also need to feel they have a duty to account for what they do with taxpayers' money.
Why did you decide to take part in the Open Data Media 2 project?
I work in communication, so I should have a lot of tools available to me in this area. Except that I don't. Correctly processing the data I have access to, "cleaning" them, is extremely time-consuming. I would often delegate the work to someone else. I've learned a lot from this project – in particular, how to clean data myself using software programmes that are not only open-source, but also free. All I had to do was to download them and then learn how to use them! I was recruited following a selection process and I am delighted to be involved in the project.
What are you hoping to achieve in Côte d'Ivoire with open data?
That's something that's very close to my heart, because my aim is to bring about radical behaviour changes, to make a real difference. To start with, I want to publish data on the smallest social scale – in other words, at a local level. So our plan is to publish local budgets within our communities. We're working on that right now, and I'll be using all the tools I've learned to use to set up the project. During the OGP summit, I'd also really like it if decisions were made and concrete solutions found so that real action is taken, not only on those in power, but also on populations.
