GLOBAL – Using a participatory approach, the Global Goals for Local Impact initiative captured local household data for impactful SDG implementation. This initiative worked with the community leaders to highlight the value of data in identifying development gaps and the needs that they must address in order to achieve the Global Goals at a local level. The Open Institute works with governments, civil society, private sector companies, media organisations and others to realize citizen-driven open societies in Africa, managed by informed, fact-driven citizens.
Citizen generated data was collected from every household in Lanet Umoja, Kenya (12,500) on all aspects relating to the SDGs, including security, food, agriculture, livelihoods, education, health, energy, water and sanitation. The collected data is visualized on a portal (which can be viewed at http://datalocal.info/lanet) to enable the entire community to engage with it. Using the data, the community was able to identify key areas for improvement, along with establishing accompanying solutions. Global Goals for Local Impact is amplifying their initiative to work with 12 locations (approximately 200,000 households) to replicate their work, along with working with the government to mainstream the project model on a national scale.
What is new with this initiative since winning an UN SDG Action Award?
Since winning an UN SDG Action Award, the Open Institute has developed Sabasi, a data collection tool which has been primed to work with low budget smartphones and in areas with limited internet connectivity. The new data collection tool assists individuals in prioritizing issues which they deem of significance to their community, while mitigating these issues through engagement with the government and other stakeholders. Through participatory collaboration, Open Institute continues to be a leader in developing projects aimed at leaving no one behind. Some of their latest initiatives have centered on the inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs) and artisanal small-scale miners.
The Open Institute has also scaled-up their collaborative efforts with governments at the sub-national level by assisting them in gathering SDG data which is not generally collected by the National Statistics Unit. The data is then curated, analyzed, and published in a timely fashion for decision making at the executive level, along with being made available at the local level for citizen engagement.
