Presentation during the 14th Association of African Universities (AAU) Conference and African Open Science Platform (AOSP)/Research Data Alliance (RDA) Workshop in Accra, Ghana, 7-8 June 2017.

1. Prof Muliaro Wafula, PhD, FCCS, FCSK
Director, iCEOD and Associate Prof Computing Department
JKUAT
muliaro@icsit.jkuat.ac.ke
1
African Open Science Platform-RDA Workshop Held on 7 – 8 June 2017 at La
Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra Ghana
Open Data/Science National Case
Study of Kenya

2. Introduction (In) 1 : Open Data support for Smart
and Sustainable Development (SSD)
Open Data Value (EU ,2016)
2

3. In 2: ICT application for SSD (Source: World Economic Forum
Report, March 2015)
3

4. In 3: Use of ICT for Disaster Management
Develop early warning systems
 Enhancing coordination, cooperation, and logistics;
Develop databases of key disaster response agents
Adopt and implement Tempere Convetio
 calls for streamlining of disaster relief process by waiving
regulatory barriers & and putting in place procedures that maximize
access life saving ICT systems (SSDM Report, 2015)
4

5. In 4: Smart learning
Make learning process adaptive, effective, efficient, engaging,
flexible and accessible (Spector, 2014).
Provide learner‐centred environments that are intelligent and
open, and integrate digital virtual reality learning (Zhong & Zhang,
2006)
Use quality education to achieve SDGs- Poverty, hunger, good
health, quality education, gender equality, clean water & energy,
economic growth, smart cities etc
5

6. In 5: Smart Sustainable Cities
Deploy IoTs and sensors
Install instruments for data collection and processing in
support for efficient & effective city mgt & planning
Build human capacity needed to support proper use of ICT
Build reliable heterogeneous ICT systems that support
interoperability
Enable use and aggregation of data by systems and services
6

7. In 6: Open Data Policy Development
• Open Data policy development need to be based on the following
three pillars:
1. C-context
2. C-content
3. I-impact
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8. In 7: Policy Context Pillar
Key factors include:
Level of Gov organization
Key motivations, policy objectives
Open data platform launch
Resource allocation & economic context
Legislation
Social, cultural & Political context
Drivers for open data
Forces against Opening data
8

9. In 8: Policy Content Pillar
Key factors include:
Licensing
Access fee
Data restriction
Data presentation
Contact with user
Amount published
Processing before publishing
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Cost of opening
Types of Data
Data Formats & stds
Data quality
Provision of metadata

10. In 9: Policy Impact Pillar
Key factors include:
Re-use of published data
Possible predicted risks
Benefits aligned with motivation
Public value
Transparency & accountability
Economic growth
Entrepreneurial open data use/ innovation
Efficiency
Environmental sustainability
Inclusion of marginalized 10

11. In 10: Key Strategic Pillars of Sustainable Open Data
Programs
Support open data infrastructure build based on open data
policies standards and supportive legal and licensing frameworks
Make data publishing and access available and easy
Create feedback channels for data users
Prioritize dataset that users want
Address quality issues of datasets
Protect privacy rights
Provide clear, consistent, and useful metadata
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12. In 11: Open data implementation best
practices
• Have an open data policy ( e.g. JORD-JKUAT)
• Ensure easy to understand content & formatting
• Release high-value and high-impact data first
• Ensure compatibility and interoperability of systems (e.g. Kenya
Health sector DHARC project –USAID/JKUAT)
• Establish data ownership
• Involve stakeholders
• Plan for open data advocacy (e.g. KALRO)
• Implement interaction and feedback mechanism
• Build communities of data producers and users
• Organize training programs
• Organize hackathons( eg CODATA, JAPAN ai AFRICA Project, IBM,
JKUAT, USAID have sponsored hackathon on Agriculture and Health
sector open data to promote innovations and data use in Kenya) 12

13. Open Data Initiative(ODI) 1: JORD Policy
 JKUAT with the technical assistance of CODATA, developed and
implemented an open research data policy (JORD) Policy
(February 2016)
 JORD expected benefits include
1. ROI
2. Encouragement of diverse studies and opinion
3. Promotion of new areas of work not envisioned by the initial
investigators.
4. Strengthen the credibility of scholarly publications
5. Development of new products and services
6. Support JKUAT open data platform
(https://opendata.jkuat.ac.ke)
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14. Designed in
consultation
with IBM Expert
(Ben Mann)
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ODI 2: JKUAT Open Data Platform

15. ODI 3: Innovative Open Data and Visualization
(iODaV)-JKUAT and PAUST
The specific objectives of AFRICA ai JAPAN Project Sub-Task Force are as
follows:
Enable and promote innovations based on open research data
published, preserved and accessible for sharing and reuse.
Enable and promote innovations and decision making process through
use of data, information and scientific visualization
Support Smart Learning
Support and promote conformity with open data principles, standards
and JKUAT Open Research Data (JORD) Policy
Support and enable multidisciplinary research activities.
Enable use and reuse of research data to accelerate innovations and
achievement of the Kenya Vision 2030, and the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) in Kenya and the region
Link and be linked to other open data platforms.
iODaV supporting open data research and innovation. See Link
http://www.jkuat.ac.ke/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Innovation-Research-Grants-AFRICA-ai-
JAPAN-Project.pdf 15

16. ODI 4: DRAFT NATIONAL INFORMATION &
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT) POLICY
JUNE 2016 (http://icta.go.ke/pdf/National-ICT-Policy-20June2016.pdf)
• Article 5.10 –Data Centre:The government will:
 Promote Data Centre infrastructure buildout carried out in
cognizance of globally approved standards for purposes of
ensuring quality of service under open access, carrier neutral
model;
 (b) Develop incentives to ensure and protect investment in the
field of data centre;
(c) Facilitate the development and enactment of legislation on
localization to support growth in IT service consumption – as an
engine to spur data centre growth;
(d) Ensure that Data is processed fairly and lawfully in accordance
with the rights of citizens and obtained only for specific, lawful
purposes;
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17. ODI 4….2
• Article 7.1- Digital Content
 (a) Adopting Open Data principles: - in order to share
historical/archive data that can be a rich source for the creative
and broadcast industry;
(b) Promoting Animation Labs (A-Lab):- Government will support
incubation labs focused on animation & film production that is
largely computer generated;
(c) Content Ratings: - The Government will, develop policies and
legislation that take into consideration age appropriate content
that upholds national values.
(d) Copyright Protection:- Government will recognise digital
content as copyright material and will actively protect the rights
of copyright owners through law enforcement to prevent digital
content piracy. 17

18. ODI 4….3
• 15.4 Information Security
The government will develop information security
policies and guidelines to ensure protection of the
confidentiality, integrity and availability of
information
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19. ODI 4…4
• 17.4 E-Services : 17.4.1 E-Health Services
• Use electronic systems to ensure an efficient and standardized process
for recording patient information;
• Improve accessibility to medical research, information sharing and
training through online educational programs and applications
• Providing IT facilities in all public health facilities for administration and
management of health processes;
• Providing IT training to medical staff;
• Setting standards and norms for IT in the healthcare system;
• Developing legislation governing telemedicine, health information
systems;
• Establishment of national resource centres for IT in the healthcare
system; and
• Developing a central database on disease and treatment to be used as a
shared resource tool medical personnel in various parts of the country
to enhance prompt curative services and better public health
management. 19

20. ODI 4…5
• 17.4.2 E-Agriculture
Promote local mobile applications targeting farmers in various
geographical regions across Kenya;
Build ICT capacity in agricultural institutions, farmer organizations
and groups;
Encourage ICT infrastructure deployment across the country
Promote use of ICTs in agricultural research, development and
innovation so as to be more responsive to farmers’ needs;
Promote collaborations in agriculture using ICT among Kenya
government agencies, private sector, farmers and other
international organizations such as F.A.O and ITU
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21. ODI 5: DIGITAL HEALTH APPLIED RESEARCH CENTRE
(DHARC) -JKUAT
• DHARC is one of the deliverables of HIGDA Project funded
by USAID 5 yr project started Oct 2016
• DHARC will play a crucial role in supporting the wide scale
implementation of interoperability solutions.
• DHARC - a center of applied research, focusing on
implementation science and the socio-technical aspects
• It will provide examples of how key components (DHIS2,
DATIM, MFL ver2, AMRS and other mHealth solutions)
interoperate, providing guidelines-based care workflows,
policies, and M&E mandates.
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22. ODI 5…2 DHARC Benefits
• The Lab is designated to be a center for applied research.
• DHARC will leverage the university’s existing relationship with
other academic institutions and will be a participant in regions
eHealth research network initiatives
• Afford vendors an opportunity to readily test new product
development and integration adaptors against a standard
compliant implementation
• DHARC will join a network of interoperability labs which have
been established in Canada (2007), South Africa (2010), and the
Philippines (2016).
• Cultivate and foster joint collaborations and relationships with
private sector organizations that have leading edge capabilities
regarding HIS technological underpinnings
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23. ODI 6: Open Data and its Relevance in Agricultural
Research: The Case of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands
Agricultural Productivity Research Project (ASAL APRP)
• A total of 54 Scientists and Partners implementing the ASAL-
APRP activities were sensitized on the role of open data in
agricultural research, concepts, principles, data management,
best practices and the value of data through data sharing
• Over 30 datasets on ASAL-APRP activities were collected and
published on the ASAL Knowledge Hub.
• It is envisaged that raising awareness of open data in agriculture
research has the potential to contribute to food security in the
ASALs
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24. ODI 6…2
• Agricultural Science Technology Indicators (ASTI)
Kenya Data is another initiative.
• It is led by International Food Policy and Research
Institute (IFPRI) and managed by KALRO.
• ASTI datasets include: financial and human
resources, institutional information, and Research
and Development (R&D).
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25. ODI 6….3 Case of operationalizing
Open Data system in KALRO
• The ASAL-APRP used to pilot on the Open data
operationalization:
Sensitization of ASALAPRP management, scientists
and partners on open data,
 Data mining, business analytics and visualization,
 Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and
Mobile applications development and
 Commercialization of data and innovations in
Agricultural research
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26. ODI 6…4
• 54 Participated- strong concerns regarding
plagiarism and perceived abuse of open data
• As a way forward participants were willing to
adopt open data if guided by institutional and
national policies, with condition that data
repositories are managed and owned by the
ASALAPRP or KALRO
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27. Thank you!
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