Transforming from Open Data to Open Data Kosovo
Open data refers to data that can be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone, without any restrictions. This is exactly what Open Data Kosovo (ODK), a nonprofit civic-tech organisation, is achieving through their various data and government driven initiatives.
Open data day is a special day for Open Data Kosovo as it symbolizes the importance of opening data in Kosovo to further strengthen local governments and civil society. Not only does this day represent the significance of open data, but it also provides an opportunity for the organisaiton to reflect on the enormous amount of work they have accomplished over the years in order to create a more open, transparent, and accountable government in the young country of Kosovo.
The small but mighty team of civic-tech enthusiasts at ODK focus solely on the power of data in the public hands, ensuring that information is open and easy to access and understand. To further spread the word of opening data and good governance, ODK’s work also contributes to the world of digital transformation and capacity and community building. Overall, accessibility to government data, ICT-educated youth, and active citizenship lie at the heart of ODK’s mission.
Throughout the years, ODK has developed and implemented numerous initiatives that have led to increasing awareness and promotion of opening data in Kosovo. From its year of establishment in 2014 — till now, ODK has implemented 18 projects, developed 30 digital solutions, produced 16 publications, and has gained over 15 local and international donors and working partners. The organisation’s work encompasses various projects that foster open data in order to support data-driven decision-making, policy-making, and process optimizations for day to day strategies as well as create a more transparent and open government.
One of ODK’s earlier achievements is the open procurement platform of Pristina. The platform, Open Contracts, allows citizens to monitor information on bids for government projects and their subsequent execution. Aside from a basic contract search function, the platform also graphs the contracts awarded over the last few years, the ten largest buyers of government bidding projects, and the ten largest recent bidding projects. All information dating back to 2010 has been rendered in downloadable file types for people to download and use for free.
In response to creating a more open and transparent government, ODK created the Open Government Data Portal in 2016 that serves as a tool for government officials to enable transparency through the publication of government datasets. The published datasets are categorized by their relevant fields such as, the government and public sector, health, agriculture, economy and finance, etc., which are published in open formats for anyone to use, modify and share.
Another ODK achievement that was created in the early stages of the organization is Walk Freely (Ec Shlirë), a mobile app that is co-developed between Open Data Kosovo, Girls Coding Kosova, and Kosovo Women’s Network. This app enables users who are sexually harassed to anonymously submit information and presents visual graphs on harassment incidences in different locations. Since the launch of the app in 2015, there have been over 500 complaints that have been filed by users. The app is the end-product of a series of workshops with young women from Kosovo who were taught how to programme mobile apps.
A more recent project that ODK is in the midst of working on is the Boost Good Governance initiative. This project aims to enhance the openness and transparency of the Kosovo Parliament and the Office of the Prime Minister by encouraging open data practices and increased communication between CSOs and citizens. ODK has measured the Openness Index, which measures how open institutions are through desk research, interviews, and questionnaires. Furthermore, ODK will be soon launching the eParticipation platform as part of the implementation of the Boost Good Governance project. eParticipation is an inclusive platform which aims to engage citizens in decision-making and public service delivery by submitting issues to specific Members of the Assembly, following the activities of the Parliament and directly submitting electronic forms.
Considering the lack of digital tools that school children have faced during the situation with the pandemic, ODK in collaboration with Kosovo Center for Distance Education developed a tracking system to identify the number of children who have been left behind due to this digital divide. The overall aim of the Connect-ed Kosova Tracking System is to facilitate children’s access to education while also assisting on the bridge of the digital divide among the school children in need. This platform gathers data from municipal directorates, which are then entered into a dashboard, to track and identify the number of children without digital tools and serves as a platform that will help overcome the technology gap among children in Kosovo.
Open Data Kosovo has developed many more open information projects, including the border wait platform that enables Kosovo citizens to better plan their cross border trips and a revamped web portal called Open Businesses, which tables legally registered companies in Kosovo. These are just some of the many more projects that the organisation has and is currently working on, check out ODK’s website to learn more about the work they do as their projects are 100% open-source and free to use for anyone.
In addition to the open data projects, ODK has a huge focus on capacity building within the community due to the importance of ICT skills and the great demand in the labor market for such skills. The organisation has trained more than 3000 tech and open data enthusiasts coming from different sectors and guided them to better skills development.
The Techstitution project engages youth in learning practical software engineering skills by developing technologies to digitize institutional platforms. Techstitution has empowered over 500 youth and adolescent participants to understand the technology that shapes our lives, become active citizens, create a portfolio of their own technological solutions, and to become part of the greater local tech community.
Not only has ODK trained youngsters in the world of open data and technology, but they also held the Open Data Training for CSO and Media representatives as part of the Open Government Data Ecosystems project back in 2020. The workshop decomposed the concept of open data, what lies behind such a concept, and how open data can be used and understood. The workshop fostered a collaborative knowledge sharing environment where participants shared their own experiences with open data.
Currently, ODK is training youth around Kosovo virtually on the topic of web development to promote entrepreneurship and innovation by improving the skills of young people in the field of ICT. The project Tech-Zvhillim-Tech-Punësim Për Të Rinjtë, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports in Kosovo, not only is offering free training, but also the opportunity for eight successful participants to become interns at ODK where they are able to gain hands on experience in web development and become more proficient in the field of ICT.
Besides the many open data projects and training workshops, ODK also holds the annual [G]overnment [O]pen [T]ransparent_Data Conference that represents the intersection between Technology, Government and Data while grasping the revolutionized and digitized landscape on how we interact on a daily basis with the government, businesses and citizens. The latest edition of the GOT_Data International Conference 2021 tackled the theme of “Embracing Digital Transformation in the region: Digital Agenda, Data Protection and Good Governance” to reflect on the latest efforts made in terms of the implementation of the Digital Agenda for the Western Balkan countries, the importance of Data Protection across the region, and promoting Good Governance as a result of open data practices.
ODK also wants to help you start your journey with open data in order to bring enormous benefits to citizens, businesses, and organizations. Check out the resources below!
Open Data Toolkit/toolbox
Websites to access and download free datasets
Data Visualization tools
