In an article for, Newstime Africa on open data platforms, Mr. Jay Naidoo, founding General Secretary of Cosatu, former Minister in the Mandela Government and Chair of a GAIN a Global Foundation Fighting malnutrition in the World wrote
“New models are needed to increase sustainability. Open data is not just government data — it can come from many sources. Several host organisations have begun to set up their own data desks, to convert and re-organise hard copy data into digital, downloadable formats that can inform and deepen their reporting and analysis. Partnerships with media and info-mediaries can help make open data benefit citizens. Translating data into action requires many steps, with “info-mediaries” playing a key role – to analyse and turn data into visualisations and applications that citizens use and want. But making open data work depends on culture change. And this takes time and a lot of work.
What we need is the political will to co-create the tools with citizens and civil society, and to harness the expertise and technology of the marketplace to deliver the services to which our citizens have a right.”