This year Condatos, one of the most important regional open data conferences in Latin America and the Caribbean, was held in Quito, Ecuador, between August 29 and 30, with the participation of Cepei and actors from different sectors: public, private, academy, civil society and citizenship.
WHAT IS CONDATOS?
VII Regional Open Data Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean, Condatos is made of conferences, panel discussions and work sessions on issues related to the open data ecosystem and open government.
Cepei participated in two parallel events, one of which we co-organized, to discuss alternative data sources and open data for the monitoring of the 2030 Agenda, as well as the contribution of companies (business measurement) to the SDGs.
The first event was the “Regional Workshop on Open Data and Alternative Data Sources for the Monitoring of the SDGs in Latin America”, organized by Grupo Faro, together with Cepei, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and Innovapp of the University of Costa Rica. Participants -representatives of local governments, citizen groups and civil society organizations, government agencies and academics- discussed the potential of alternative sources of information for the measurement and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals in the LAC region, including open data and citizen-generated data.
Before the working groups started, a session of data experts took place, moderated by Ana Patricia Muñoz, Executive Director of Grupo Faro. Among the panelists were: Lorena Moreno, Director of Innovation in Metrics and Methodologies of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) of Ecuador, who discussed the use of alternative data sources for official statistics; Alonso Ortiz, Engagement Manager of the Global Partnership, with a contribution on citizen-generated data; Jorge Umaña, Data Coordinator for Sustainable Development at the University of Costa Rica, who focused on open data for the SDGs in Costa Rica, and the Data Coordinator of Cepei, Fredy Rodríguez, whose contribution revolved around open data and business measurement for the SDGs.
“Open data empowers citizens by allowing a higher level of monitoring of government actions. It support transparency and democratic control processes; participation; improvement or creation of new products and services; innovation; improvement in the efficiency of the services offered by the government; measurement of the impact of public policies, among others”.
Fredy Rodríguez, Cepei
As for the workshop, it was developed in working tables moderated by representatives of the organizations responsible for the activity, and addressed the following topics:
- Table 1. Identification of new opportunities in which the use of alternative data sources can be applied, moderated by Fredy Rodríguez from Cepei.
- Table 2. Definition of what have been the main limitations for the use and access to alternative data sources from different sectors and mechanisms to overcome them, moderated by Alonso Ortiz of the Global Partnership.
- Table 3. Determination of the mechanisms or strategies for the use and access to alternative sources, moderated by Álvaro Andrade, Project Coordinator of Grupo Faro.
- Table 4. Identification of practical examples of how open data can be used to measure and monitor the SDGs in the region, moderated by Jorge Umaña of the University of Costa Rica.
The second parallel event where the Data Coordinator of Cepei participated was a panel on open data and SDGs, which explored the role of open data in the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Together with Álvaro Andrade, Project Coordinator of Grupo Faro, Alexandra Suasnavas, Regulations, Standardization and Statistical Quality Coordinator of INEC, open data initiatives that contribute to the follow-up of the 2030 Agenda were presented.
Cepei presented its Data Lab for sustainable development in Latin America, Data Republica, which performs a mapping of data sources by SDG to identify information gaps, level of production and data availability, as well as the organizations responsible for producing it; It offers training options on the use of data to contribute to the implementation o the 2030 Agenda; And promotes the creation of data-based stories, to make visible the progress in the implementation of the SDGs.