Open Data Day 2021 event flyers
On Saturday 6th March 2021, the eleventh Open Data Day took place with people around the world organising over 300 events to celebrate, promote and spread the use of open data.
Thanks to the generous support of this year’s mini-grant funders –Microsoft, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Mapbox, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, Latin American Open Data Initiative, Open Contracting Partnership and Datopian – the Open Knowledge Foundation offered more than 60 mini-grants to help organisations run online or in-person events for Open Data Day.
We captured some of the great conversations across Asia/the Pacific, Europe/Middle East/Africa and the Americas using Twitter Moments.
Below you can discover all the organisations supported by this year’s scheme as well as seeing photos/videos and reading their reports to help you find out how the events went, what lessons they learned and why they love Open Data Day:

Environmental data

  • Code for Pakistan
    • A hack day to open and publish the block coordinates of the plantation conducted during the billion tree tsunami in Pakistan
    • Read event report
  • DRM Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
    • Preventing vulnerable communities from river floods through risk data collection, analysis and communication
    • Read event report
  • Escuela de Fiscales (Argentina)
    • Our goal is to show the community and other civil society organizations the importance of open data in preserving and caring for the environment, and the urgency of taking action against climate change and pollution, and how open data can improve public politics with the participation of citizens
    • Read event report
  • Government Degree College Bemina,J and K Higher Education (India)
    • Make the community aware about the availability and benefits of environmental data for addressing environmental concerns in Kashmir Valley
    • Read event report
  • Future Lab (Mexico)
    • Engage with the local community and enable citizen participation through the use of open data for the proposal of cleaner and more sustainable public policies
    • Read event report
  • IUCN (Switzerland)
    • We will talk about the PANORAMA initiative and web platform, which allows conservation practitioners to share and reflect on their experiences, increase recognition for successful work, and to learn with peers how similar challenges have been addressed around the globe
    • Read event report
  • Mijas Multimedia (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
    • Strengthen the community resilience to the rapid rise of Lake Tanganyika through the use of open data
    • Read event report
  • Niger Delta SnapShots (Nigeria)
    • Use open data to uncover hidden threats damaging Nigerian mangrove and demonstrate the necessity for urgent action to save Nigerian Mangrove
    • Read event report
  • Open Knowledge Nepal
    • Organise a datathon that will bring open data enthusiasts to work on the real-time air quality data and Twitter bot enhancement, so that people can use the service and get informed with the recent situations of air quality in their surroundings
    • Read event report
  • PermaPeople (Germany)
    • Present and discuss the importance and challenges of collecting and sharing open source data on plants and growing to assist in the growth of the regenerative movement
    • Read event report
  • Zanzibar Volunteers for Environmental Conservation (Tanzania)
    • The main goal is to contribute to open data initiatives by helping the students understand more about open data and environmental issues
    • Read event report

Tracking public money flows

Open mapping

  • DIH Slovenia
    • Disseminating existing open mapping solutions, sharing best practices and discussion of possibilities for improving life in communities through open mapping
    • Read event report
  • Federal University of Bahia (Brazil)
    • Strengthen a global network of community data collectors from communities, organisations, as well as academic institutions by 1) focusing on sharing experiences from specific cases where particular mapping tools were used as part of strategies of community empowerment and 2) using the insights to subsequently co-design a platform to empower data collectors globally
    • Read event report
  • Geoladies PH (Philippines)
    • Since March is International Women’s Month and 31st March is International Transgender Day of Visibility, we would like to hold an event that empowers and engages women (cisgender and transgender) to map out features and amenities (women support desks, breastfeeding stations, gender-neutral comfort rooms, and LGBT safe spaces) and feature lightning talks to highlight women in mapping
    • Read event report
  • GEOSM (Cameroon)
    • Host a “geo-evangelisation”, workshop in the use of JOSM (Java OpenStreetMap ) and GEOSM (the first 100% African open source geolocation platform)
    • Read event report
  • iLabs@Mak Project (Uganda)
    • To understand and value the need of Farmers’ Live Geo Map across food value chain in Africa to better food traceability and security
    • Read event report
  • LABIKS – Latin American Bike Knowledge Sharing
    • To promote and stimulate the sharing of open data about the bike-sharing systems in Latin America and to promote and discuss our online open map, aiming to improve it
    • Read event report
  • Monitor de Femicidios de UTOPIX (Venezuela)
  • Periféria Policy and Research Center
    • Learn about the relevance of open data in collective/critical mapping of gentrification in Hungary
    • Read event report
  • PoliMappers (Italy)
    • Host an introductory mapping event on OpenStreetMap so that students and people interested in collaborating gain the basic skills needed to tackle more advanced tools later in the year
    • Read event report
  • SmartCT (Philippines)
    • Launch the MapaTanda Initiative (a portmanteau of Mapa — which means a map — and Tanda — which can mean an older adult but can also mean remember); which is an initiative that seeks to improve the number and quality of data in OpenStreetMap that are important and relevant to older adults (senior citizens) and the ageing population (60+ years old) in the Philippines
    • Read event report
  • SUZA Youthmappers
    • Create awareness on open data data use, and how the students can use the data in developing innovative web and mobile applications to solve existing challenges in the society
    • Read event report
  • TuTela Learning Network in collaboration with local activists and researchers
    • Start a debate on alternative, community-managed forms of housing in the city of Lisbon based on the model of grant of use and raising awareness on the importance of accessible data on available real estate resources owned by the city
    • Read event report
  • Unificar Ações e Informações Geoespaciais – UAIGeo – Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei (UFSJ) 
    • Disseminate the use and importance of open data to support the solution of territorial tension points, the use of water and the preservation of cultural heritage, as well as providing participants with contacts with collaborative mapping applications
    • Read event report

Data for equal development

  • 254 Youth Policy Cafe (Kenya)
    • Undertake a webinar via the Zoom Platform themed “Leveraging Open Data as an Asset for Inclusive & Sustainable Development in Kenya”
    • Read event report
  • ACCESA (Costa Rica)
    • Explore, map, visualize and disseminate key data about the projects being implemented by the Territorial Councils of Rural Development, the main participatory bodies for fostering rural development in Costa Rica, and assess their progress, the money being spent on them, the results obtained, and their impact in narrowing the many social gaps that currently affect the different rural regions of the country
    • Read event report
  • Afroimpacto
    • Discuss the importance to the black community of the open data discussion
    • Read event report
  • CoST Honduras
    • Present how we can promote sustainable infrastructure by using data disclosed under the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard and engage citizens and civil society organisations to demand government accountability by using a tool called InfraS
    • Read event report
  • Dados Abertos de Feira (Brazil)
    • Promote and discuss the open data knowledge to our local community (city of Feira de Santana, countryside of Brazil), bringing together the academy, government agents and the society itself
    • Read event report
  • DataFest Tbilisi (Georgia)
    • Highlight and promote the use of data and data-driven products as an effective way to tackle pressing social issues and inequality
    • Read event report
  • Demokrasya (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
    • Raise awareness of the Congolese community especially the women’s rights community on the use of open data in defending the women’s accessibility to employment
    • Read event report
  • Fundación Eduna (Colombia)
    • Develop activities to address the issue of strengthening the capacity for creative thinking of children and young people in the central region of Colombia making use and taking advantage of open data
    • Read event report
  • Gênero e Número (Brazil)
    • Explore open data to get a comprehensive landscape on the labour market for women in Brazil during the pandemic
    • Read event report
  • Girls’ Tech-Changer Community (Cameroon)
    • Show the benefits of open data (such as an increase in efficiency, transparency, innovation, and economic growth) and to encourage the adoption of open data policies in various government bodies, businesses, and civil societies
    • Read event report
  • Hawa Feminist Coalition (Somalia)
    • Advance the production, dissemination and openness of sex-disaggregated data in Somalia in support of evidence-based planning and policy-making as well as tracking of progress by the government and other stakeholders to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
    • Read event report
  • Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania
    • Teaching community about the benefit of using data for development
    • Read event report
  • International Youth Alliance for Family Planning- TOGO (IYAFP-TOGO)
    • Develop an open map of contraceptive methods and service availability in Agbalepedo area
    • Read event report
  • IPANDETEC (Panama)
    • Train Panamanian women on their current position, role and future in the world of open data
    • Read event report
  • iWatch Africa
    • Demonstrate how equal development within the digital ecosystem in Africa can be improved by leveraging data on online abuse and harassment of female journalists
    • Read event report
  • Kiyita Foundation
    • Encourage local women to get access to data about economic development
    • Read event report
  • Madagascar Initiatives for Digital Innovation
  • Nepal Open Source Klub
    • We will create a glossary of technical terms and words that are commonly used on websites/in software and translate those into Nepali
    • Read event report
  • Nukta Africa (Tanzania)
    • Maximizing the use of open data to increase accountability through data journalism
    • Read event report
  • Programming Historian (Chile)
    • Walk participants through the process of visualising qualitative and quantitative development open data for equal development in Latin America, using open access tools
    • Read event report
  • Punch Up (Thailand)
    • Emphasise what would be lost if we don’t have open data in our country
    • Read event report
  • Rausing Zimbabwe
    • Create a platform and outlet for information distribution, updates and discussion with communities on the issues surrounding peace and security in the age of the pandemic
    • Read event report
  • Vilnius Legal Hackers (Lithuania)

Thanks to everyone who organised or took part in these celebrations and see you next year for Open Data Day 2022!
Need more information?
If you have any questions, you can reach out to the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Open Data Day team by emailing opendataday@okfn.org or on Twitter via @OKFN.