On Saturday 7th March 2020, the tenth 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 funders – Datopian, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Hivos, the Latin American Open Data Initiative (ILDA), Mapbox, Open Contracting Partnership and Resource Watch – the Open Knowledge Foundation was able to give out more than 60 mini-grants this year.

Sadly several events had to be cancelled or delayed as the COVID-19 pandemic affected countries around the world but some of our grantees were able to swiftly adapt their plans in order to deliver engaging virtual Open Data Day celebrations.

The community registered a total of 307 events on the Open Data Day map with events taking place in every timezone and the Open Knowledge Foundation team captured some of the great conversations across Asia/Oceania, Africa/Europe and the Americas by using Twitter Moments.

Mini-grant scheme

This year’s tracks for the Open Data Day 2020 mini-grant support scheme were:

• Environmental data: Using open data to illustrate the urgency of the climate emergency and spurring people to take a stand or make changes in their lives to help the world become more environmentally sustainable.
• Tracking public money flows: Expanding budget transparency, diving into public procurement, examining tax data or raising issues around public finance management by submitting Freedom of Information requests.
• Open mapping: Learning about the power of maps to develop better communities.
• Data for equal development: How can open data be used by communities to highlight pressing issues on a local, national or global level? Can open data be used to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs?

Below you can read reports from all of the events which took place thanks to these mini grants:

Environmental data

• Escuela de Fiscales – Open data for environmental activism in Argentina
• Adamawa Agricultural Development Programme – Managing fisheries in Nigeria using open data
• Afonte Jornalismo de Dados (Afonte Data Journalism) – Connecting environmental politics and data in Brazil
• Department of Agriculture at the Asuogyaman District Assembly in Ghana – Discussing agriculture, rainfall and climate data in Ghana
• Tangaza University College – Opening up data to counter climate change in Kenya
• University of Dodoma – Teaching girls about environmental data in Tanzania
• iWatch Africa – Tracking deforestation in West Africa with satellites and drones
• Africa Open Data and Internet Research Foundation – Raising awareness of open data in Ghana
• Sustenta – Sustainable development, climate change and podcasting in Mexico
• Grafoscopio / HackBo – Creating the Coronapedia, a COVID-19 information site for Colombia
• Youth for Environmental Development – Mapping waste dumping locations in Malawi
• WikiRate – A climate data sprint in Germany focused on renewable energy
• Open Cities Lab – Creating open air quality data with low-cost sensors in South Africa
• ACCESA – Exploring climate change data in Costa Rica
• Young Volunteers for the Environment – Promoting the use of data for environmental protection in Togo
• Técnicas Rudas – Designing a zine about environmental data in Mexico

Tracking public money flows

• Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative – Transparency, accountability and freedom of information in Nigeria
• EldoHub – Tracking spending by Kenya’s county governments
• FollowTheMoney Kaduna – Freedom of information and open contracting in Nigeria
• Alliance of Independent Journalists – Improving journalists’ data literacy in Indonesia
• Afroleadership – Exploring budget data in Cameroon
• Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST Malawi) – Empowering grassroots organisations to demand infrastructure data in Malawi
• Bareedo Platform – Spreading awareness of open contracting in Somalia
• Perkumpulan Inisiatif – Analysing open budget data in Indonesia
• Dataphyte – Using budget and contract data to strengthen democracy in Nigeria
• Diálogos – Data scouting on public procurement in Guatemala
• 1991 Open Data Incubator – Celebrating open data users in Ukraine
• LEAD University – Examining public procurement data in Costa Rica
• Infoculture – Bringing together the open data community in Russia 
• Kikandwa Rural Communities Development Organisation – Raising awareness of budget information in Uganda
• Centre for Information, Peace and Security in Africa – Open data for accurate information in Tanzania
• CONSTRUIR Foundation – A public contracting data camp in Bolivia
• Ojoconmipisto – Teaching students to tell stories with budget data in Guatemala
• Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria – Amplifying civil society voices focused on nutrition in Nigeria

Open mapping

• Exegetic Analytics – Empowering R users to work with open spatial data in South Africa
• OpenMap Development Tanzania – Open mapping data for development in Tanzania
• TuTela Learning Network – Migrant women, housing activism and collective mapping in Spain
• Open Data Institute Leeds – Playing with air quality, land ownership and climate data in the UK
• Girolabs – Celebrating open data initiatives in Paraguay
• Open Knowledge Belgium – Mapping street names in Belgium by gender
• BloGoma – Promoting open data to journalists and artists in the DRC
• Map Kibera – Teaching open mapping skills in Africa’s largest urban slum
• University of Pretoria – Open mapping minibus routes in South Africa
• Federal University of Bahia – Mapping to support the fight against COVID-19 in Brazil
• Youth Innovation Lab – Crowdsourcing streetlights data for Kathmandu
• Transparência Hackday Portugal – Hacking, learning and open mapping in Portugal

Data for equal development

• Footprints Bridge International – Generating jobs for young people in Ghana
• Bangladesh chapter of Creative Commons – Bringing the benefits of open resources to Bangladesh
• Nigeria’s National Institute for Freshwater Fisheries Research – Agricultural data for equal development in Nigeria
• MapBeks – Mapping HIV facilities and LGBT-friendly spaces in the Philippines
• Khumbo Bangala Chirembo – Sharing the benefits of open data with librarians in Malawi
• Future Lab – Raising visibility of women and the LGBT community in Mexico
• Zimbabwe Library Association – The importance of libraries and access to information in Zimbabwe
• Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) – Harnessing open data for agricultural business opportunities in the DRC
• Datasketch – Lightning talks on data projects in Colombia
• Youths in Technology and Development Uganda – Embracing the FAIR data principles in Uganda
• Ligalab – Celebrating community data projects in Mexico
• Association SUUDU ANDAL – Open data for accountability in Burkina Faso
• Fundación Conocimiento Abierto – Exploring gender and diversity data in Argentina
• NaimLab – Exploring open data and digital transformation in Peru
• YWCA Honduras – Collecting data in Honduras on female migration and gender-based violence
• We Are Capable Data for Good Namibia (WACDGN) – Discussing the lack of public data in Namibia

Thanks to everyone who organised or took part in these celebrations and see you next year for Open Data Day 2021!