The document investigates the impact of Kenya's open data initiative on marginalized communities, using a mixed-methods approach to gather quantitative and qualitative data. It focuses on how the initiative assists these communities in accessing vital social services related to health and education, while also examining public perceptions and experiences regarding governance and service delivery. Key findings include that over half of the respondents believe the open data portal has improved service delivery and facilitated dialogue between the government and the public.

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INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF
KENYA’S OPEN DATA INITIATIVE
ON MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES:
CASE STUDY OF URBAN SLUMS
AND RURAL SETTLEMENTS
ODDC OPEN SESSION: DEC 10, 2013, CAPETOWN

2. Research Methodology


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This work uses triangulation of research methods. It is
necessary this approach because there are many
factors that influence people’s perceptions of and
attitudes towards governance processes and
service delivery.
We consider it important to adopt a three-tier
approach in collecting data: quantitative, semiqualitative and one-on-one interviews with
respondents in order to strengthen the reliability and
validity of the findings

3. Research Methodology
3

Given the complexities of social realities of people living in
marginalized settlements, this approach assures reliable
measurement of the intended research variables.

Key variables that influenced the sampling procedures used –
purposive and stratified random sampling procedures include:

County population distribution: necessary in ensuring nationwide
generalization is valid. Three counties, two urban slums (Nairobi,
Mombasa and Isiolo county)

Age: to ensure that the findings represent the whole age spectrum,
the government national censuses were used to determine the
number of respondents per age set

Gender: a deliberate effort was made to maintain a gender balance.

4. What the method helps us to
understand?
4

To investigate the impact of the Kenyan Government’s
open data initiative and to see whether, and if so how, it
is assisting marginalized communities and groups in
accessing key social services and information regarding
health and education;

Understand the way people use the information
provided by the Open Data Initiative;

Examine ways in which the public wish for the open
data initiative to improve, particularly in relation to
governance and service delivery;

5. THE FOCUS OF THE STUDY
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This project is focused specifically on datasets that potentially
improve citizens’ knowledge of the governance processes and
access to services.
 Datasets that we tried to link on the impact include:

Access to health information and facilities,

Access to education information and facilities,
We are investigating the usefulness of this information through the
intermediaries individuals and communities use to access
government data;
 In this study we try to measure the demand for government
information and estimate the motivation for people demanding
for such information


6. Some outputs

Open government data and service delivery to the
marginalized urban and rural communities:

52.6% of the respondents agree that the open data
portal information has helped the government improve
service delivery and accountability.25.9% disagree to
that statement as 21.4% remained neutral.

57.6% of the respondents agree that the open data
portal promotes dialogue between government and
the public while 22.5% disagree with the statement as
19.8% remained neutral.

However, 45.5% of the respondents agree that the
availability of such information increases their trust in the
government whereas 23.6% disagree as 30.9% rate it as
neutral.
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Thank You!
Ahsante!
Jesuit Hakimani Centre
P.O. Box 21399 – 00505, Nairobi
Kenya
www.jesuithakimani.net
programmes@jesuithakimani.org