The activities of civil society organisation and citizens involved in advocacy and holding governments to account are set to receive a boost and support following the launch of project Tipende—a data-driven social accountability project.
The project emerged from a collaboration between Oradata Science (ODS), a civic technology organization that leverages augmented reporting technologies and Alliance for Community Action (ACA), a Zambian non-governmental organisation which promotes community participation and accountability in development.
The project will include capacity development on data reporting technologies towards evidence-based social accountability and advocacy.
Project Tipende will also equip citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) with skills and knowledge to leverage rights-based approaches when holding the government to account, the pioneers said in a statement to Businessday.
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Furthermore, it will serve as a platform for the reskilling of citizens, and strengthening of the voice of the civil society as they continue to demand for greater accountability and good governance.
It was learnt that Blaise Aboh of ODS and Andrew Banda of ACA are the team leaders for the Tipende project.
The organisers said Tipende is in line with other global initiatives intending to evolve or reform accountability mechanisms towards enhanced service delivery, poverty reduction, people-centric policies, empowerment of citizens and the strengthening of the democratic processes.
“Tipende will equip augmented reporting techniques such as data visualization, analysis and reporting to stakeholders and local leaders who will use it to demand for social accountability and at the same time deliver focused services that their communities need the most,” the statement reads in part.
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They noted that the beneficiaries will utilize the skills learned to produce data-centric creative outputs that can be showcased in their community and also be used by the community at the end of the project.
While ODS leverages augmented technologies such as Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Automation to democratize public data towards the facilitation of easy access to information for citizens and the media, and to promote accountability and transparency in government, ACA focuses on citizen-based advocacy in demanding for responsible and accountable management of public resources at national and local levels.
The collaboration will share best practices and lessons between organizations to approach social accountability while impacting youth groups who are using technology to hold the Zambian government accountable. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, activities of the project will be virtual.
The collaboration project is said to be implemented with support from Hivos Foundation.
