The theme for the event was, ‘Leveraging data on abuse of female journalists in Ghana to promote equal development within the digital ecosystem in Africa,’ and was joined by over 40 participants across the continent.

Co-founder of iWatch Africa, Moro Seidu delivered a presentation with focus on the current data on abuse of women journalists in Ghana. Moro stressed that “although the introduction of social media has enhanced communication and participation on social media platforms, it has not been friendly on the female gender.”

Moro cited iWatch Africa 2020 data which showed that while the number of male journalists monitored were three times more than their female counterparts, 46 per cent of the total number of online abuses recorded by iWatch Africa were directed at women journalists in Ghana.

Second speaker, Nashilongo Gervaslus blamed the patriarchal upbringing in many homes across the continent for the sort of accountability which treats women with a different sort of lens and opens them up to abuse. She recommended that governments across the continent introduce cyber-crime legislation to protect women online.

Our final speaker Sheilah Birgen, also stressed the need for newsrooms to provide support for female journalists and protect them against online misogyinistic mobs. Sheilah also argued that, “the stigma relating to these abuses deters some women from speaking about it.”

The event ended with a resolution led by Gideon Sarpong, to work on mainstreaming digital rights units in 50 newsrooms in West Africa to mitigate the risks that online harassment of women journalists poses to the press freedom and equal development within the digital ecosystem in Africa.

The event was supported by Open Knowledge Foundation.

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Context

iWatch Africa in Ghana sought to drive a discussion about how technology and open data can promote equal development. Twenty participants were selected across the country to mark the event in Ghana which was viewed by over 5000 people via live stream.

The iWatch Africa Data Day event focused on four main themes:

• The importance of open data in promoting gender equality in Ghana
• Negative effects of violence and discrimination against women.
• Discussions about innovative tools to be adopted and deployed by session participants in promoting gender equality.
• Workshop on how an online interactive data explorer can help open data on gender-based violence and discrimination and promote gender equality in Ghana

Meanwhile, on the 2nd March 2019, Lesotho hosted its inaugural Open Data Day event. This event was hosted by the National University of Lesotho, in Maseru. The theme of the event was “Open Data for Sustainable Development”. The keynote speaker at the event was Dr. Makhamisa Senekane; who is the Lecturer at the National University of Lesotho. Topic that were discussed for this inaugural Open Data Day event are:

• Open Science
• Open Data for Sustainable Development
• Open Contracting
• Smart Contracts

Challenge

The major obstacle to the use of Open Data to reduce violence and discrimination against women and girls in Ghana is the reluctance of the Ministry of Gender and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) to regularly publish relevant data on gender-based violence and discrimination a frustration well expressed during the conference.

As at March, 2019, the ministry had failed to make relevant data on violence and discrimination against women available to all Ghanaians. This is a contributing factor for iWatch Africa’s decision to deploy an interactive data explorer to fill in the huge hole created by the State.

Methodology

iWatch Africa marked the Open Data Day event in Accra by officially issuing a call for participation with specific emphasis on how new technologies and open data can reduce violence and discrimination against women and girls in Ghana.

Gideon Sarpong, iWatch Africa’s Director of Policy and News delivered a short speech on the main theme: the importance of Open Data in promoting gender equality in Ghana. Mr. Sarpong argued that, “data is critical to making informed policy decisions” when it comes to fighting gender based violence and discrimination” and called on the Ministry of Gender to help drive the conversation by publishing all relevant data.

Mr. Sarpong also led a session to explore how an online interactive data explorer could help promote equal development. Mr. Sarpong demonstrated how the platform would visualize inputted data gathered by over 60 field volunteers currently working with iWatch Africa.

The interactive platform, he argued will “explore the measurement and standardisation of all gender-based violence and discrimination cases using an online unified gauge with composite indicators. These indicators will include severity metrics and solution progress metrics.”

 Mr. Sarpong also added that the, “technology will provide a platform where citizens and global stakeholders can relate with gender based violence data in Ghana by humanizing the data through storytelling.”

After a practical session of his presentation, participants held on open forum on how innovative tools can be adopted and deployed by session participants in promoting gender equality.

Ms Teta Kebeh Zubah, guest speaker and Director of Aid for Girls and Children Foundation also spoke about the negative impact of violence and discrimination against women. Ms. Zubah encouraged participants to take firm positions against SGBV insisting that participants should be ready to speak up and defend women’s rights at all times.

In Lesotho, participants of the event held a discussion of the modalities of promoting the use of data science in both the public and private sectors of Lesotho after the presentations. It was resolved that the interim committee should be formed and be tasked with the responsibility of advancing Open Data policies and practices in Lesotho, together with building a vibrant Open Data community in Lesotho. The committee consists of the following members:

• Joshua Takalimane (President)
• Lerato Mohapi (Deputy President)
• ‘Makhoarai Mohapi (Treasurer)
• Mothepane Lenko (Secretary General)
• Makhamisa Senekane ( Spokesperson)
• Kito Pooe (Deputy Spokesperson)

Conclusions and Lessons Learnt:

Participants of the Open Data event in Accra agreed to the following resolutions as key focus for iWatch Africa in 2019:

1. Resolution by session participants to work towards empowering women and girls who are victims of violence and discrimination.
2. Resolution by session participants to become ambassadors and drivers of accountability for gender discrimination and abuse of women and girls.

The name Gender Force was adopted for this nucleus group that will focus on the use of technology and open data to promote equal development in Ghana.

Participants of Maseru Open Data Day event made the following resolutions:

• The establishment of an interim committee consisting of six members This committee is tasked with advocating for the adoption and use of Open Data to address societal problems in Lesotho, and the registration of Lesotho Open Data Initiative as an NGO
• Organizing workshops to capacitate stakeholders (including National Statistics Office) about the adoption and use of Open Data for sustainable development
• Hosting of monthly Open Data meetups
• Hosting of annual mapathon competitions
• Hosting of annual datathon competitions (with specific focus on the use of Open Data for sustainable development)
• Exploration of Open Science collaboration with UNESCO and African Open Science Platform.

This is a joint report produced by iWatch Africa and Lesotho Open Data Initiative.

Biographies:

Gideon Sarpong, iWatch Africa

Gideon Sarpong is a media practitioner with over seven years experience in data, investigative and policy journalism. Gideon is currently the Policy and News Director at iWatch Africa. His major role includes developing news strategy for correspondents across Ghana, as well as designing project and policy focus for the organisation. He is an author with over eight publications; a fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Thomson Reuters Foundation, Commonwealth Youth Program (DYLP) and Bloomberg Data for Health Program. Gideon holds a degree in economics from the University of Cape Coast and PgD in Policy Journalism and Media Studies from the University of Zambia. He is a firm believer in the use of data and technology for development in Africa.                                               

Makhamisa Senekane (PhD), Lesotho Open Data Initiative

Makhamisa Senekane is a Lecturer in the Department of Physics and Electronics, National University of Lesotho. He has obtained his B.Eng in Electronics Engineering from the National University of Lesotho, his MSc.Eng in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, and his PhD  in Physics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is a lifetime member of Golden Key International Honour Society. He is a Data Science researcher who believes in the power of data in general and Open Data in particular to transform the lives of Africans through sustainable development.

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Mr. Sarpong, who delivered a short presentation on the theme ‘How open data and technology can reduce violence and discrimination against women and girls’ as part of the 2019 Open Data Day forum, insisted that DOVVSU and MoGCSP are not doing enough to drive the conversation about “violence and discrimination if they hold on to data” which can be used by civil society in their advocacy work.

This year’s Open Data Day was marked last Saturday in Accra as part of a global effort to promote transparency and accountability and value creation by insisting that data should be made available to all.

“Why doesn’t the ministry have the relevant data or reports published on their website? Why should it be difficult for the DOVSSU to publish their annual reports?” Mr. Sarpong asked.

“This information is vital in addressing the challenge faced by our mothers and sisters when it comes to violence against women. It is not enough to gather data or prepare reports and keep them in your office cabinets. We must all be committed to promoting transparency and accountability,” he added.

UN Women in their 2018 report revealed that out of the 15 million adolescents who experienced forced sex, data gathered from 30 countries showed that less than one percent ever sought professional help.

Mr. Sarpong promised to launch an interactive data explorer as part of iWatch Africa’s broader effort to deal with Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and called on all civil society organizations in the SGBV sector and men to work together to protect women and girls in the country.

“Every day we hear stories of rape and violence against women and girls. We as men have a great responsibility to deconstruct the negative patriarchal mind-sets and help ensure that those human ‘predators’ are brought to justice in this country. We cannot afford to remain silent in the face evident threat against the women in this country. We all have a role to speak up and help others,” Mr. Sarpong stated.

Credit: iWatchafrica.org

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Seizing opportunities

Electronic commerce is growing in all parts of the world. But many developing countries remain relatively unprepared for the shift from offline to online trade. Indeed, less than 5% of the population in most of these economies buy goods and services online.

The digital economy is bringing new risks along with opportunities, and emerging technologies such as advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and 3D printing are disrupting economies and societies.

Governments must therefore move quickly to address the internet economy’s effects on the labour market, trade rules, data privacy, and consumer protection, to name but a few.

“To design and implement evidence-based policies, governments need to know the facts and have access to relevant statistics,” Ms. Sirimanne says. “And the more frequently governments collect this data, the better they can identify trends and adjust policies accordingly.”

Unfortunately, according to UNCTAD statistics, the availability of data drops with the country’s level of development, meaning those least prepared for the digital economy have the least amount of information on which to base their policy decisions.

“The risk is a further widening of inequalities across countries,” Ms. Sirimanne says.

What needs to be done?

According to UNCTAD, several actions are urgently needed to ensure that governments have access to the relevant statistics they need to take sound decisions related to the digital economy.

Governments need to include enterprise surveys on ICT use in their national statistical plans. In addition, the international community should offer more assistance to help countries make progress on data collection. And opportunities need to be created for developing countries to engage in an international dialogue related to data collection and analysis, to support policy making related to this topic.

Governments, the international development community, civil society organizations and businesses have the opportunity to discuss related actions at UNCTAD’s Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy, which will meet from 18 to 20 April during UNCTAD’s E-Commerce Week.

At the group’s first meeting, in October 2017, experts proposed to establish a new working group dedicated to measuring e-commerce and the digital economy, in order to help address the emerging data requirements of policy-makers in this area, and to ensure that international statistical work on the digital economy is directly linked to their policy needs. This proposal will be further discussed at next month’s meeting.

Read Also: Teenage Smokers: How Ghana’s low excise tax on cigarette encourage the deadly habit

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