Strengthening Local Bureaucracy Reform
through Open Data

BACKGROUND

In 2013, the district of Banyuwangi, the capital of the regency of Banyuwangi in East Java, partnered with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) through the Transformasi programme to strengthen the collaboration between government and civil society organisations in implementing bureaucracy reforms in the district. Building on the initial successes, the Transformasi program joined forces with the Jakarta Lab to explore how open data can be used as a tool to strengthen civil society and government collaboration in sustaining and advancing the reforms that were initiated in 2013.

The project uses a partnership model that seeks to enhance the appreciation that civil society and government have of the role that each play in pursuing development in the district of Banyuwangi. Local civil society groups are working with government representatives to jointly identify key problems, develop data-based solutions, and test them to find out if and how open data can lead to more effective and inclusive governance reforms. Included in this process are the advocacy for government to publish the needed government data in open formats, the capacity building of data intermediaries in understanding, analysing, and creating useful products out of open data, and generating actionable insights to inform and drive reform efforts.

PARTNERS