News — 08 September, 2015

Activation Workshop at Africa Open Data Conference

The first workshop for the HOT Activation Curriculum was held during the pre-conference events of the first Africa Open Data Conference. The conference facilitated discussion around the benefit of Open Data on the African continent including lessons learned from around the globe. HOT is grateful to have been invited to participate in the conference and conduct our Activation workshop.

The first workshop for the HOT Activation Curriculum was held during the pre-conference events of the first Africa Open Data Conference. Hosted by the World Bank and the United Republic of Tanzania in the capital city, Dar Es Salaam. The conference facilitated discussion around the benefit of Open Data on the African continent including lessons learned from around the globe. Tanzania itself joined the Open Government Partnership in 2011 and has become a leading example of open policies in the region. HOT is grateful to have been invited to participate in the conference and conduct our Activation workshop.

It could not have been a better location as our local team in Dar Es Salaam, Ramani Huria, which translates to Open Map was very popular at the conference. Combined with thirteen more HOT participants, mostly from other African nations, the conference was well saturated with HOT representatives. Ramani Huria and HOT shared an exposition booth for the two-days of the main conference which was visited by most conference attendees including the President of Tanzania, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.

The workshop was held in the afternoons during the first two days of the pre-conference. The first day introduced the curriculum and a walk-through of the Activation Essentials course. After which the participants chose one Activation role course to work on before the next day's simulation. The chosen course was also the role the participant would perform during the simulation. The activities are designed to exercise the knowledge learned in the course for preparation of conducting the role during an Activation.

Many of the participants picked up their role right away and during the simulation were able to easily recognize the significance of their role activities. A combination of group and individual exercises are used to get participants familiar with both the collaborative nature and sometimes solitary activities of Activation coordination. The workshop concluded with an interactive review where the participants gave honest feedback on the things they thought went well, maybe did not go as well as expected and suggested improvements. This commentary will be used to expand and perfect the training and simulation before the next workshop to be held later in September in Jakarta, Indonesia.