Omidyar Network, sponsorship of open data projects

Beyond public commitment to open information, numerous independent institutions work and invest in international projects that promote open publication and citizen participation. This is the case of Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization that since 2004 supports several initiatives around the world that drive economic progress and citizen participation through five key areas: consumer Internet and mobile, education, financial inclusion, governance and citizen engagement; and property rights.

Within governance and citizen engagement, Omidyar Network aims to strengthen the relationship between citizens and their governments. Its approach is based on the principles of openness and participation, and for this reason, it sponsors solutions, organizations and companies which work to this end: from tracking the performance of public services, to developing data standards or tools for open data publication. 

The philanthropic network is aware of the relevance of open information and how its reuse could be a qualitative and quantitative improvement in well-being of citizens. Thanks to the work of those initiatives sponsored by Omidyar Network, citizens are better informed and connected while governments can use the tools created to better understand the needs of population and facilitate access to public data, removing possible barriers that hamper citizen participation.

Nowadays, this entity primarily focus in institutions and projects from India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and USA. For instance, the Open Data Institute (ODI), the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN), the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Open Data Charter have found support and financial investment in this network to continue its key work in the movement of open data, knowledge and government.

Omidyar Network's help made possible projects like Datawijs, an online platform developed by the Open Knowledge Foundation Belgium, in which young people in the country can learn and experiment with open data through different interactive videos. Animations, interviews with experts or real experiments are some of the educational resources that young people can access in Belgium to begin its journey in the culture of open data.

Another example of the possible outcomes from the sponsorship of this entity is the site FragDenStaat -developed by OKFN Germany- and the subsequent campaign carried out in February this year which made German parliament publish thousands of reports belonging to its research section, changing their publication policies regarding to this kind of material which used to be kept hidden.

Thus, the efforts of Omidyar Network to promote open information also focus on collaboration with other entities such as TheGovLab in the study of real impact of open data in the world. This analysis resulted in the Open Data's Impact initiative which shows real cases where open data is transformed into economic growth, health improvements and participatory governance.

In addition to these projects, the philanthropic network organizes events in different parts of the world in which the role of open data is discussed in different sectors. This is the case of a workshop held in Peru last February where attendees explored how data from extractive industries can be reused by journalists, NGOs, companies and public bodies to prepare reports and studies that bring to light operations of this industry. Thus, Omidyar Network is supporting the Natural Resource Governance Institute in its attempt to promote the development of standards for open data in extractive industries; encouraging EITI  to move forward on open data and accelerate the opening up  information in this sector.

All these initiatives fostered by Omidyar Network show the interest of the entity to continue exploring the possibilities of open data and open government. Its financial support and advice are essential for nonprofit entities continue working and bringing the whole society the benefits of opening and reusing data, both from public and private sector.