Our frustrations led us here

A few years ago, we were all working in different government agencies involved in implementing open government reforms. During those times, despite our best efforts, we noticed a frustrating trend - while the government was publishing vast amounts of data, very few people within and outside the government seemed to care about it. It felt like all the hard work we put into making data accessible was not making any real impact because data was not being utilized to its full potential. There was very little demand and incentive to use public data.

(L-R) Executive Director Marco Zaplan, Partnership & Grants Director & Monitoring & Evaluation Lead Marianne Fabian, and Operations & Programs Director & Outreach & Capacity Development Lead Abigail Ocate

Even after leaving our government posts and working with civil society and international development partners, we knew, more than ever, that this gap still persisted. One day, while we were spending some time off together as friends, we found ourselves talking (yet again) about these same frustrations. However, during that meeting, we also had a lightbulb moment – it occurred to us that we knew where to find the data, we had access to tools and guidance materials, and had the technical capacities on data analysis and storytelling–why not use and process public data ourselves and help others do the same? And thus, the idea for GDI was born. And so, from Yanne's living room, we started our story. We giddily defined our vision and mission statements, and organically mapped out the nuts and bolts of founding the Gov Data Initiative (GDI).

The Gov Data Initiative is a think-and-do tank consultancy and resource center that aims to promote good governance, transparency, and accountability through data and evidence-based analysis and storytelling. Our mission is to bridge the gap between the vast amounts of data published by the government and its utilization by relevant stakeholders and the public.

We recognized that the sheer amount of data could be overwhelming to the average person, and so we use data visualization and storytelling techniques to make it more accessible and understandable. Our goal is to provide training, technical assistance, and consulting services to governments, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to help them make sense of government data.

Through our work, we aim to have a significant impact on the transparency and accountability of government institutions. We can help governments adopt open data policies, develop data portals, and publish data in a more user-friendly manner. We can also assist civil society organizations, oversight institutions and other stakeholders in using government data to monitor government performance and hold the government more accountable for their actions.

The Gov Data Initiative was born out of a frustration with the lack of interest in government data. We recognize the gap between the vast amounts of data being published and the lack of utilization by many relevant actors in the accountability ecosystem and the general public. So, admittedly, we are a group of frustrated advocates, but we didn’t let up. Instead, we made our frustration our fuel, and it led us here.

Our goal is to promote good governance, transparency, and accountability, and make government data more accessible and understandable. Be frustrated with us and do something about it. Join us in our mission to make government data work for the people!