Aligning with OpenUp's Mission and Vision
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To drive systemic change and innovation in local governance, in order to empower residents and government role-players to become active and collaborative agents in positive and sustainable development.
To inform and empower citizens through technology about how government systems work, while giving them the proper tools to engage with their government more directly.
We want to create a vibrant civic data landscape in which residents and civic groups use data tools and civic tech to engage with government, and government becomes open, accountable and responsive to their needs.
‌OpenUp’s projects should allow the public to play an active role in society, and make a difference in terms of their needs. A project’s ability to address and achieve this is initially judged from the perspective of three keywords in our core values: to Inform, Empower, and Activate. These broad goals form the basis of the metrics we use to assess potential project compatibility.
Are people informed?
What will we inform them of?
Why do we want to inform them?
Does the project aim to Empower?
How will what we plan to do empower our audience?
How will we give them the ability to actively interact with their environment?
How many people can use our tools?
How many people can access them?
Ultimately, what benefit would the information have? How much will a tool help or improve the circumstances of our target audience?
Does the project aim to Activate?
Who is our target audience? What kind of questions would they want answered?
How will we inform our target audience? What medium will we use to inform them?
In summary, a potential project would need to answer two questions:
Does it create information that is accessible to and/or could be given to citizens?
Does the project create tools that allow people to successfully engage and interact with government systems?
For example, making budget data open to the public allows them to stay informed of developments. By creating a tool that sits on top of the data that people can use, we empower South African citizens with the knowledge the tool grants them. This helps hold the government accountable.
OpenUp is not a grassroots organization. In our mission to make information available, we have to find the right partners and partner with the right companies.
Adrian K: That’s something we’ve been tackling. Because we work with technology, we haven’t really articulated how to sell what we have to offer more effectively. With certain projects, there’s a client, and there’s a contract. We go out, and deliver on what the contract says. Through this, we generate a fixed amount of money. Luckily, both of my current projects have contracts. So I know exactly what the fixed amount will be, and what the client expects.
Secondly, I’d need to align the project with what OpenUp is about- in terms of our methodology, ideology, and three objectives. So far, we’ve been fortunate enough to do that.
With other projects, it’s quite different. There might not be a fixed amount provided or promised in the contract; the project might not be intended to generate income at all.
Evictions (the project) is a good example. The evictions project (that) Shaun was on. There’s no money coming in for services going out. Or for development, or project management. It’s basically an experiment with money coming in from a donor or from core funding, but the money wasn’t necessarily allocated for it.
And it becomes very tricky, because that particular project will end up taking time. It starts eating into the money and might take a whole lot of it, while running the risk of not delivering much.
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My honest view: OpenUp needs to be very careful with what projects we take on board. We almost need to experiment with a time frame.
Next, we need to establish a clear cut off. At OpenUp, we usually try to make a project aim for maximum impact, instead of a relatively smaller impact that utilizes less resources.
I think...that we’re a non-profit organization. I don’t think our intention should ever be to look at or rely on a profit margin, or implementing a project with the view of making a profit.
I believe our goal should be to develop concepts and ideas that speak to our vision, which is to Inform, Empower, and Activate. And through that, we should then be able to gain a space within where we work, in terms of these three objectives. Not necessarily through making profit, but to actually gain leverage for our stakeholders and the key people in our space of open data, for them to come on board with us and say, “-”
We shouldn’t be looking at what we do as a profit-making activity.