Exploring African civic tech
Exploring African civic tech – Research Outputs
In 2020 CTIN initiated research studies to better understand the nature of the civic tech community and its actors In 2020 CTIN initiated research studies to better understand the nature of the civic tech community and its actors in Africa. This research included investigations into CTIN’s African civic tech database, as well as collecting case studies in an effort to map and interrogate the makeup, state, dynamics and results/impacts of civic tech in Africa. The research intended to explore both the breadth/reach of civic tech, as well as digging deeper into understanding the civic tech actors, focusing on their demographic profiles, trajectories, motivations, needs and issues.
This paper is a short overview report providing insights into the African civic tech community as well as detailing and documenting the phase one research activities including the research objectives, challenges, progress, outputs and next steps.
Research Report – Exploring African civic tech
CTIN produced a rich set of research outputs from the research project, including:
- A cleaner, encoded database – Through desktop searches, more information was added, categories were created, the database began to better represent and reveal a fraction of the African civic tech story, this initial analysis collated by lead researcher, Halfdan Lynge-Mangueira highlighted and interpreted the key insights and emerging questions
- CTIN also hosted four engagements to create a reservoir of case studies on civic tech best practices and lessons for other civic tech initiatives in Africa, in this project we collected 12 case studies and we produced a Case Studies review paper
- Several blogs/preliminary articles including
CTIN Case Study Approach and its Pedagogical Utility
Working Paper – Enabling Learning in Civic Tech – An analysis of the CTIN Case Study Approach and its Pedagogical Utility
CTIN was created in part to enable knowledge-sharing in the civic tech community in order to stop the reinvention of the wheel as well as provide a platform for the community to connect, engage, and collaborate. Further, since its establishment, CTIN has been committed to contributing to a body of shared knowledge and understanding on African civic tech. Therefore, over the years CTIN has grown into a hub for information, learning, and collaborations in the ‘civic tech’ space.
CTIN began documenting African civic tech case studies in an effort to understand the community, their challenges, and their impact across the continent. However, after collecting over 60 case studies, CTIN has begun questioning the efficacy of the use of case studies as a peer learning tool for the African civic tech community. Therefore, this paper seeks to particularly understand and consider how the project can best advance its objectives of supporting peer-based learning and collaboration in the space of civic tech.
Download the paper: Enabling Learning in Civic Tech
Read More – Looking to Learn from African Civic Tech Initiatives
Past projects
Urban Data Stakeholders Mapping Project
The South African Cities Network (SACN) in partnership with Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN) undertook a stakeholder mapping of urban data ecosystem actors and initiatives in the South African metropolitan context through a contracted professional services provider.
The purpose of the project is to map stakeholders in the South African urban data ecosystem, with a focus on actors and initiatives in the urban data space.
SA COVID-19 Data Mapping
In 2020, the SACN compiled an open evidence mapping of the use of open government data to address the COVID-19 response in South Africa’s cities and provinces.