Abstract

The African Data Initiative is a pan African effort built on open principles. It includes the development of open software conceived, developed and tested in Africa which is starting to find a global audience. Education initiatives will highlight the extreme challenges faced by African educators and present how open educational resources developed for this environment have been instrumental in improving statistics education in a European university.

The presentation will also mention specific examples of original African scenarios which challenge conventional data roles and ownership. Most notably the case of a Farmer Federation who has taken control of their members' data and transformed the power relations with research partners.

This session will demonstrate how, despite extreme challenges, Africa is a source of innovation and inspiration in the international data community.