The Global Food Security Index (2017) ranked Rwanda 88th out of 113 assessed countries worldwide. Also the recent Health Demographic Survey (HDS 2015) has shown that prevalence of stunting among children under 5 exceeded 38%. Open data can be used in decision-making to help tackle these problems.
The goal of this workshop was to bring together sectors like agriculture, disaster management, water resources management, academia, meteorological services, civil society and the private sector to discuss the relevance, challenges, opportunities and benefits of sharing data and making it open, specifically weather data. It was organised by the Rwandan Land and Water Interventions Company (LAWICO) and aimed to initiate advocacy for open data and data sharing between institutions, starting with weather data and how tools such as the FAO’s Water Productivity Open-access portal (WaPOR) can be used to address issues related to food security and nutrition in Rwanda.
This training is one of a series of eight informative events jointly sponsored by the CTA, GODAN Action, and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DfID), via a system of mini-grants which were disbursed in 2018 following a competition initiated by GODAN Action. The purpose of the call was to invite dynamic trainers with demonstrable experience to collaborate with the project in building the capacity and diversity of open data users and intermediaries, thereby leading to increased understanding and more effective use of open data in tackling key agriculture and nutrition challenges.
