Using the Critical Capabilities Approach to Evaluate the Tanzanian Open Government Data Initiative

Abstract

The framework proposed by Zheng and Stahl (chapter 9, this volume) challenges the idea that open development initiatives have positive and uniform objectives. They suggest that open data initiatives are influenced by ideological and political structures and that progress and outcomes should be determined based on how the initiative affects the wellbeing and agency freedom of those it intends to support. It assumes that actors will have different capabilities and interests in engaging in open initiatives and that power differentials affect how and why actors get involved. For open data initiatives, it is still not clear how the critical capabilities approach (CCA) applies. Its four pillars— humancentered development, protection of human agency, human diversity, and democratic disclosure— can be interpreted both within and outside the institutions, driving open data initiatives quite differently. This is why the critical questions provided by the evaluation framework make it easier for researchers and practitioners to target how and why the principles translate into the structures, processes, and outcomes of the initiative over a project’s life cycle. This reflection considers our experience researching Tanzania’s open government initiative (TOGI), focusing specifically on the open data initiative, to interrogate the effectiveness of Zheng and Stahl’s CCA evaluation framework. TOGI was a wellestablished open government initiative. It began in 2011 when Tanzania joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The overarching goals of the OGP are to promote transparency, accountability, and citizen participation. As part of TOGI, Tanzania carried out two action plans. Action Plan I occurred in 2012 and 2013, with the goal of establishing the 12 Using the Critical Capabilities Approach to Evaluate the Tanzanian Open Government Data Initiative