On March 7, 2020 with support of Open Knowledge Foundation, Bareedo Platform organized commemoration of Open Data Day under theme of ” Encouraging uptake of local public contracting data in Somalia” in Garowe, Puntland, Somalia. The event was participated by 35 participants from the government, media, civil society organizations, private sector and academic institutions.
What is open contracting?
At its core, open contracting consists of: 1) the affirmative disclosure of information; and 2) participation, monitoring, and oversight. According to the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), “open contracting is about publishing and using open, accessible, and timely information on government contracting to engage citizens and businesses in identifying and fixing problems.” Importantly, open contracting consists of disclosure and engagement throughout the entire chain of procurement, including planning, tendering, awarding, and implementation. It can also cover non-procurement issues such as licensing and extractives contracts.
The online users and access to internet have been getting momentum in Somalia and at the same time, the breaches of social media have been on the rise. People log in to their social media site and notice a string of posts or messages definitely not posted by them or they get a message that their account password has been changed without their knowledge.
Galkacyo Police Commissioner arrested a local blogger over reporting deterioration of security in Galkacyo and government’s unresponsive to an increasing bandits at the night. The process of his arrest was not made as prescribed by the law and without a court and was held at the Police Station for 12 hours.
The blogger runs social media based media outlet and always reports the social services matters and the arbitrarily arrest of journalists has been on rise recently and in particular, this is the second case in Galkacyo within a month.
Bareedo Platform whose activities are democracy, federalism and open government has achieved several milestones in promotion of women’s and youth’s political participation to achieve inclusiveness, promotion of freedom of information and digital rights, opening up of government data to the public to strengthen accountability and transparency and citizen’s engagement and promotion. The following report shows the details of the core activities implemented in 2019.