The government plans to open access to information as digitally stored data published online is increasingly becoming indispensable to fast business decisions.

Rwanda will be the fourth country in East Africa after Kenya and Tanzania and Uganda to have data portals.

A draft Data Revolution Policy will soon be submitted by Ministry of Youth and ICT to the Prime Minister’s office for further considerations.

The policy seeks to make government data more accessible on the Internet and allow the public to use them for their own interest in business, research and education as the country hopes to transform its agrarian economy into an information and knowledge-based one.

The open data policy is expected to promote transparency, boost the business environment as more information on the country’s resources, opportunities will be available online at a central online portal and other websites.

Kigali has identified “Big Data” as one area of ICT to have a comparative advantage in the region.

“With open data, if the Ministry of Agriculture puts together information they have got about mapping of all agricultural land and their use, and make it available on the open data portal or on their website, it can be useful for agri-business people,” explained Stephen Abbott, co-founder of Tumenye, an organisation that promotes the use of open data in the country.

The central open data portal is one of the key projects to be implemented if the policy is adopted. The central online platform will contain all publicly held data collected from different institutions such as National Institute of Statistics and ministries.

Open data experts say citizens and foreigners will use the information to run their businesses, improve sectors such as agriculture and create organisations to tackle socio-economic problems among others.

For instance, data that can be useful in agriculture if they are available and easily accessible includes live satellite data and weather data collected by various agencies.

Sustainable development goals and national development plans can only be tracked by using data.

“Open Data will increase awareness about how the country’s’ natural resources are managed, how public revenues are spent and how government business is transacted and managed,” reads the policy’s section about transparency and accountability of government.

This year Rwanda will host Africa Centre of Excellence in data science which could contribute to open data society ambitions in the country and African region. The centre will be led by Patrick McSharry, a lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University.

“In parallel with policies for open data and the need to measure indicators for the UN sustainable development goals, I believe there is great potential to generate expertise and jobs in this area with applications in agriculture, finance, insurance, healthcare and urban planning,” he told Rwanda Today recently.

Despite having the policy, the government will have a big task to digitise data and make it open as envisioned in the policy.

“Obviously, digitisation of data represents a substantial burden; both in time and expense, and a cost benefit analysis is needed to decide which data sources to focus on,” says McSharry.

READ: How insurance firms, banks can benefit from mining of data

Better utilisation of resources and greater efficiency could benefit a number of sectors such as agriculture, energy, health, finance and urban planning.

The National Institute of Statistics will be the institution tasked to implement the policy; while the Office of Prime Minister, Ministry of finance and economic planning, Ministry of Youth and ICT among other stakeholders shall provide all necessary support.