City launches Data Strategy to catapult service delivery into the digital age
Over the past few years, the City of Cape Town (CCT) has initiated a momentous transition to becoming a data-led organisation. Today, Monday 9 September 2024, the City has launched its Data Strategy. This is a first for an African city, and will position Cape Town to become a leading city on the continent for use of data driven delivery and planning.
‘We pledged to take service delivery into the digital age, and to ensure unprecedented levels of data transparency for the public. This Data Strategy sets out the detail of how we are achieving this over time. Already, residents and stakeholders can access all sorts of useful data on our Open Data Portal. This ranges from data and maps on basic services, demographics, and infrastructure, to ongoing water quality sampling data for inland and coastal waterbodies.
‘We are also increasingly measuring our services and infrastructure performance so that we can better manage delivery to the public. We have installed digital tracking systems across our water, sanitation, and energy infrastructure, and invested in human resources to monitor and dispatch rapid response teams where issues arise. We are just getting started, and we encourage the public to continue working with us as we improve the quality and scope of data to underpin our efforts to build a future-fit City of Hope for all,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
In 2018, the City created an internal administrative data strategy. Since taking this crucial step, a lot of work has gone into turning administrative data into useful and pertinent business information that successfully supports decision-making and boosts efficiency and transparency. The Data Strategy will enable better services through evidence-led decision-making, as well as inform better planning for the future. The public will also have the assurance that personal data will be even more safe through stronger systems and governance. More data sources of better quality will continuously be made available for public viewing and analysis.
The City has secured three-year technical advisory services with the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (UKFCDO), to support the implementation of this first Data Strategy. Since the establishment of the partnership, the City has developed internal capacity and has established a Data Science team. Some projects that have already benefitted from the better use of data are the data-driven approach to the Covid-19 response, informal settlements data collection, and data-driven infrastructure asset management among others.
The private sector and civil society are also extracting greater public value from the City Open Data Portal by leveraging data on aspects such as housing, transportation, and energy to develop tools that help the public confidently make decisions in their everyday lives.
‘We thank our residents for participating in the public participation process last year; we do hope that businesses, NPOs and residents will engage further with us as we embark on this initiative. The support received from our partners is invaluable and we are starting to see the benefits of this,’ said Mayor Hill-Lewis.
See the Data Strategy here: https://opencitieslab.gitbook.io/city-of-cape-of-town-data-strategy-2023/
