Thought Leadership - Al Kags — Strategist, Social Entrepreneur, Writer

September 25, 2023

Part Two: Citizen-Generated Data must be kept true to its essence – and be kept in its definition.

The Nuance of "Citizen-Generated Data": Why It's More Than Just "Citizen Contributions to Data" and "Citizen Data" In my last post, I argued that Citizen-Generated Data should be kept true to its essence that it is by Citizens and for Citizens. I have read some discussions ...

July 11, 2023

MAONO SPACE: It works!

The Maono Space experiment seems to be working. We could not be more excited. I moved to Malindi in December 2020, and I wrote blog posts about how different things are here. How so many people are going through life without an education. How so ...

February 28, 2023

Administrative Data and the end of Government Statistics as we know it?

On the sidelines of the UN Statistical Commission meeting in New York, at the Collaborative on Administrative Data for Statistics, I saw the government of the future coming ever closer and faster. Here is my prediction. Yesterday, I attended a lunch meeting on the Collaborative on ...

February 6, 2023

Reframe the conversation: tree cover is the issue

The solution to the challenges posed by climate change lies not only in reforestation efforts but also in increasing tree cover everywhere Listen to the Blogpost here, voiced by an AI reader Trees are vital to combating climate change because they play a significant role in ...

December 10, 2022

Reflections from IGF2022: The opportunity for Africa

See #IGF2022 reflections on Digital Reflections Last week, I attended the Internet Governance Forum (IGF2022). By the end of it, I have had several reflections about what the opportunities there are for Africa. These are the conversations that I am really hoping to have and hear ...

November 28, 2022

Reflections from IGF2022: Digital Inclusion

Listen to the blogpost The Internet Governance Forum was one of my first global conferences to speak back in 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and I have attended the conference almost every year since. I am happy that my first conference since the COVID-19 pandemic is The ...

November 6, 2022

My wishlist for rebuilding Kenya: One

The electioneering period is over and President William S Ruto has taken to his office with an encouraging start. I buy his articulated philosophy that the government must take tough measures for more sustainable prosperity. I love the idea that he wants to reorient the ...

October 25, 2022

Nostalgia, technology and other thoughts

Today, I listened to my friend David Sasaki talk on his substack about technology and nostalgia. He sent me down a nostalgic path of memories of how I engaged with media and technology from my youth and the impact that had on me. For the ...

September 28, 2022

Quiet Quitting is the worst move for a growing professional

Quiet Quitting is not a new phenomenon. For generations, there have been professionals who have chosen to do no more than is required of them at their jobs and to only work the hours stipulated in their contract. They leave promptly at 5 pm and ...

March 8, 2022

The barriers to citizen engagement

The Open Institute works in two main ways as regards government - citizen relations. First, we promote proactive government transparency and second, we work with citizen groups and CSOs to foster active citizenship. Government transparency has in the past decade been achieved, to some level of success, by ...

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