47. Eric Kinaga on open data initiatives to fight land corruption in Kenya and beyond

Eric Kinaga (@EricKinaga) is a Kenyan-born writer, social justice enthusiast, working for Transparency International Kenya (https://tikenya.org/) and is the campaign coordinator for the Shule Yangu Campaign Alliance (https://shuleyangu.co.ke/) aiming to protect public schools via open data initiatives. On this podcast episode, we also welcome another “guest co-host”, Neil Sorensen, who is the Communications Specialist for Landportal (Landportal.org) an NGO committed to improving land governance through open-access data and cross-sectoral collaboration. The interview describes how Eric got interested in anti-corruption issues, how he got involved in the Shule Yangu Alliance, and what other civil-society run anti-corruption efforts can learn from the initiative. Eric outlines how open online databases can help to foster transparency to prevent land-grabbing and how marginalized groups can be included in the efforts to prevent land corruption. Eric describes the knowledge gaps that exist around the impact of naming rights of private schools and how to incentivize media outlets to cover the often complex land corruption issues. Documentaries mentioned by Eric: Documentaries by ShuleYangu Alliance on School Land Grabbing: Not My School: https://youtu.be/JvdRFrah5c4 My School My Life: https://youtu.be/n0wqkEf8ROY My School My Responsibility: https://youtu.be/PQdhCfX8lqI Shule Yangu Digital Platforms: Website: https://shuleyangu.co.ke/ OpenData Platform: https://opendata.shuleyangu.co.ke/ SY Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/shuleyangu SY Facebook Account: https://web.facebook.com/ShuleYanguCampaign Papers on the importance of media freedom: Brunetti, A., & Weder, B. (2003). A free press is bad news for corruption. Journal of Public Economics, 87(7-8), 1801-1824. Starke, C., Naab, T. K., & Scherer, H. (2016). Free to expose corruption: The impact of media freedom, internet access and governmental online service delivery on corruption. International Journal of Communication, 10, 21. Pick of the Podcast: Duncan Green - How change happens, http://how-change-happens.com/