The International Open Data Day-2019 has been marked in Konjyosom and Bagmati rural municipalities of Lalitpur.
The Day was celebrated under the leadership of rural municipalities to raise the importance of disclosure of data and information and its impacts on accountability and participation of citizens in local governance process.
Inaugurating an Information Techno Hub on the occasion, Gopilal Sintan, Chair of Konjyosom rural municipality, said the openness of data and information of the local government is key to improve public service delivery.
Mingma Lama, Vice Chair of Konjyosom, stressed the need for improving the practice of openness of information for municipal governance and accountability.
An orientation was imparted to the participants on how to use the data and information archived in the data portal to demand governance at local level.
The students of Liverpool International College, Kathmandu had performed an awareness creating drama on the use of open data for effective public service delivery.
Likewise, the Bagmati rural municipality also saw the celebration of the Day under the leadership of its Chair Bir Bahadur Lopchan.
An Information Techno Hub was also inaugurated while tools prepared for the data portal were handed to the local government on the occasion.
At the program, Chair Lopchan and Vice-Chair Ranjana Ghimire Timilsina pledged to work more for accountable and transparent Bagmati through openness of data and information.
"The tools handed over to the rural municipality would be useful for enhancing meaningful participation of Women and Marginalized Groups through the use of technology", Ghimire stressed.
The event was participated in by the local people's representatives, representatives of civil society organizations, rural municipality employees, journalists, representatives from security bodies and other government offices.
The Sustainable Use of Technology for Public Sector Accountability (SUSASAN) Project is providing technical assistance to both the rural municipalities of Lalitpur for the improvement of municipal governance and citizen engagement. The International Open Data Day is marked on May 2 every year to promote the use and re-use of data for evidence-based decision making and development.
