Accra, JAN 10, GNA “ The National Information Technology Agency (NITA), on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ghana Library Authority (GLA), and three local developers to help promote the Ghana Open Data Initiative (GODI).GODI is an initiative being run by NITA, the IT implementing arm of the Ministry of Communication, which has created an information storehouse accessible by citizens and businesses, releasing valuable raw data from real-time education to census data.The MOU was signed between the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS), ODEKRO, Cell Afrique and the Ghana Library Authority.Mr William Tevie, Director General of NITA, said the MOU signified the quest to create and achieve a vibrant open data community that would be easily accessible by all citizenry.He explained that with the availability of such raw data and data sets, citizens, particularly, media practitioners could deepen the quality of news reportage by means of accessing information on any kind of issue, without the usual delays associated with accessing information from government agencies and officials.śOpen data is a concept that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and re-publish as they wish, without the restrictions of copyright, patents or other mechanisms of controlť, Mr Tevie said.He said the rationale behind the open government data is to make government data available to the public which in the long run, will increase government transparency and accountability.Again, the open data enables third parties to leverage the potential of government data through the development of applications and services that address public and private demands.The GODI project started in 2012, and is expected to end by December 2014 by which period, a user friendly application would be developed for the benefit of citizens by the partners that signed the MOU.śThe establishment of GODI is also to facilitate economic growth by means of creating mobile and web applications for the Ghanaian and world market. It also aims to create a sustainable open data ecosystem for Ghanať.Mr Tevie explained that the vision of GODI is to develop an open data community, involving the government of Ghana, civil society organisations, industry, developer communities, academia, media practitioners, and the citizenry, to interact with one another with the aim of developing an open data portal to bring about transparency, accountability and efficiency in government.He said GODI had set up its community section of the portal, and therefore invited government, civil society, media organisations and academic institutions to champion the communities by engaging in vibrant discussion on data sets that will support development of web and mobile applications.Mr. Eric Akumiah, Project Manager, GODI project, said Ghana was the second country in Africa to have a portal after Kenya, but Ghana™s open data was fully developed and operated by Ghanaians, putting the country at a strategic position in the world of IT.He said whereas CERSGIS, Cell Afrique and ODEKRO would develop the user friendly software, the Ghana Library Authority would offer its facilities scattered in the country to serve as centres where citizens who do not have internet facilities could access information and also give their feedbacks.CERSGIS is an authority in developing user-friendly geographic information systems applications, using spatial data for developing user friendly application.Odekro portal seeks to empower communities and marginalized populations to promote transparency, accountability and democratic governance, through citizen's action and engagement with relevant government agencies.Cell Afrique, on the other hand, is an application service provider that offers versatile, interactive mobile technology, web and software solutions to the expanding mobile phone users across the globe.GNA