The Metamorphosis Foundation is participating in the Ministry of Data project, which is a regional challenge for open data projects in the countries of Southeast Europe. This project is created in partnership with the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, UNDP and the SOVVA NGO from Slovakia.
The idea for the Ministry of Data stems from the increased interest for open data across the countries of the Western Balkans, and from the enthusiasm of the cyber-community for involvement in the processes for inciting social changes.
Everyone interested from the countries of Southeast Europe, including Macedonia, are invited to apply with their own ideas for analyses and visualizations of data for the finances in these countries, made available to users by the Ministry of Data.
It is an opportunity for all those who want the data and who want to understand how governments in Southeast Europe spend taxpayers’ money. The idea is to process the data that we make available for some public good: if you find a way for it to seem logical, the citizens will do the same. Visualizations / analyses, mobile applications and other e-solutions are welcome. You can get a cash prize and mentoring schemes prepared specifically for you and your team.
The challenge is to develop an MIT licensed tool based on open data, which will be publicly available and will help citizens to better supervise the government’s work.
This year’s focus is on public finances, and the challenge is open for everyone over 18 years of age.
You can use the data that has already been added to their website through the partners from Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovakia, and the data from the World Bank. Everyone is also encouraged to find additional sources of relevant data.
In fact, the more data there is in your solution, the greater the chances for you to win at the challenge. So, the first step would be to check the data, the second would be to build a team for work and the third step would be an application with an idea, no later than November 1, 2015.
Students may apply, as well as start-ups, developed businesses, activists and representatives of the civil society sector, or better yet, a mix of several categories. After the selection process, the four best teams will be invited to a preparatory seminar in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. At the end, the winning team will receive a 10,000 US dollars prize.
More information can be found on the ministryofdata.info website, and on Facebook and Twitter.
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