OPEN DATA’S IMPACT* www.odimpact.org

ACLÍMATE Open Data to Improve Agricultural Resiliency

By Andrew Young and Stefaan Verhulst

JULY 2017 OPEN DATA’S IMPACT* www.odimpact.org

ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA Open Data to Improve Agricultural Resiliency

By Andrew Young and Stefaan Verhulst**

JULY 2017

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

* “Special thanks to Akash Kapur who provided crucial editorial support for this case study, and to the peer reviewers [odimpact. org/about] who provided input on a pre-published draft.” ** Project conducted in collaboration with the Web Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Mobile Solutions, Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) program at FHI 360. Open DatatoImproveAgriculturalResiliency ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA government actors.Theplatform(availableatacli nization, withprivate-sectorindustrygroupsand Tropical (CIAT), acivilsocietyorga partnership ledbytheInternationalCenterfor The AclímateColombiaprojectisacross-sector especially forsmall,independentlyownedfarms. major challengesforthecountry’s farms,perhaps shifts andextendeddroughtperiodshavecreated agriculture. Inthissector, unanticipatedweather One sectorthathasbeenparticularlyhardhitis fects ofclimatechangeareincreasinglyevident. In Colombia,asinmanyothercountries,theef SUMMARY - - - helping farmersincreasetheirlivelihoods. concrete, actionableinformation, intheprocess el datascienceinsightsandtranslatetheminto sector-relevant intermediaries—cantake high-lev ta-sharing across sectors—along with the use of recognition. Itisapowerfulexampleofhowda had atangibleimpactandreceivedwidespread relatively young,AclímateColombiahasalready navigate shiftingweatherpatterns.Althoughstill sets, tohelpfarmersunderstandhowbetter sources, includingmanyopengovernmentdata matecolombia.org) leveragesadiversityofdata - - -

3 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 2 1 to adapt to the effects of climate change. As to achievetheirpotential,theymustbeable However, in order for countries like Colombia crops suchascoffee, bananasandrice. holds tremendous possibilities as a provider of world’s biodiversity.” people nowlive, andtheycontainmostofthe are wheresome70percentoftheworld’s poor become futurebreadbaskets fortheworld. They “Parts ofthehumidtropicshavepotentialto al CenterforTropical Agriculture(CIAT) putit: Echeverría, DirectorGeneraloftheInternation bia andinthetropicsgeneral.AsRubenG. Agriculture isaveryimportant sector inColom PROBLEM FOCUS/COUNTRY CONTEXT CONTEXT ANDBACKGROUND Ibid. CIAT Communicaciones, “A Powerful Voice for Climate-smartAgricultureintheTropics,” December6,2014, CIAT, https://ciat.cgiar.org/news-2-2/a-powerful-voice-for-climate-smart-agriculture-in-the-tropics. 1 Colombia,inparticular, - - can helpthem.” lack ofinvestmentinnewtechnologiesthat knowledge onbestcultivationpractices,and poor soils,volatilerainfallpatterns,lackof who already face significant challenges from serious threatforthesesmallholderfarmers, Echeverría notes:“Climate changeposesa portion of the crop growers in the country. As for smallfarmers,whoconstitutealargepro It represents a particularly serious challenge to thefood-growingpotentialofColombia. global warmingpresentsmanychallenges upheaval asaresultofnewweatherpatterns, traditional growingprocessesarethrowninto 2 -

4 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 7 6 5 4 3 open dataecosystem. portant tounderstandforassessingtheoverall ed withopendata,theyarenonethelessim (perhaps most)countriesthathaveexperiment ings. While these shortcomings exist in many players suggestseveralremainingshortcom ments, our research and interviews with key country’s goodperformanceonsuchmeasure sets, andelectionresults.However, despitethe statistics, procurementtenders,locationdata general openness of data relating to national This rankingisprobablyareflectionofthe country ranked number four, up from 12 in 2014. gether by Open Knowledge International, the availability acrossanumberofsectorsputto 2015 OpenDataIndex,anassessmentofdata bia is quite encouraging. For example, in the In someways,thestateofopendatainColom OPEN DATA INCOLOMBIA have beenhardforthecountry’s ricesector. A percent rainfedrice. was produced by lowland irrigated and 35 dy ricein2014–around65percentofwhich sector producedaround1.7 milliontonsofpad come communities. much of the population, in particular lower-in of income for small farms and a staple food for in Colombia,representingtheprimarysource particular importancetotheagriculturesector The exampleofriceisillustrative. Riceisof Social ProgressImperative, “Contributing toNovelOpenData PlatforminColumbia,” March27, 2016, Ibid. CTIAR andCCAFS, “BigDataforClimate-smartAgriculture,” S. Delerce, etal.,“Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingDataMiningApproaches,” Elizabeth Stuart, EmmaSamman,William Avis andTom Berliner, http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/contributing-to-novel-open-data-platform-in-colombia/. https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigdata#.V6jLT5ODGko. ONE, Report 03 August 25,2016, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. , DevelopmentProgress,2015,https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9604.pdf 3 The country’s agriculture 4 Recent years,however, ------The DataRevolution: FindingtheMissingMillions,Research Change fortheBetter:TheCCAFS2015AnnualReport One notableproblemstemsfromthefactthat what toplant.” aside oldassumptionsaboutwhen,whereand treme weatherareforcingricegrowerstotoss it, “subtle shifts in rainfall as well as more ex International AgriculturalResearch (CGIAR)puts al researchpartnership, ConsultativeGroupon the likely causeofthedecrease. Astheglob explanations vary, climatechangeisseenas dropped from6to5tonsperhectare. wiped outbetween2007and2012whenyields decade ofincreasesinirrigatedriceyieldswas improving urbanlife.” city-level networksinColombiadedicatedto de CiudadesCómoVamos —“thenetworkof tion surveys conducted by Red Colombiana public datasetsanddatadrawnfrompercep the region.Theportalcontainscity-focused other civil society actors and funders across na Foundationin2015, in collaboration with (ciudatos.com), wasestablishedbytheCoro alizations. Anadditionaldataportal,Ciudatos houses around2,460datasetsand70visu tal, DatosAbiertosColombia(datos.gov.co), the government’s officialopendatapor the mostusefuldatasets.AsofAugust 2016, with littleclarityonwhereandhowtoaccess Colombia’s open datasupply isfragmented, 6 7

5 Though PLoS , ------

5 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 11 10 9 8 minimal demandforopendata. cess anduseopendatahasresultedin users inthebusinesscommunitytoac ness. catalyzing entrepreneurship and busi issues like economic development or data has had relatively little impact on open dataspace—forallitsavailability, This pointsto a further weakness inthe ally—is focusedonfightingcorruption. innovation and datawork more gener sult, muchofthecountry’s government commitments—and, perhapsasare nership (OGP)in2011. in joiningtheOpenGovernmentPart Colombia originally expressed interest temperature andrainfall. of Colombianopendatasets,mostlyon edge Portal, whichalsohostsanumber World Bank’s ClimateChangeKnowl sis. Furthercomplicatingmattersisthe at thetwolocationsforfurtheranaly trouble combining information stored where tosearchfordata,andmayhave tion. For example, users may be unsure ment, also leads to a certain fragmenta while signs ofastrong open data move The existenceofthesetwoportals,

GovLab interviewwithOscarMontiel,Open GovLab interviewwithDanielUribe, Funda Open GovernmentPartnership, “Columbia,” The World BankGroup, “Climate Change cion Corona,September13,2016. Knowledge International,September 8,2016. country/colombia. 2015, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/ try_historical_climate&ThisCCode=COL. bank.org/climateportal/index.cfm?page=coun Knowledge Portal,” 2016,http://sdwebx.world 10 Overall, the lack of incentives for 9 ManyofitsOGP 8 11 ------lar, werethecentralfunders fortheproject,and Colombian government, and MARDin particu CIAT projectleadDanielJimeneznotesthatthe lombian population.” help improve the level and quality of life ofthe Co decentralization, consultation and participation, to development agriculturalprocesses,criteriaof able developmentofforestry, fisheriesandrural that promote competitive, equitable and sustain is to “formulate, coordinate and evaluate policies and RuralDevelopment(MARD).MARD’s mission Aclímate ColombiaistheMinistryofAgriculture The primarygovernmentactorpushingforward Government ofColombia KEY DATA PROVIDERS KEY ACTORS 15 14 13 12 nonprofit, focused on generating scientific solu riculture (CIAT), “anagricultural research institution, Colombia istheInternationalCenterforTropical Ag The central actor in the development of Aclímate CIAT KEY DATA USERSANDINTERMEDIARIES legislation (IDEAM), whichcollectsand—asaresultofrecent drology, MeteorologyandEnvironmentalStudies ment dataprovideristheNationalInstituteof Hy collaborator ontheproject,primarygovern While MARD is the most important government by stakeholders inothersectors. abling CIAT toaccessandanalyzedatasetsheld and importantactorsintheagriculturesector, en helped tofacilitatecommunicationbetweenCIAT

GovLab interviewwithDanielJimenez,InternationalCen Aclímate Colombia,“Quiénes Somos,” http://www.acli “Information Request,” IDEAM,http://www.ideam.gov.co/ GovLab interviewwithDaniel Jimenez,InternationalCen ter forTropical Agriculture(CIAT), August 23,2016. solicitud-de-informacion. ter forTropical Agriculture (CIAT), August 23,2016. matecolombia.org/quienes-somos-2/. 14 —opens climatedataforthecountry. 12 13 - 15 ------

6 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 20 19 18 17 16 organization has threecentral missions. First,it uty directoroftechnologyforFedearroz,the ing toMiryamPatricia GuzmánGarcía,thedep ciation) wasCIAT’s centralcollaborator. Accord sector, Fedearroz (i.e., the Rice Growers Asso Given thefocusonspurringgrowthinrice production forthecropsinspecificregions.” tools anddeterminethemostlimitingfactorsin know-how to“analyzeinformationfrombigdata sent. CIAT armedtheseassociations withthe CIAT totheindividual-levelfarmerstheyrepre translating theinsightsandtoolsprovidedby sociations inmanywaysactastheintermediary and semi-public sectors. The crop grower as advocate forfarmers,existinboththeprivate country. Theassociations,whichrepresentand the stableofcropgrowerassociationsin key pieceoftheAclímateColombiapuzzleis collaboration on open data projects, the other Demonstrating thepotentialofcross-sector Fedearroaz andCropGrowersAssociations cess to and analyze relevant historical datasets. associations and other stakeholders to gain ac project butalsoworked closelywithgrowers the dataanalyticscapabilitiesthatenabled CIAT not only conceptualized and developed ricultural practices,policiesandmeasures. global warming and declining food security, ag seeks to “address the challenge of increased Agriculture andFoodSecurity(CCAFS). CCAFS part ofitsresearchprogramonClimateChange, and projectmanagementroleintheinitiativeas (CGIAR), CIAT playsthecentraldatascience Group on InternationalAgriculturalResearch established in1970aspartoftheConsultative tions tocombathungerinthetropics.” Originally

Ibid. Ibid. GovLab interviewwithDanielJimenez,InternationalCenter for Tropical Agriculture(CIAT), August 23, 2016. Aclímate Colombia,“Quiénes Somos,” http://www.aclimatecolombia.org/quienes-somos-2/ GovLab interviewwithMiryamPatricia GuzmánGarcía,DeputyDirectorofTechnology, Fedearroz,September 5, 2016. 16 18 17 ------involved both providing access to relevant data where itisreallyneeded:tothefarmers.” in theresearchcentersgetsdowntolevel puts it, “the research that normally takes place project to help ensure that, as GuzmánGarcía Fedearroz waseagertocollaborateonthe viding) newfundingstreams. with relevantindustryplayerstofinding(orpro of neededsuppliestoestablishingpartnerships the servicestheyneed—fromidentifyingsellers the associationseekstoprovidefarmerswith effectiveness” offarminginColombia.Finally, the ability“tobetterproductivityandcost works to transfer technological capabilities with ernment decision-makers. Second, Fedearroz to ensurethattheirinterestsareknowngov represents ricefarmersattheministeriallevel are largelydisengagedfromitscurrentiteration. retically anintendedbeneficiaryoftheinitiative, lenges sections,unaffiliatedfarmers,whiletheo described inmore detail intheRisksand Chal act to the shifting impacts of climate change. As make therightplantingchoicesand betterre the decision-makingcapabilitytoconsistently The project seeks to provide such farmers with filiated withgrowingassociationsinthecountry. targeted byAclímateColombiaarefarmersaf agriculture sector, themostdirectbeneficiaries efits ofincreasedyieldsandsustainabilityinthe While therearepotentiallymassivepublicben Associated FarmersinColombia KEY BENEFICIARIES who canuseitinpractice. tools providedbyAclímateColombiatothose CIAT, andalsotransferringtheendresults and insightsonthecountry’s ricegrowersto 19 20 This ------

7 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 26 25 24 23 22 21 ty-bolstering recommendations forfarmers (i.e., gy forleveragingdatatodevelopproductivi As afirststep, CIAT developedamethodolo strategy reports,andasearchabledataportal. formation analysistools,data-drivenagriculture regular, targetednewsletters,context-specificin Aclímate Colombiawebsite, forexample through ommendations isevidentinmanywaysonthe increasing productivity. ing and providing specific recommendations for ment includesevaluationsofseasonalforecast adapt toclimatevulnerabilityaction.” Thisagree the capacityofColombia’s agriculturalsectorto an agreement with CIAT aimed at “strengthening goal inmind,theMinisterofAgriculturesigned for strengtheninggrowers’ associations.Withthis lombian government began exploring options plies. ravaged plantations a nd exhausted water sup region alsofacedconsistentlyhightemperatures, 20,000 . food andwaterscarcity, andthedeathofaround ment of La Guajira, for instance, the drought led to riculture andcrops.Inthenorthwesterndepart regions ofthecountryhadamajorimpactonag son in Colombia. An extended drought in many The summerof2013wasaparticularlydrysea INITIATION OFTHEOPENDATA ACTIVITY PROJECT DESCRIPTION

     CTIAR andCCAFS, “BigDataforClimate-smart Agriculture,” Silvain Delerce, etal., “Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingDataMiningApproaches,” “Drought threattoColombia’s southernfarmingbelt,” GovLab interviewwithDaniel Jimenez,InternationalCenterfor Tropical Agriculture(CIAT), August 23,2016. “Colombia: TheEffectsofDroughtin La Guajira,” World FoodProgramme, August 27, 2014,https://www.wfp.org/stories/ https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigdata#.V6jLT5ODGko. PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. news/132752/drought-threat-to-colombias-southern-farming-belt. colombia-effects-drought-la-guajira. GovLab interviewwithMiryamPatricia GuzmánGarcía,DeputyDirectorofTechnology, Fedearroz,September 5,2016. 22 Inresponsetothesestruggles,theCo 21 Farmers in the southern Casanare Farmers in the southern Casanare 23 Theresultoftheserec ------World Bulletin, Change fortheBetter:TheCCAFS 2015AnnualReport the ricegrowersassociation,withideaof representatives then approachedFedearroz, Lulo ( to determineoptimumgrowingconditionsof glaucus) works tomodelAndeanBlackberry( vised and unsupervised artificial neural net world; theseincluded“theuseofbothsuper projects initiatedbyotherNGOsaroundthe a numberofpreviousdata-drivenagriculture on region).Inthiseffort,CIAT wasinspiredby which cropstogrow, andwhen,depending puts it, “the research that normally takes place project to help ensure that, as GuzmánGarcía arroz was in part eager to collaborate on the farmers toreducetheriskstheyface.” to improve practices and recommendations for ter analysis of all the information we had and decided tobepartoftheprojectenablebet experiments. itoring recordsandresultsfromagronomic including anannualricesurvey, harvestmon ered overthecourseoftwenty-fiveyears, Fedearroz readilyagreedtosharedatagath decision-making capabilities. open governmentdatasetstoimprovefarmers’ using the association’s data as well as existing Solanum quitoense)” April 3,2014,http://www.worldbulletin.net/ yields, andtheuseofmixed models yields, 25 AsGuzmánGarcíaputsit,“we

in the . 26 24 Fede Rubus CIAT , ------

8 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 30 GovLab interviewwithMorRubinstein,OpenKnowledge International, September 8,2016. 29  28  27 Ibid. nizations like the Inter-AmericanDevelopment ent availability of grants from international orga Mexico and Argentina. funding foritsdata-drivenprojects,alongwith as receivinganotableamountofinternational bia, inparticular, isseenbythoseinthefield international fundingsourcesabound.Colom bed for open data activity and experimentation, As Latin Americacontinuestogrowasahot FUNDING diverse open data sources to “identify the most damental level,AclímateColombiausesthese joyed bylargercorporatefarms.At amostfun farmers wholackthetypeofR&D capacityen those whocouldreallyuseitinpractice:small and toolsprovidedbyAclímateColombiato to CIAT, andalsotransferringthe end results data andinsightsonthecountry’s ricegrowers This involvedbothprovidingaccesstorelevant el whereitisreallyneeded:tothefarmers.” in theresearchcentersgetsdowntolev https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigdata#.V6jLT5ODGko. CTIAR andCCAFS, “BigDataforClimate-smartAgriculture,” na-empowering-smallholder-farmers.html. Smallholder Farmers,” Open DataforDevelopingEconomiesCaseStudies, Francois vanSchalkwyk,Andrew Young andStefaan Verhulst, “Esoko –Leveling theInformation PlayingFieldfor 30 Yet despite the appar 27 ------

Change fortheBetter:TheCCAFS2015AnnualReport Bank andothers,theprimaryfundingsource other casestudyfromthisseries. the Esoko agriculture platform in Ghana in an entities aroundtheconcept,andweexamine work brings together nearly 500 cross-sector Data forAgricultureandNutrition(GODAN) net benefit the agriculture sector. TheGlobalOpen growing globalefforttoleverageopendata The CIAT effortisjust onemanifestationof a specific sitesandseasonalforecasts.” productive ricevarietiesandplantingtimesfor tions willbetapped. mature, itislikely thatmorediversefundingop insights. As the project continues to grow and ing effortstoincreasetheuptake ofdata-driven opment oftoolsandcommunicationstrain ed at supporting the continued technical devel government. Thesefundsareprimarilytarget for Aclímate Colombia is in fact the Colombian DATE TBD , http://odimpact.org/case-gha 29 28 , ------

9 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 36 35 34 33 32 31 humidity andsolarradiation. maximum temperature, precipitation,relative termining rice growth: minimum temperature, the fivemostimportantclimaticvariablesde helps provide insight on what CIAT considers roz-led agro-meteorological network. This data tal Studies (IDEAM),aswell asfromaFedear of Hydrology, MeteorologyandEnvironmen daily weatherdatafromtheNationalInstitute Second, theplatformcontainsstation-level ally identifiableinformation. without namingthesaint”– i.e., freeofperson atagenerallevelforeachfarm, ously “public As GuzmanGarciaputit:thedatawasprevi digitized tobeusableforAclímateColombia. onymized form,buthadtobecentralizedand Much ofthisdatawasalreadyaccessibleinan rice surveys and harvest monitoring records. for examplethepreviouslymentionedannual commercial cropdatacollectedbyFedearroz, the AclímateColombiaplatform.Thefirstis Three typesofdataareprimarilyavailableon DEMAND ANDSUPPLY OFDATA TYPE(S)ANDSOURCES

   Elizabeh Stuart, “TheDataRevolution: Finding theMissingMillions,” Ibid. Silvain Delerce, etal., “Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingDataMiningApproaches,” GovLab interviewwithMiryam Patricia GuzmánGarcía,DeputyDirector ofTechnology, Fedearroz, September5,2016. Silvain Delerce, etal., “Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingDataMiningApproaches,” CTIAR andCCAFS, “BigDataforClimate-smart Agriculture,” https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigdata#.V6jLT5ODGko. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9604.pdf. PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. 32 33 31 ------

Change fortheBetter:TheCCAFS 2015AnnualReport and crop-specific insights. The platform also alytic methods that provide users with region- form itselfsubjectsthedatatoarangeofan by usersoftheplatform.Inaddition,plat All thisdatacanbedownloadedinrawform practices implementedbythefarmer.” events includesoilconditionsand“management ed. Importantelementsfeedingintocropping crop betweenbeingplantedandharvest essentially, everythingthathappenedtoayield’s fields alongwitharecordof“croppingevents”— data, andinparticularayieldrecordforspecific the platform actually contain a combination of Finally, perhapsthemostimportantdatasetson botics andneuroscience. were influencedbysimilarefforts inbiology, ro The machine-learning algorithms used by CIAT directly influentialtoagivenfarmingstrategy. the endofteasingoutmostfactors perature, radiation,rainfallandproductivity,” to al relationshipsbetweenvariousfactors–tem to Daniel Jimenez, “explore non-linear function chine-learning drivenanalysesthat,according subjects thedatatomoresophisticated,ma Development Progress,Research Report 03 36 34 , 2015, , 35 ------

10 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency tion products,includingnewslettersrelated sets tocreateanumberoftoolsandinforma Aclímate Colombiausesitsdiversityofdata not existwithoutaccesstoopendata. the simplest of terms, Aclímate Colombia could initiative andtheitselfisimpossible. In guishing betweentheuseofopendatafor NGO-provided datadescribedabove—distin for the initiative—along with the industry- and while opendataisonlyonepieceofthepuzzle part oftheAclímateColombiasuitetools.So Open datafeedsintoallanalysesconductedas OPEN DATA USE Figure 1:AclímateColombiaNewsletterSignUp - - - seek itoutandhaveapositiveimpact. a clearandaccessiblemannertothosewho municate itsmethods,research,andfindingsin The endresultisthattheprojectabletocom additional data-drivenresourcesanddatasets. data portal(Figure3)andpointsvisitorstoward helpfully, though,thesiteoffersasearchable that launchedthesiteinfirstplace. Most formation about the Convention agreement provides researchtopics,modeling,andin and easily-digestible(Figure2).Thesitealso to farming(Figure1)thatarebothinformative - -

11 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency Figure 2:AclímateColombiaNewsletter 12 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 38 37 the impact of climate variability on yields, they scale studies have successfully characterized ect: “Whilstpreviousglobalandcontinental tatives putitinajournalarticleabouttheproj from thelabintofield.AsCIAT represen transfer of knowledge and research findings Colombia is howquickly it has enabled the One of the most impressive aspects of Aclímate NEW KNOWLEDGE ANDINSIGHTS liable source(i.e., thefarmers’ growingassocia able information broadcast by a trusted and re The combinationofhighlyspecificandaction dows for planting or the best variety to grow.” to 170farmersinCordobaonthe“idealwin sage,” providing detailed, granular information dearroz broadcasta“simple, site-specific mes season andnecessitateadelayinplanting,Fe a majordryperiodwoulddisruptthegrowing initiative. After thesite’s analysis predictedthat lombia canworkoccurredaboutayearintothe One illustrativeexampleofhowAclímateCo be identified. impact fromtheAclímateColombiaprojectcan progress. Nonetheless, several initial forms of countries opendataisverymuchaworkin can take manyyearstomanifest,andinmost cently. Thelarger, systemicimpactofopendata case studies have beeninitiated relatively re ly asmanyprojectsincludedinthisseriesof Impact is often difficult to measure, especial IMPACT   pone.0161620. Approaches,” PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal. Report 03 Elizabeh Stuart, “TheDataRevolution: FindingtheMissingMillions,” Silvain Delerce, etal.,“Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsing Data Mining , 2015,https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9604.pdf. 37 ------

practice withreal-worldimpact. break thattrendandadvancenewagricultural user-friendly tools,helpedAclímateColombia termediaries—i.e., growersassociations—and nature of the project, as well as its use ofin cisions.” have limiteddirectrelevancetofarm-levelde Other initialmarkers ofimpactinclude: sions, thusescapingsignificantlosses. premature, doomed-to-failureplantingdeci was significant. Many farmers avoided making tion) meantthatuptake oftherecommendation 38 Thehighlyparticularandlocalized Development Progress,Research - - -

13 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 40 39 peratures typicallyexceeding 22⁰C. is notsuitableforgrowthinregionswithtem data includedonthewebsite, thatcropvariety the CimarronBarinasricevariety;accordingto of thecountryarenotwell-suitedforplanting Analysis hasalsoindicatedthathotterregions benefit yields. temperatures are high enough to positively that ripeningoccurswhenaverageminimum that cropplantingsaresequencedtoensure Armed with this knowledge, farmers can ensure imum temperature during the ripening stage.” are primarilyinfluencedby“theaveragemin showed that,intheEspinalregion,riceyields The type of analysis found on the platform changed agricultureinColombia: which newformsofknowledgeanddatahave cle, these aresomeofthespecificwaysin According tothepreviouslymentionedarti

GovLab interviewwithMiryamPatricia GuzmánGarcía,DeputyDirectorofTechnology, Fedearroz,September 5,2016. Ibid. Figure 3:AclímateColombiaDataPortal 39 - - - fall is the key to growth. This insight “may foster show that the area areparticularlyimportantbecausethey est impactonyield.Theteam’s findingsinthis 10mm during the vegetative stage has the larg In Villavicencio, thefrequency ofrainfallover that didnotlistentousandhadmorelosses.” fects comparedtoanotherdistrictnextdoor less cropstobeplanted,butminimizedtheef started rationingwater, which,granted,caused “Fortunately, thedistrictlistenedtous,and the dry season. But, as Guzmán García recalls: non, Saldañafacedsignificantrisksbecauseof stage. Asaresult,duringtheElNiñophenome radiation ismostsignificantduringtheripening CIAT effortuncoveredthattheimpactofsolar the largestimpactonyield.Inparticular, the ed solar energy in irrigated rice hasprobably learned that(andwhy)thelevelofaccumulat Farmers intheSaldañaregionhavealso frequency rather than total rain 40 - - - - -

14 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 45 44 43 42 41 on-farm decisionmaking.” actionable andcontextualizedinformationfor tional datacanbeusedtoefficientlygenerate this effortisthatitdemonstrateshowobserva lombia putitinanarticle:“Theaddedvalueof insight. As the scientists behind Aclímate Co represents apotentiallysignificanttheoretical knowledge canspurprogressinthefield.This agriculture how new forms of information and the projecthasshownallthoseinvolvedin er agriculturalresearchcommunity. Indeed, has alsohadaconsiderableimpactonthewid the mostdirectbeneficiariesofproject,it Although practitioners ofagriculture have been BENEFITS TO THEAGRICULTURE RESEARCHCOMMUNITY from farmers,GuzmánGarcíarecalls,“Ireally pumps werebroken. Despitesomepushback rounding stretches oftime when many irrigation farmers’ desiretomaximizepotentialyieldssur farmers to avoid year-round planting—despite tion district, Fedearroz and CIAT encouraged man Garcia.InMontería,anareawithirriga included in the article) wasindicatedby Guz One furtherpieceofactionableinsight(not to adaptunevenlydistributedrainfall.” plementary irrigationinfrastructureinthatarea the developmentofwater harvesting and com

    Andrés BermúdezLiévano, “Los arrocerosaprendenavivirenun mundoconmenosagua,” GovLab interviewwithMiryam Patricia GuzmánGarcía, DeputyDirectorofTechnology, Fedearroz,September5,2016. Oluwabunmi Ajilore“BigData, BigProspects:Crunchingdatafor farmers’ climateadaptation,” Silvain Delerce, etal., “Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingDataMiningApproaches,” Silvain Delerce, etal., “Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingDataMiningApproaches,” ta-farmers-climate-adaptation#.V6jLZpODGkp. The CCAFS2015AnnualReport PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. 17, 2016,http://lasillavacia.com/historia/los-arroceros-aprenden-vivir-en-un-mundo-con-menos-agua-52478. PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. 44 , September12,2014,https://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/big-data-big-prospects-crunching-da 41 ------tion totwoindividualsameretownapart. vide trulyusefulandentirelydifferentinforma analyses andpredictions,opendatacan pro sights. Farfromjustatoolforlarge-scaletrends across sectors—touncoverhighlygranularin haps especially those combining datasets from to the potential of open data projects—per Considered morebroadly, theprojectpoints million, wereavoidedamong179farmers. losses ofaround8billionPesos, overUSD300 not .” think wegotthroughtothemandpeopledid tween researchandpractice. and tothinkthroughmorecarefullythelinkbe munity toconsidernewformsofknowledge, it canserveasacatalystforthewidercom spent.” al research,intermsoftimetaken andmoney to make progress by “accelerating agricultur More broadly, oneoftheaimsprojectis 45 Thefoundersoftheprojecthopethat 42 Follow on evaluations estimate that Followonevaluationsestimatethat La SillaNacional, Change fortheBetter: January 43 ------15 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 49 48 47 46 together, haveamuchwiderregionalimpact. pathways for many more similar projects that, and asingle, successfulprojectcan openup in thisseries:successleadstomoresuccess, pattern weseerepeatedlyinthecasestudies projects inLatin Americaandbeyond.Thisisa dant publicitycouldalsohelpspurother, similar platform. Inaddition,theawardanditsatten recognition oftheingenuityandpromise lenge. winners oftheUnitedNationsBigDataChal the projectwasrecognizedasoneof2014 Aclímate Colombia, it is worth mentioning that While notadirect,on-the-groundimpactof UN BIGDATA CHALLENGEANDTHEVALUE OFAMODEL launch of the initiative, improvements to farm partnership withCIAT, intheyearfollowing to anOpenDataInstitutestudyconductedin mony to the success of the project. According are alreadybecomingclear, andbeartesti The economic benefits of Aclímate Colombia FINANCIAL IMPACT



Ibid. GovLab interviewwithDanielJimenez,InternationalCenter for Tropical Agriculture(CIAT), August 23,2016. United NationsGlobalPulse, “BigDataClimateChallenge,” PressRelease, September2,2014,https://www3.wider.unu. Global OpenDataforAgricultureandNutrition, edu/sites/default/files/News/Documents/Big-Data-Climate-Challenge-press-release-5633.pdf. Open DataInstitute, 2015,http://www.godan.info/sites/default/files/old/2015/04/ODI-GODAN-paper-27-05-20152.pdf. 47 Thisawardrepresentsavalidationand How CanWe ImproveAgriculture, FoodandNutritionwithOpenData? - - - - nomic lossesavoidedasaresultofAclímate assessments andestimatesofthetypeseco There havebeensomeregional-levelimpact As noted,impactisoftenhardtomeasure. country, andforspecificfarmers. calized costefficienciesinspecificareasofthe above haveofcourseledtoanumberlo gate savings,thevarious insights described of $3.6m. ers’ decision-making ledtoestimatedsavings who increasedtheirproductivity. farmers reached and the number of farmers ect, gainingbettervisibilityintothenumberof an impactassessmentcomponentintotheproj ward, CIAT andFedearrozarelookingtobuild and sustainedsourcesoffunding.Goingfor Jimenez highlights, essential for accessing new tools andapproachfortheinitiative, butalso, as impact isnotonlyimportantforiteratingonthe sy inmeasuringimpact.” Jimenez believesthat,“we’ve beenveryclum Colombia performed.Onthewhole, though, 46 Inadditiontothesebroad,aggre 48 Anunderstandingof 49

------16 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 52 51 50 the world.Whileoftenaimedateradicatingor number ofopendataandprojectsaround civic technologysectors,andindeedwithina struggle withintheColombianopendataand This particular risk is representative of a larger hind thosewhoneedthemostsupport. benefit theagriculturesectorrisksleavingbe more technologicalanddata-driveneffortsto proving theirdecision-making.Amovetoward benefit fromgainingaccesstonewtoolsforim of climatechangeandstandtoseethemost ciations likely facethegreatestrisksasaresult no affiliationsandsupportfromgrowers’ asso associated.” sible aslongfarmersarewellorganizedand As Jimeneznotes,“thisapproachistotallyfea those farmersthatarenotsimilarlyorganized. roz. It haslittle capacity, however, to engage filiated withgrowers’ associationslike Fedear CIAT is well-positioned to engage farmers af POWERFUL GROWERS ASSOCIATIONS EMPOWERING ONLY FARMERS CONNECTEDWITH also see throughout this series, open data also potential forpositivetransformation.But,aswe ed inthisseries,opendataholdstremendous lombia andvariousothercasestudiesinclud As evidencedbytheexampleofAclímateCo RISKS

GovLab interviewwithDanielJimenez,InternationalCenter for Tropical Agriculture(CIAT), August 23,2016. Ibid. GovLab interviewwithDanielUribe, FundacionCorona,September13,2016. 50 But,ofcourse, thefarmerswith ------exacerbate) existing divides. As Daniel Uribe of fact oftengraftthemselvesonto(andcaneven ernance innovationprojectssuchasthisonein narrowing thedigitaldivide, technicalandgov downside. maximizes thepotentialupsideandlimits data projects are implemented in a way that stand theserisksinordertoensurethatopen poses certainrisks.Itisimportanttounder sustainability andsuccessfortheinitiative. will likely beakey determinantoflonger-term implementable strategies for such engagement opment and research.” Jimenez putsit,“some hybridbetweendevel gaging these unaffiliated farmers through, as CIAT iscurrentlyexploringpathwaysforen in all the population, closing the digital divide.” achieve citizenengagementthroughcivictech and accesstoICTplatformspromote lieve thatthereisthepotentialinpopulation are the largest group of population, but we be count thepopulationpyramidwherepoor a biggapincitizenengagement,takingintoac the Corona Foundation puts it: “We see there is 52 Developing concrete, 51 ------

17 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 54 53 Aclímate Colombiahadexistedforyears,sit- formation anymore.” tion that“informationisnotsharedin lesson learnedfromtheprojectwasrealiza For Jimenez and his team, perhaps the central ENABLERS These canbroadlybecategorizedbyconsid bility emergefromthisparticularcasestudy. Several importantlessonswithwiderapplica LESSONS LEARNED level may suffer great economic hardship. ers who already operate near subsistence only oflowercropyields,butalsothatfarm dations arenotaccurate, thereisarisknot mendations is highly important. If recommen the accuracyandreliability ofthoserecom changing their traditionalgrowing practices, scale farmswithrecommendationsaimedat Given theproject’s focusonarmingsmall- ERROR TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGEPRACTICES ENCOURAGING FARMERS WITHLITTLEROOMFOR

 Silvain Delerce, etal.,“Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingData MiningApproaches,” GovLab interviewwithDanielJimenez,InternationalCenter for Tropical Agriculture(CIAT), August 23,2016. PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. 54 Thedatausedtocreate ------vigilance inthisareaisessential. Colombia improvingoutcomes for farmers, but income.” imum levelofproductivitytoensureadequate harvest whileothersneedtoguaranteeamin risks tobetongoodweatherandoutstanding management” and that some are “able to take “farmers havedifferentprofilesintermsofrisk The organizersrecognizethisrisk,notingthat able information. a seriesofnumbersbutinsteadbecameaction service ofaspecificobjective, itstoppedbeing stakeholders. Once that data was unlocked in ting indatabases held bydifferent cross-sector to itssuccess. as themostimportantbarriersorchallenges ering thekey enablersoftheproject,as well 53 InitialsignsdopointtoAclímate - - 18 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 57 56 55 gap betweenscientistsandfarmers.” er themandthenthroughwebridgethis their role:“We workthroughthem,weempow and individualfarms.AsJimenezdescribes use byactingasintermediariesbetweenCIAT played arolethroughdataprovisionandits the creationofinitiative. Inparticular, they sociations playedanessentialroleinenabling and implementationmakes clear, growers’ as As the story of Aclímate Colombia’s genesis BUILD ACOMMONLANGUAGE KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE, ENGAGE INTERMEDIARIESAND Pushing fordataaccesswithoutacleararticula and data intermediaries in an effective manner. ory ofchangehelpedengagedataproviders regions. Establishingandarticulatingthisthe act to different weatherpatterns in different an improvedunderstandingofhowcropsre make betterplantingdecisionsasaresultof the start: that data analysis can help farmers The project’s theory of change was clear from have to think aboutthetheory of change.” partnerships areality, Jimenezargues,“you CIAT and the individual farmers. To make those enable themtoactasintermediariesbetween both togainaccesstheirdataandinorder grower associations like Fedearroz on board— define AclímateColombia,CIAT firsthadtoget sis and dissemination of tools and insights that In ordertomoveforwardwiththedataanaly PROOF OFCONCEPT ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY, ATHEORY OFCHANGEAND

Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. 57 55 ------

ingful insights,moreandinformationwas as CIAT used the data available to draw mean share “asmallpieceofthedatabase,” andthen stages, growers’ associationstendedtoonly cess emerge. Jimenez notes that, at the early arise whentangiblesignsofimpactandsuc ity toaproject,trueconfidenceandcredibility as atheoryofchangecanlendconceptualclar data providersand/orintermediaries.Asmuch of conceptcanalsohelpinstillconfidencein In additiontoacleartheoryofchange, aproof ends—can bealosingproposition. tion ofhowthatdatawillbeused—andtowhat tionable impact,CIAT embeddedsector-area at increasingdataliteracy, whichhaveques with growers associations and farmers aimed Rather thansimplyrunningone-offworkshops that audienceandbuildacommonlanguage. it neededtogainabetterunderstandingof the intendedaudience(i.e., individualfarmers), that toencourageengagementanduseamong mediary like Federarroz,CIAT quickly learned Even whenworkingthroughadata-driveninter more informeddecision-making.” you demonstratewhatcandotosupport in the beginning, but they start to believe as made accessible. Headds,“theyareskeptical 56 - - - - - 19 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 62 61 60 59 58 helped to—gradually—mitigatethatchallenge. growers’ associationsandthosetheyrepresent a willingnesstobuildcommonlanguagewith tablishment ofcredibility, proofofconcept and difficult process. es,” gainingaccesswasarelatively slowand data sharingisstillinitsinfancymanyplac institutions. Giventhefactthat“openaccessand diverse datasetsdrawnfromsectorsand bia arisesfromtheaggregation andanalysis of Much ofthevalueandutilityAclímateColom IMPORTANT DATASETS INITIAL INACCESSIBILITY OF BARRIERS success wastheidentificationofdatause sustainability. Jimenez notesthata bigdriver of CIAT andimproving the project’s potential for minimizing the resource and time burdens on the skillspresentingrowers’ association, intended audience, butalsohelpedincrease not only helped to increase buy-in among the of time and resources. training andtoolsaretrulyworththeinvestment practices—and plantthenotionthatdata-driven ent regionaldataanalysesonoptimalplanting how toputintopracticethefindingsofdiffer them properly”—i.e., give them a grounding in engagements, CIAT wasableto“empower organization. During these three-to-four-month experts from growers’ associations within the

  Oluwabunmi Ajilore“BigData, BigProspects:Crunchingdatafor farmers’ climateadaptation,” Ibid. Elizabeh Stuart, “TheDataRevolution: FindingtheMissingMillions,” Ibid. GovLab interviewwithFabrizioScrollini,September13, 2016. ta-farmers-climate-adaptation#.V6jLZpODGkp. The CCAFS2015AnnualReport https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9604.pdf. 62 As described above, the es 58 These engagements , September12,2014,https://ccafs.cgiar.org/blog/big-data-big-prospects-crunching-da - - - - ple of“inclusiveinnovation.” guay, labelsAclímateColombiaaclearexam such, FabrizioScrollini,chairmanofDataUru because itwasbasedontheirowndata.” er saidtomethattheyactedontheresearch velopment Institute, herecalledthat,“One farm findings. InaninterviewwiththeOverseasDe age greater uptake of their toolsandresearch munity (i.e., individualfarmers)helpedencour build acommonlanguagewiththeusercom working towardcommongoalsandwillingto that Aclímate Colombia’s organizers were Similarly, Jimenezfoundthat demonstrating it bythemselves.” to supervisebecause[theassociations]cando and translationprocessesthatCIAT “justneeds a maturetechnologyandinnovationecosystem. open dataeffortsaroundtheworld:lackof to avoidoneofthemajorchallengesfacedby ual-level farmers,AclímateColombiawasable aries passing its tools and insights onto individ that could act as data providers and intermedi By workingdirectlywithgrowers’ associations IMMATURE ECOSYSTEM Development Progress,Research Report 03 59 Change fortheBetter: 61 , 2015, 60 As As ------20 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 cific, andcanbeusedwhereverrelevantdata inform theproject’s toolsarenotcontext-spe promising asthealgorithmsandprocessesthat bia’s analytical tools and algorithms appears The potentialforreplicationofAclímateColom REPLICABILITY reuse ofgovernmentdatamoredifficult. wieldy datalicensingframeworksthatmake the and useecosystemfeedsintoissueslike un argues thattheimmatureopendatademand types ofdatareleasedbythegovernment.He system, therecanbenegativeimpactsonthe tools, Montielarguesthatwithoutsuchaneco private sectorcivictechactorstoleverageits But whileAclímateColombiadoesnotrequire has theobjectiveofhavingasocialimpact.” country, “they are not partofa community that are some tech start ups and innovators in the dación Coronaagrees,arguingthatwhilethere one another.” it, “reallysmallandreallydisconnectedfrom tiel ofOpenKnowledgeInternational(OKI)puts communities inColombiaare, asOscarMon Actors inthecivictechnologyandopensource



 GovLab interviewwithOscar Montiel,OpenKnowledgeInternational, September8,2016. GovLab interviewwithEsteban Peláez Gómez, CoordinatorofSocialProjects,FundaciónCorona,September13,2016. GovLab interviewwithOscar Montiel,OpenKnowledgeInternational, September8,2016. CTIAR andCCAFS, “BigDataforClimate-smart Agriculture,” Silvain Delerce, etal.,“Assessing Weather-Yield Relationships inRiceatLocal ScaleUsingData MiningApproaches,” GovLab interviewwithOscar Montiel,OpenKnowledgeInternational, September8,2016. GovLab interviewwithMor Rubinstein,OpenKnowledgeInternational, September8,2016. https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigdata#.V6jLT5ODGko. PLOS One, August 25,2016,http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0161620. 63 Esteban Peláez Gómez of Fun 65 64 ------Change fortheBetter:TheCCAFS 2015AnnualReport civil society, andrather, government“justdoes spread collaborationbetweengovernmentand Corona, Montielarguesthatthereisnotwide notable exceptions, like CIAT andFundación question mark in a way.” ciety’s roleinadvancingopendata data. As Rubinstein notes, Colombian civil so playing amajorroleinpushingforwardopen civil societyinColombiaisfragmentedandnot in comparison to other countries in the region, Open DataIndexeffort,notethat,especially whom worked withColombiaaspartofthe OKI’s MontielandMorRubinstein,bothof OPEN DATA ECOSYSTEM COLLABORATORS INCOLOMBIAN A LACK OFCIVILSOCIETY Fund forIrrigatedRice(FLAR) Uruguay, inpartnership with the Latin American as well as in Argentina, Nicaragua, Peru and ing taken toscaletheprojectacrossColombia, is available. what theycanthewayknowhow.” 68 Asaresult,stepsarealreadybe 66 So while there are . 69

is “a big 67 , - - - 21 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 72 71 70 especially Nicaragua,Peru, ArgentinaandUru rice growers’ associationsinothercountries, World Bank,tointroducenewapproaches ca ( with the Fund for Irrigated Rice in Latin Ameri addition, CIAT researchersplanalsotopartner the FundforIrrigatedRiceinLatin America.In As described above, CIAT is partnering with SCALING TO OTHER COUNTRIESINTHEREGION the platformwillexplorehowtoleveragedata integration ofnewdatasets.Futureresearch for pand theuseof Aclímate Colombia through the is workingtoimprovethefunctionalityandex ed farmers,asdescribedabove, theCIAT team Beyond strategizingwaystoengageunaffiliat AND EXPANDING THEDATA BEINGUSED IMPROVING THETOOLS LOOKING FORWARD



CTIAR andCCAFS, “BigDataforClimate-smart Agriculture,” Ibid. GovLab interviewwithDanielJimenez,August 23,2016. https://ccafs.cgiar.org/bigdata#.V6jLT5ODGko. FLAR ), withthesupportofCCAFS andthe

- - - Change fortheBetter:TheCCAFS 2015AnnualReport collect informationinthefield.” to Jimenez feels“couldbeamoreefficientway of remotesensingandsatelliteenergy,” which The team is also exploring the “emergent field tors toincreaseexplanatorypower.” on “soils, pests,diseases,costsandotherfac groundwork forfurtherreplicationandscaling. additional casestudies,potentiallylayingthe new projectsinLatin Americawillserveas sight intomaizeproductioninMexico. These ment Center(CIMMYT)tobringdata-drivenin filiated InternationalMaizeandWheatImprove guay. CIAT isalsopartneringwiththeCGIAR-af 71 70 , 72 - - - - 22 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency 75 74 73 and push for its use,a and provides benefits to ages partnershipsacrosssectorstoaccessdata at addressingaclearlydefinedproblem,lever dard-bearer andcatalyst.Theplatformisaimed CIAT’s Aclímate Colombia could act as a stan In thisatmosphereofopendatainnovation, Colombia’s private sector and among start-ups. al organizations,withrelativelylittleactivityin the bulk of these are founded by internation or may soon, although it is worth noting that ber ofopendataprojectseitheralreadyexist ican countries in the field of open data. A num can beconsideredaleaderamongLatin Amer ber ofinternationalassessments,thecountry study inthedevelopingworld.Basedonanum impact, Colombiarepresentsafascinatingcase With regardtoopendata’s provision,useand CONCLUSION toward socialends.AclímateColombiacould has notbeenasimilaruptake intheuseofdata in areasfocusedonwealthgeneration,there value ofdata-drivenworkisgainingafoothold there.” jump intodataonthemarket side. Thenicheis politics side, or from the more social side to for someorganizationsthatareapartofthe is a niche for new organizations to emerge or Colombia. AsFabrizioScrolliniargues:“there forward thenascentopendataecosystemin the projectarewell-positionedtohelppush and theotherdata-drivenactorsinvolvedin Looking beyondAclímateColombia,CIAT FOSTERING THE OPENDATA ECOSYSTEM INCOLOMBIA

Climate ServicesforResilient Development,http://www.cs4rd.org/. Ibid. GovLab interviewwithFabrizioScrollini,September13, 2016. 73 Indeed, Scrollini argues that while the ------hopefully willcontribute.” of gettingthedancestarted.That’s whatdata ment willing to take that challenge, it’s amatter party going.Iknowtherearepeopleingovern as wellsotheycanshake thingsupandgetthe and engage the governmentandsomepunks traditional NGOsthataremorewellbehaved these peopleorganizedandgetsomemore As Scrolliniputsit:“Iguessitistimetoget leveraging thedata(inthiscase, farmers). the publicgoodandpocketbooks ofthose open datacanhavepositiveimpactsonboth actually representapowerfulexampleofhow that made Aclímate Colombia a possibility. ed bythegovernmentandcivilsocietyactors in part to the innovative capacity demonstrat for Resilient Developmentinitiative, likely thanks countries to participate in the Climate Services notably selected Colombia as one of three initial riculture sector, regardless of their size. USAID wide varietyofprivatesectoractorsintheag deed throughoutLatin America. emerging opendataspaceinColombia,and it couldestablishitselfasabrightlightinthe to growandevolvealongitscurrenttrajectory, intermediaries—if AclímateColombiacontinues those farmerscurrentlynotinvolvedwithkey the leastofwhichischallengeengaging While manyquestionsandbarriersremain—not 74 75 - - - -

23 ACLÍMATE COLOMBIA | OPEN DATA to Improve Agricultural Resiliency