Ghana EITI Data Dashboard an Innovative Approach to Extractives Data Presentation

This week in Peru, Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) will showcase the Ghana EITI Open Data Dashboard, an innovative approach to extractives data presentation.
 
The new dashboard improves the overall accessibility and usage of GHEITI datasets. (NRGI, as part of the Catalyzing Open Data for Extractives (CODEX) project, supported GHEITI in its development.) 
 
Despite the increasing number of yearly reports published on Ghana’s mining and oil and gas sectors by GHEITI, users in Ghana have struggled to turn these data into meaningful and relevant information for citizens. This is because existing GHEITI reports are published in closed data formats (e.g., PDF, image formats), making it difficult for users to better access and perform analysis to suit their interests.
 

 
 
The dashboard uses data from GHEITI reports from 2006 to 2014 and is complemented with other official sources, such as the IMF and the Ghanaian government. In addition to background information on companies, the dashboard presents project-level data–revenue data by commodity, disaggregated revenue streams, disaggregated production data, and disaggregated fiscal payments by projects.
 
Publishing in open formats ensures that data can be freely used (unrestricted either by access or payment), redistributed, reused across different boundaries and easily accessible. Through the dashboard, Ghanaian data users will have the opportunity to download datasets in open formats (e.g., Excel, CSV) under open license; view visualizations of extractive project-level data with comparative features to other key national indicators; and reuse visualizations through image downloads, widgets or similar tools.
 
To access the dashboard, visit data.gheiti.gov.gh.
 
Samuel Bekoe is NRGI’s Africa regional associate.