Exploring data science for public good in South Africa: evaluating factors that lead to success

In the pursuit of public service, governments have to oversee many complex systems. In recent years, data-driven methodologies have been adopted as tools to oversee and enhance service delivery. In this talk I will discuss the ways that the government of South Africa, and its agencies, use data tools as well as the policies and investments that they have been put into place; some of which have created a more enabling ecosystem while others have created difficulties and challenges. I will discuss the current data landscape from the lens of Open Data policies, data readiness policies, and human capital development initiatives. This talk will be a summary of the work we have done in the past four years. It will be a discussion of our observations, our successes, aspirations and challenges we encountered as we continue towards a data-driven governance.