More than 120 members from civil society organisations, research institutes and government ministries participated in the recent “Open Development” workshop organised by the World Bank, as part of its on-going efforts to encourage the use of publicly accessible data and research, found in the Bank’s website, to tackle development challenges.

According to an official statement, there is increasing demand for greater transparency, accountability and governance. To meet this demand, the Bank’s data, research, information and analytical tools are now available on the internet free of charge.

“Greater access to data and information will enable everyone to make better informed choices and decisions, to improve the lives of the people,” said Kanthan Shankar, the World Bank Country Manager for Myanmar.

Participants found the workshop not only informative, but also “empowering” as it enabled them to explore other innovative means to improve how they work, study, and plan for development activities.

Htaike Htaike Aung, an ICT for development expert of a local CSO, is currently making efforts to bridge the digital divide in rural areas by teaching middle school students and the elderly how to use a computer.

“Our outreach aims to empower people, especially the youth, by showing them how to use the internet more effectively and learn from on-line courses. In remote areas, people cannot read English, so localising software and content is important,” he said.

“This workshop gave me the opportunity to learn how to find data relevant for my work and explore many tools for us to improve our work.”

The Wold Bank has been conducting workshops on “Open Development” in the East Asia Pacific Region, on a regular basis to encourage a discussion on Open Development with policy makers, and to introduce tools such as Open Finances, Open Maps, Open Data, and Access to Information.

Under this initiative, the Bank’s data and knowledge is available free of charge for use through creative commons and open access licensing, to enable people to make better informed development decisions.