Open Development Cambodia looks ahead to “Open Development Mekong”

The father and children of the Internet of #Cambodia @nhklein @chantra @john_weeks @opendevcam #InternetKH pic.twitter.com/5ocAsgcg0X

— Tharum Bun (@tharum) January 24, 2017

In 2010, I got schooled on ‘Open Data’ at Mekong ICT Camp. From 2011 to 2013, I put the knowledge to use as project lead for developing Southeast Asia’s first independent Open Data site: “Open Development Cambodia“. For many the term ‘Open Development’ refers to tracking the flow of aid money. In Cambodia the title was chosen to refer to how the site opens up information about its rapid economic development, including land concessions, protected areas, and much more. This information is not always very transparent, and was welcomed by the business community, news media, nonprofits and many others. I was very pleased to see Open Development Cambodia return to Mekong ICT Camp in 2013 to present its success story on the final day of Camp. Since then, ‘ODC’ has incorporated as a local non-profit and participated in ‘MKICT’s 2015 session.

Additionally, the ODC team (in coordination with East-West Management Institute’s ‘Open Development Initiative‘) are working to build out a network of similar sites, using a shared pool of resources, under the umbrella of Open Development Mekong.

And the most recent sub-site to launch is Open Development Myanmar.

For 2017, ‘OpenDevCam’ will be hosting Mekong ICT Camp in Cambodia, for the first time the Camp has taken place outside Thailand.

Our board meeting this week was a reminder of how much work we have done, but also how high we aim to go. Slightly intimidating, but overall quite exciting.