Madolyn Smith at Data Driven Journalism: “impactAFRICA, the continent’s largest fund for data driven storytelling, has announced the winners of its water and sanitation contest. Journalists from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia made waves with their stories, but three in particular stood out against the tide.
1. South Africa All At Sea
Sipho Kings‘ story on illegal fishing along South Africa’s coast for the Mail & Guardian shows how data from nanosatellites could solve the tricky problem of tracking illegal activities….
As well as providing a data driven solution to South Africa’s problem, this story has been credited with prompting increased naval patrols, which has uncovered a string of illegal fishing trawlers.
Read the story here.
2. Water Data for Nigeria
This tool, developed by Abiri Oluwatosin Niyi for CMapIT, tracks the supply and consumption of water in Nigeria. To combat a scarcity of data on public water resources, the project crowdsources data from citizens and water point operators. Data is updated in real-time and can be explored via an interactive map.
Image: Water Data for Nigeria.
In addition, the underlying data is also available for free download and reuse.
Explore the project here.
3. Ibadan: A City of Deep Wells and Dry Taps
Writing for the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, Kolawole Talabi demonstrates a relationship between declining oil revenues and government water expenditure in Ibadan, Nigeria’s third largest city, with detrimental impacts on its inhabitants health.
The investigation draws on data from international organisations, like UNICEF, and government budgetary allocations, as well as qualitative interview data.
Following the story’s publication, there has been extensive online debate and numerous calls for governmental action.