Latin America and the Caribbean

Introduction

Latin America is the most unequal region in the world, a plight that only worsened during the Covid crisis. Latin America and the Caribbean reported 1,562,845 COVID-19 deaths by 31 December, 2021 according to a 2022 report¹ from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). This was the highest number for any region in the world. In parallel, a social crisis characterized by high unemployment rates and poverty levels has persisted despite the economy recovering somewhat since the worst of the pandemic.

However, despite the problems that the region faces due to its legacy of weak political institutions, poor economic management, and inefficient and insufficient social policies, Latin America keeps producing digital innovations, and the data community keeps advancing its agenda, as stated in the first edition of the State of Open Data². This update on the State of Open Data chapter on Latin America outlines how the data agenda has evolved in the region and points to the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Changes in the Agenda

Globally, open data agendas are not progressing at the same rate as they were a few years ago. Although new national open data initiatives have launched since 2016, when the last global edition of the Open Data Barometer³ was published, others have disappeared completely. However, in those instances where initiatives have been sustained, they are often now better resourced and more embedded than they were in the past, and open data principles have been embedded in a number of sectoral initiatives. 

To assess the State of Open Data in Latin America, it is important to consider the scores given to the region in the first edition of the Global Data Barometer (GDB).⁴ The GDB is a study of the state of data for public good in more than 100 countries that was released in May 2022 , assessing activity from May 2019 to May 2021. Fifteen countries from the region were included in the GDB's assessment: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, and Uruguay. 

The GDB indicates that there is a big gap between the top performing countries in the region and those performing poorly. Four countries have significantly low scores. The GDB also illustrates that, despite the problems that the region faces as a result of weak political institutions and economic management, as well as insufficient social policies, Latin America has advanced digital innovations, and the data community has had some success in advancing the open agenda.

The GDB provides scores "out of 100", where 100 is designed to indicate ‘best practice’ defined against internationally agreed norms or frameworks. The Latin America region scored 38.33, just slightly above the world average of 34.38. A decade of open data advocacy has contributed to data availability as well as to some progress on data regulatory frameworks. The mean score for Latin America on the Barometer’s data governance pillar (40.8) is above the global average of 36.4, again showing some progress in the region. A closer look at individual governance indicators shows some performing better than others with higher scores present for data protection frameworks (49.49) and open data policies (53.79). This is illustrated in the figures below.

On the other hand, data sharing frameworks was one of the lowest scoring indicators in the region, with a mean score of 25.63. This low score, even though this is slightly above the average global score of 24.05, emphasizes the need to invest in data sharing, which is critical to advance the data agenda and its use for public good. 

In terms of data openness, from the 255 datasets assessed in the region, the biggest challenges identified by the GDB were associated with licensing, data being made available in bulk, and the availability of tools to explore the data.

The mean score for Latin America for data capabilities was slightly lower than the world average. Specifically, the government support for data reuse represents a significant weakness, followed by concerns about the quality and resourcing of open data initiatives. A total of 14 of the 15 participating countries lack funding schemes to support data reuse, and 10 stated that the government does not conduct any form of information sessions about data reuse. Also, seven countries lack senior political leadership to back open data initiatives, and seven do not have an allocated budget for open data activities. 

Despite these regional weaknesses, more than half the countries in the region included in the GDB have mean scores above the world average. Capacity building activities remain a priority for Latin America, which is an area where international cooperation, development banks, the private sector, and governments can collaborate. 

Political Integrity

The GDB’s political integrity module - the largest module of the survey - also presents some areas where Latin America scores above the global average.⁵ The indicators related to assets declarations and political finance were the two with the highest scores in the region, followed by data availability on political finance. Meanwhile, the interoperability of the political integrity data indicator and the availability of lobbying data indicator were the two with the lowest average in the region as they are worldwide. 

There is been progress on public finance and procurement data as indicated by the GDB’s; however, other areas show significant weaknesses, such as the availability of data on company information, land, and political integrity. Beneficial ownership and lobbying data are the least available datasets in the region, while the most available are public procurement, budget, and government spending datasets.

Climate Action and Health

The global response to COVID-19 has demonstrated that new data infrastructures can be built rapidly. Yet, when it comes to climate data, there are significant global gaps in the availability of emissions, biodiversity, and climate vulnerability data. This is clearly shown in the GDB results. Data that should be available to support local action on combating and adapting to climate change is often only available in aggregated and out-of-date forms. 

However, the average regional score on climate action data for Latin America was still above the global average as reported by the GDB. The three assessed indicators - data availability on emissions, biodiversity, and vulnerability - on average scored higher in the region than in the world. Climate vulnerability data is the indicator where the region is the farthest ahead compared to the global average. This is the result of some positive efforts of specific countries in publishing climate data.

Despite this, the general results on climate action data in the GDB cannot be considered satisfactory in the region. Overall scores still obtained only half of the possible points available, showing that there are still many pending tasks both on the openness of data and, for a couple of countries, making basic climate data available online in any form is still a significant challenge. Without proper data on the environment, positive action against climate change remains uncertain.

Community

The strength of community action has always been a highlight of the data agenda in Latin America as mentioned in the previous edition of the State of Open Data. For almost a decade, regional forums have been key spaces to promote dialogue and forge alliances to advance the open data agenda. From Abrelatam/Condatos events to Open Government Partnership regional meetings, the Latin American region has been an example of the power of regional gatherings to advance the agenda in different sectors. In 2022, these two regional gatherings merged in one event, América Abierta⁶, the first major in-person event after the Covid crisis. 

These spaces keep driving change and innovation and should be further promoted in the years to come. To sustain openness, it is important to provide opportunities for civil society, media outlets, and academics to discuss and showcase how to better use data in a diverse range of sectors.

Looking Ahead: Privacy, AI, and Inclusion

The data agenda is changing and expanding to address a range of issues related to privacy, the protection of human rights in the development of technological interventions, artificial intelligence (AI), digital security, inclusion, and data governance within countries and across national borders. The GDB has identified that 14 of the 15 participating countries of Latin America have a data protection framework. Most of these provide data subjects with the right of choice or consent and the right to access or correct data about themselves. 

However, none of Latin America’s data protection frameworks explicitly cover the protection of location-related data, and only one addresses, in any context, algorithmic decision-making, which means that existing regulatory frameworks require updates to address modern privacy issues. This is particularly important when the emergence of AI has the potential to augment a number of social and economic risks.⁷

The increased complexity of the data agenda has not yet been fully addressed in Latin America. From the need for measurement tools, like the GDB, to new governance models that address openness, privacy, and innovation issues, while respecting human rights, as well as the need to create inclusive policy design processes and to implement the resulting policies, there are many areas where investment and capacity building are vital for data to contribute toward genuine development in the region.