Open data as a strategy for corruption prevention is under discussion in Uruguay

Germán Bidegain, a BIT-ACT country expert in Uruguay, will be moderating a panel at the AbreLatam - ConDatos conference to discuss strategies for the prevention of corruption using open data. The event, conducted in Spanish, will take place on November 1, 2023, at 15:15 in the CAF Auditorium in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Various innovative initiatives will be presented during the event. This includes the introduction of the "Índice Estatal de Datos Abiertos Anticorrupción México" initiative and its methodology. Developed by the PIT Policy Lab in collaboration with students from the Master's in Public Policy program at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, this initiative focuses on transparency and open data to combat corruption in Mexico. The event will also feature insights from Ecuador, including the initiative “Quién Está Detrás: Datos, relaciones y beneficiarios finales”, which uses open data to explore beneficiary ownership of companies and illustrates well the importance of open data for civic engagement in anti-corruption.

The event chaired by Bidegain, who also serves as a professor at the Universidad de la República in Uruguay, also aims to discuss Latin America's commitment and main challenges to combating corruption through innovative and data-driven solutions. The exchange of ideas and strategies is expected to make a significant contribution to the ongoing fight against corruption in the public sector in Latin America – from where much of anticorruption innovation comes from.

This discussion is part of AbreLatam, one of the main and oldest events in Latin America dedicated to promoting, researching, publishing, and using open data. It is closely related to topics such as open government, civic technology, digital government, data journalism, digital rights, smart cities, transparency, accountability, equity, access to information, and more. Since 2013, Abrelatam has served as the cradle and meeting place for a diverse and wide-reaching community encompassing Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, as well as participants from North America and Europe.