LATIN AMERICAN WORKSHOP Access to Scientific Information: The African perspective Steve Rossouw South African CODATA Committee

SOUTH AFRICAN DATA ARCHIVE Established by SA National Research Foundation (NRF) early 1990s National Repository for Scientific Data Holdings from MRC, HSRC, CSIR, etc CODATA invited to address 1999 meeting SADA Head invited to SANC for CODATA

DAKAR WORKSHOP, SENEGAL “S&T Data Handling and Exchange for Development” July 19-21, 2000, Hotel Meridien, Dakar Delegation of three from South Africa “S&T Data in Southern Africa; The Situation in SADC Countries” Idea of Archiving Workshops mooted by John Rumble and Paul Uhlir

CODATA WG ON ARCHIVING SCIENTIFIC DATA (1) Established by GA 2001 Workshop on Archiving S&T Data May 2002, Pretoria, South Africa Attended by 70 delegates from African countries and some international experts Co-chaired by Bill Anderson and Steve Rossouw

CODATA WG ON ARCHIVING SCIENTIFIC DATA (2) Topics: –Scientific Issues –Technical Issues –Management Issues –Policy Issues Recommended establishment of TG on Data Archiving Report available on

CODATA TG ON PRESERVATION OF AND ACCESS TO S&T DATA IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TG established in October 2002 Co-Chairs: Liu and Anderson Member countries include Senegal and South Africa

STRATEGIES FOR PRESERVATION OF AND OPEN ACCESS TO SCIENTIFIC DATA Workshop held in Beijing, June 2004 Three delegates from South Africa attended: –Lulama Makhubela –Henda v/d Berg –Steve Rossouw

Strategies for Permanent Access to S&T Information in Southern Africa Workshop held in Pretoria, 5-7 September 2005 Focus on Health and Environmental Information for Sustainable Development Good Representation of SADC Countries Major Recommendations: –Policy & Legislation –Data Concerns & Open Access –Regional Initiatives –Follow-up Plan

Recommendations Need to influence Govt officials: policy Need to raise awareness re data value Data workshops on data handling Data management academy Directory of core data sets Outreach activities: regional networks Socio-economic data mostly neglected

CODATA Task Group: Data for Sustainable Development in SADC Approved by CODATA G A, October 2006 Workshop in Pretoria, May 2007 Jointly with TG on Preservation & Access to S&T Data in Developing Countries Sessions: –S&T Data and Information Policy –Data Specific Issues –Discipline Specific Issues –ICSU-ROA and CODATA Task Groups