The Department of Political Science and International Studies (BDU) in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung holds a second public lecture on “Perspectives on Positive Peace”

This public lecture is part of the lecture series Perspectives on Positive Peace entitled as ‘Data Driven Democracy – How platforms provide opportunities for participation, community organizing, public engagement and business development’ was undertaken by The Department of Political Science and International Studies of Social Sciences Faculty, Bahir Dar University in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

The head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies, Mr Gebretsadik Awgichew, in his welcoming speech, said that the major objective of the gathering is to talk about the potentials of data for democratic systems. Data driven forms of civic participation increasingly become the modern approach to engage with citizens. Civic participation is considered a cornerstone of democracy. This form of data-driven democracy and civic participation promotes an understanding of democratization processes and democratic systems.

Mr. Gebeyehu Mengesha, the Vice Dean for Postgraduate, Research and Community Service of Social Science Faculty, in his opening remarks, said that Relevant data is used to create strong strategies, policies, programs and future plans which will be realistic. He added data can be used for performance evaluation, monitoring, controlling and auditing for institutions and organizations which are very important for democratic value creation and for suggesting new ways of doing things.

The speaker Mr Henrik Flor focused on the importance of data in the formation of a system that functions healthily and strong. He said obtaining data is a powerful tool for transparency and accountability of a certain functioning system, be it a state or an organization. Underscoring the indispensable role of data, the speaker argues that truthful data can help in bringing local and national democracy and in realizing proper utilization of public finance and budgeting. Moreover, such data can also play a pivotal role in process of policy making.

Mr Flor concludes that the future of our modern world depends on the timely and effective use of data. He reminds the scholarly community once again to be sensitive in building their claims with relevant and suffice data implicating the otherwise use might not serve the demand of the modern era.