BIPART research on the impact of open data restrictions on healthcare, foreign trade and public finance in Belarus was published

One of the peculiarities of the development of Belarus since 2020 is the increase in the facts of manipulation, distortion and suppression of information about the country's development from the society. At first, this phenomenon was not of a systemic nature and took place in individual state structures and departments. Over time, the right of the state to hide from the public information, which, in the opinion of the authorities, may cause damage to the country, was enshrined in legislation. However, since there are no clear criteria for classifying this or that information as potentially threatening, the decision to withhold data is arbitrary and voluntaristic.

The aim of the BIPART research "Open Not Closed: The Impact of Open Data Restriction on Health Care, Foreign Trade and Public Finance in Belarus" is to assess the current state of accessibility, quality and usefulness of open source data in Belarus. Based on the identification of problems in the infrastructure and policy of open data in such areas as healthcare, foreign trade and public finance, the risks of the current situation are assessed and recommendations for improving the state of open data are made.

A research method was chosen as a case study. It provides an overview of the current state of affairs in the field of open data, allows to collect and process information on the current state of the open data infrastructure in Belarus and provide recommendations for its improvement for the areas and stakeholders under consideration.

The research is available in our library in full and short versions in Russian.